Oh the bliss of being able to sleep until we woke up! We didn't wake up until 8.30, which is something we haven't done for 3 weeks.
As soon as we were washed, dressed and breakfasted, we had to start the suitcase hunt. Our cases had not responded well to being flung in and out of mini-bus trailers for 6 weeks. Paul's one failed completely, the zip refused to do up at all. And on mine, the lower zip kept falling open. The case did the flight from Hong Kong to Sydney with duct tape all round the lower zip, and tightly strapped up at both ends so that even if both zip and duct tape failed, my belongings wouldn't be scattered all over the airport. 6 weeks of being flung about has not improved it, so though Paul thought it might do a few more trips, I thought I had better replace it.
We started with a number of shops near where we are staying, but to get anything like the cases we had, it seemed it would cost us $300 each - about £200 per case. We trailed despondently round about 8 or 10 shops. We have been finding Australia terribly expensive, but that really seemed rather a lot!
So, eventually we took the free shuttle bus that circles round the city down to Paddy's Market, where we were able to find cases at more reasonable prices. We returned with our new cases, and then decided on a local pie shop for lunch. We had a pie floater! Paul did not like it - now there's a surprise! I had to eat his mushy peas.
It being Sunday, it seemed a good day for the Rocks, since there are Market stalls and lots going on. This is the historic area of Sydney, where the settlement started, and there are quite a few old buildings left.
We meandered about for a while, and checked out the Visitors' Centre, and decided to go to the Susannah Place Museum, a terrace of houses built in 1844.
We were fortunate enough to arrive in time for the 2 o'clock tour, and it really was very interesting. The houses (one had a shop in the front room) were originally built for reasonably well-off tradespeople, but gradually became working-class dwellings. They were still in use until the late 1970s, though some only had gas and all had outdoor toilets and bathrooms. I wasn't allowed to take any photos indoors, but even the outside photos will give some flavour of the places.
You can see the delightful bathroom of one of them (which was in the back yard) with even the luxury of hot water, which the others lacked),
the charming airy outdoor loo
The view up the back stairs to the new modern kitchen with every convenience
The working-class woman's answer to the washing machine
And the original 1844 oven and cooker
Some parts of the houses were set up as they would have been during the 1840s and some as they would have been during the 1940s. We were so fascinated, we were there for hours, and didn't leave until 4.
We wandered around the Market a bit more, then went down to see Cadman's Cottage, a house which was built in 1816 for the Government Coxswain - the officer responsible for government boats and their crews.
Thinking we gad seen enough buildings for the day, we set off across Circular Quay for the Botanical Gardens, where we admired Government House
the many fine trees and the pleasant views.
It was also quite interesting seeing the many different birds; the sacred ibis are particularly quarrelsome and bullying. Later, as evening drew on, we noticed that some of the flying things were not birds, so we decided it must be nearly time for supper and left.
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