By 10:30am I was ready for our stroll to the wharf to catch the 11:10am ferry over to Darling Harbour. We had 30 minutes to kill before our Fusion Harbour lunch cruise was due for boarding and I was determined to find a jacket with Sydney printed on it, so I revisited the Madame Tussauds gift store. I was positive I saw one somewhere on our travels, but couldn’t for the life of me recall where it was, or perhaps I wanted one so badly that I imagined I saw one. I went back to every store and gift shop we had been in since arriving and no luck. There seem to be plenty of jumpers, so I’m assuming tourists prefer jumpers to jackets.
Soon after returning to the Fusion cruise wharf, it started to spit and unfortunately they only have an extremely small sheltered area. When I say small, it’s only really big enough for about four people to huddle under. We happened to start chatting to a couple who were also waiting for the same cruise who were more than happy to share their umbrellas with us. They were such a lovely couple that they somewhat changed my opinion of Sydney – there are some really friendly and helpful people there!
The boat was late and didn’t arrive at the wharf until just
after the sailing time of 12:30pm. Bro and I bought our tickets from Scoopons
for only $27 each which ended up being well worth it. The sheltered top level
of the boat only had 15 to 17 of us dining, while downstairs was loaded with a
large tour group. We must have left Darling Harbour close to 1pm. I have no
idea on whether they had food downstairs or not, but there was constantly
people from that group wandering up to the top level while everyone in our
section were eating. We feasted on as much as we wanted to eat of penne pasta
salad, samosas pastries, seafood flake salad, other types of salad and prawns.
It was topped off with a piece of chocolate cake. We also got a free drink of
our choice. Being that bro and I had never tried champagne before, we went for
that over soft drink or orange juice. It wasn’t the best day (initially) for
photos with it being rather overcast and still spitting slightly.
The cruise goes for an hour and a half. After returning to Darling Harbour wharf, bro and I made our way over to Myers near Westfield mall. Their Myers is very different from any Myers I have ever been in before. This store had mini stores throughout its numerous levels with the first one being all about perfumes. Eventually I found a store to buy a pair of leggings, tights and an expensive knitted jacket to go with my evening dress that night. I wasn’t looking to spend $70 on it, but I also wasn’t about to freeze my nipples off with the icy weather Sydney was coping. I was desperate!
Afterwards, it was a mad dash to catch the ferry back to the apartment with
enough time to shower, dress and get back to Circular Quay by ferry, where we
caught a taxi to our classy dinner for the evening – Glass Brasserie. Thank
goodness for the knitted jacket!
The cruise goes for an hour and a half. After returning to Darling Harbour wharf, bro and I made our way over to Myers near Westfield mall. Their Myers is very different from any Myers I have ever been in before. This store had mini stores throughout its numerous levels with the first one being all about perfumes. Eventually I found a store to buy a pair of leggings, tights and an expensive knitted jacket to go with my evening dress that night. I wasn’t looking to spend $70 on it, but I also wasn’t about to freeze my nipples off with the icy weather Sydney was coping. I was desperate!
The restaurant was absolutely perfect. Everyone there was dressed decently to formally, which is what we had hoped for. It seems that, in Sydney, even a classy restaurant is happy to accept people who choose to go in casual wear. Living in the sticks leaves no opportunity to dine at an expensive classy restaurant and I was determined to find a place with true class. Glass Brasserie has it and the fact that we only ended up eating out classy once, I’m very glad we chose there. I will certainly be dining there again next time I’m in Sydney – assuming I have someone to dine with.
For the entree, I went with the roasted scallops, smoked hock ravioli, cabbage,
piquillo pepper puree, guanciale and XO sauce for $29. I normally refuse to eat
cabbage, but there was so little of it and it blended in with the rest that I
didn’t notice it. It was also my first time trying scallops. My main was roasted jewfish with eggplant tortellini, goats
curd, king mushroom, charred onion and citrus at $43. It was also very nice, but
the only way I can describe the jewfish is, it has a slight dirty taste and is
strong. It’s not a fish I would choose again, but at the same time it wasn’t
repulsive. The meals may look small, but they are very filling. I honestly
didn’t need dessert and wasn’t even sure I could fit it in, but I had planned
on what one I wanted back when we were planning the holiday months ago. It was
the Affogato with hazelnut macaroons - Frangelico for $18. It features a cup of
vanilla ice-cream, a small cup of Frangelico and a small cup of ultra strong (I
wasn’t aware of this) coffee. When you receive it, you pour both the alcohol
and coffee over the ice-cream and enjoy. I’m not a regular coffee drinker, but
when I do have one it’s certainly not strong in any way. I should have tried it
and only used a couple of teaspoons at the max of the coffee mixture. One
mouthful almost had me bouncing off the restaurant walls! I had to drain the
liquid mixture off each spoon of ice-cream and even then it was coffee
overkill. I won’t order that one again, but it was an experience.
I also enjoyed two cocktails: Toblerone and a Caribbean Slinger.
Once bro had enjoyed an after dinner coffee, we decided to catch a bus back to Circular Quay. From where our table was in the restaurant, we were able to study the frequency of the buses...lol. Problem is, if you aren’t aware of land marks of where your stop is, then you don’t know where to get off as the driver doesn’t tell you what each stop is. The ride was awfully rough. Neither bro or I knew we were at Circular Quay where everyone got off and the driver called “last stop”. When bro and I didn’t move, he said it again....lol. Because it was night and it was in a part of Circular Quay that we hadn’t been before, I thought maybe we had gotten on the wrong bus even though it had Circular Quay on the bus sign. Just like the train stations, buses aren’t tourist friendly. Perhaps using the monitors on each bus to bring up what the next stop is would be ultra handy!
I’m always relieved to be boarding the ferry – I know exactly where I am and where I’m going. Each wharf at Circular Quay and Darling Harbour has an electric board before entering that tells you exactly when the next ferry to each stop will arrive and on which wharf you need to catch the ferry from. The ferries have an awesome system that everyone can understand.
It was horribly freezing when we arrived back at Olympic Park wharf and had to wait 10 to 15 minutes for a taxi to arrive. My nice heels were killing my feet just standing there, let alone walking 1.7kms. Besides that, it was 11:15pm and icy cold.
Other than my aching feet, it was a totally amazing day all
round!I also enjoyed two cocktails: Toblerone and a Caribbean Slinger.
Once bro had enjoyed an after dinner coffee, we decided to catch a bus back to Circular Quay. From where our table was in the restaurant, we were able to study the frequency of the buses...lol. Problem is, if you aren’t aware of land marks of where your stop is, then you don’t know where to get off as the driver doesn’t tell you what each stop is. The ride was awfully rough. Neither bro or I knew we were at Circular Quay where everyone got off and the driver called “last stop”. When bro and I didn’t move, he said it again....lol. Because it was night and it was in a part of Circular Quay that we hadn’t been before, I thought maybe we had gotten on the wrong bus even though it had Circular Quay on the bus sign. Just like the train stations, buses aren’t tourist friendly. Perhaps using the monitors on each bus to bring up what the next stop is would be ultra handy!
I’m always relieved to be boarding the ferry – I know exactly where I am and where I’m going. Each wharf at Circular Quay and Darling Harbour has an electric board before entering that tells you exactly when the next ferry to each stop will arrive and on which wharf you need to catch the ferry from. The ferries have an awesome system that everyone can understand.
It was horribly freezing when we arrived back at Olympic Park wharf and had to wait 10 to 15 minutes for a taxi to arrive. My nice heels were killing my feet just standing there, let alone walking 1.7kms. Besides that, it was 11:15pm and icy cold.
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