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Intro | Sydney (Ourselves) | The Outback | Cairns | Melbourne | Sydney (Package)

 

Sydney (Ourselves) - (Continued)

Sunday was race day. This meant we had to be up early in order to get to the start line for the 6 AM start time of the half marathon. Denise was also running the race. Like Traci, she is on a mission to run a half marathon on all seven continents. Traci and I walked two blocks to meet Denise and her sister at their hotel at 4:45 AM. The four of us then walked about three blocks to get to the Wynyard metro station. I wished them good luck and said goodbye as they made their way to the platform to catch the metro to the Milsons Point Station where the half marathon would begin.

The weather that morning was much colder than the previous day. I walked back to our hotel to put on warmer clothes and then walked to the Sydney Harbour Bridge to stake out a good spot to photograph Traci when she runs by. We were told that the Sydney Running Festival is one of two times that the bridge is closed to vehicle traffic. The other time is New Year’s Eve.

Sydney Opera House on a cold morning - waiting for Traci to run by

Because of the way the course weaved through the city, I was able to photograph Traci from other spots in addition to the bridge. I also got her as she crossed the finish line but soon lost her in the crowd of runners and spectators. There were more than 37,000 runners that day taking part in the running events (marathon, half marathon, fun runners, etc...). I climbed some nearby steps to see if I could spot Traci from an elevated view. I was so focused on finding her that I did not even realize I was standing on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. I took a moment to gaze up at the famous structure before deciding to walk back to the hotel and wait for Traci there. And with that, Traci added continent number 4 to her list of half marathons. Three more to go!

Traci Running the Sydney Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)

 

 

 

race bling - Congratulations, Traci!

 

For breakfast, we decided to try the Pancakes on the Rocks diner that I had researched before our trip. The pictures of the pancakes and other food items on their web site looked delicious. We walked there and found the line of customers waiting to be seated was out the door. Despite the number of people, we were seated within 20 minutes of our arrival. We were not overly impressed with the food at Pancakes on the Rocks. Nonetheless, it replenished us.

Back to the hotel we went with full bellies. I guess waking up at 4 AM that morning in preparation for the race finally caught up with us. We took a wonderful nap that afternoon.

Refreshed from our nap, we decided to do another I’m Free Walking Tour. This time we did the 1.5-hour tour that focused on the Rocks neighborhood of Sydney. The meeting point for this tour was at Cadman's Cottage, Sydney's oldest house (constructed in 1816).

The Europeans first arrived in Sydney Harbor in 1788. It was not long after that that the British began sending their convicts to Australia to serve out their sentences. These convicts lived in crude houses and camps that were constructed on a rocky hill next to the harbor. This region was referred to as “The Rocks”.

Today, the Rocks is no longer a rocky hill. There are some buildings that date back to the 1800’s. Although they maintain their original exterior style, they mostly house restaurants and pubs today. Our guide led us through the neighborhood while telling us stories of what took place on the various streets - hangings, robberies, lots of bad stuff... We walked through a few interesting narrow alleyways that I would not have even noticed if it were not for this tour. We came across an archaeological dig site. Some items from the early European settlements were discovered while preparing the area for new construction. Archaeologists are working to recover some of the artifacts before construction continues.

Drugs, gangs, and corruption made the Rocks an undesirable place back in the day but all this has been cleaned up and gentrified in modern times. The Rocks is now an expensive place to live thanks to its great views of the Sydney Harbor and skyline. Our guide led us to a park called Observatory Hill where we had such a dazzling nighttime view of the city. I was somewhat distracted by all the screeching I was hearing in the nearby trees. It sounded like monkeys but then suddenly I saw one of the largest bats I have ever seen fly out of the tree. Our guide told us these are called flying foxes. I would see many of these throughout our time in Australia.

I'm Free Walking Tour of the Rocks

 

 

 

 

Once again, Traci and I had enjoyed the I’m Free Walking Tour. Now that it was over, we set off to find something to eat for dinner. We ended up choosing a restaurant in the Rocks called Ribs & Burgers. The smell of the grill and the sight of barbequed ribs on the plates of customers drew us right in. Aside from the pizzeria at which we dined on our first night in Sydney, we hadn’t had much luck with the restaurants we had chosen in the Rocks. Despite this, we figured we could not go wrong with this place. Traci and I shared a slab of baby back ribs. Unfortunately, they did not impress us. Our losing streak with choosing restaurants continued.

It was around 8:30 PM as we began our walk back to the hotel and the Rocks was pretty much a ghost town. It was so much different from the lively atmosphere we encounter Saturday night. [Continue to The Outback...]

 

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