I'm Going Where?!: Out and About on Day 4

Prepare yourselves for a fairly lengthy post. Yesterday was by far the most exciting day yet!

In the afternoon, the four of us met Marissa and we took the bus up to Darling Harbour to go to Paddy’s Market. Paddy’s and Paddington Markets sound like they would be the same market, yea? No. Darling Harbour was precious, don’t get be wrong, but Paddy’s Market ended up being indoors (it was an absolutely gorgeous day and we wanted to go outdoor-market-hopping…or let’s say market-crawling, since another group decided to go bar-crawling) and the market honestly looked like one giant warehouse full of New York City street vendors. Tacky apparel, crafts, and souvenirs shipped just over the sea from China, and no produce in sight. After briefly walking up and down one aisle, we ran out of there. Not our idea of “market”. We found our way to a bus and took one up to The Rocks/Circular Quay area. After asking multiple information booths for directions (“i” is the universal symbol for “information”, thank goodness) we found our way to the most adorable outdoor market I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t Paddington Markets, which we soon found out were in Paddington, go figure, but there were hand-made clothing and jewelry vendors, people making lunch (Lianne and I got chicken skewers with rice and tzaziki sauce…“When in Australia…”), all sorts of Aboriginal crafts, a specialty honey store (with free samples!), a miniature cupcake booth, and other just really unique and truly creative things. I stopped and talked with one of the jewelers at her booth – she had some beautiful pieces made from Australian stones – and she was so sweet! She offered to make me a custom piece in my price range and gave me her card so I could come to her studio. She also had some very affordable turquoise pieces, which everyone who knows me well knows that I love!

On the way to this market in The Rocks, we all stopped in an authentic Aboriginal art store and I purchased a pillow that was designed by an indigenous woman. The tag explains the meaning behind the pattern and shows a photograph of the woman, which makes it much more meaningful and personal. The store also had boomerangs and didgeridoos, and I’ve seen hundreds of them since being here, and hope to find the perfect ones before leaving. It sold housewares and decorations and cloth with aboriginal designs so you can make your own things. I could’ve spent all day in there. The owners were really nice as well. We all agreed that we’re definitely going back!

We also noticed that just about every souvenir store sells male kangaroo parts. It’s bizarre, and none of us understand. We’re thinking they’re the Australian version of rabbit’s feet? I really should ask someone and maybe I’ll understand and possibly appreciate it more. But we did bond with two women when they overheard us talking about how weird it was. One of them said she couldn’t convince her husband not to buy one, poor woman.

When the market came to an end, we were all devastated (literally, because it was that great!). We walked around The Rocks a bit and spontaneously decided to hop on a ferry to Manly (my idea! I love doing things like that). It was 4:30, so the sun was setting, and I think we got a tour of the harbour at the very best time. We grabbed Manly pamphlets and chose a restaurant to have dinner at. We walked all the way across the Manly peninsula, which really only took ten minutes, and had a great time walking along the beach to the restaurant. We jokingly said the five of us should have a romantic moonlit picnic on Manly Beach. The walk there reminded me a great deal of Lincoln Road at home… there were palm trees along the middle of the road with the same kinds of shops lining either side, the road was made of the same kind of stone, and there were hotels and offices above each of the stores. Dinner was delicious, though a little pricey. As it turned out though, we paid for both dinner and entertainment. Towards the end of our meal, a woman walked straight into a pane of glass next to our table. Our assumption is that Aussies start early on the weekends, seeing as it was only 7pm or so. I felt awful, but we couldn’t stop laughing. We bonded with the people who were sitting opposite the pane of glass, since the woman left a smudge that both tables were looking at, thus bringing our eyes together. Poor woman. I hope she’s okay! On the ferry back, we passed the opera house, which had an art piece projected onto one side of it. I would have preferred seeing it lit from all sides, but it was interesting! The entire harbour was lit! Each building had a different interactive projection with sound. It was quite a thing to see!

We took the bus back here to Waterloo, and realized that this transit system is really quite unreliable. We waited 50 minutes for our bus, which ended up being 20 minutes late. We passed our time by watching a little girl, who was probably about 2, watch Dora the Explorer on her dad’s iPhone. Adorable! And her dad seemed like a pretty great dad too. They sang together and we talked a little at the station and on the bus. Aussies are so nice! I want to go out of my way to speak with more of the locals.

We’re planning on cooking chicken stir-fry this evening for dinner to help offset the cost of last night’s dinner. I’ll let you all know how it turns out!