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on the water The third and final day in Sydney wasn't as active as the previous two. In fact all that we had planned was some harbor cruises and maybe a return to Kings Cross. By ten-thirty in the morning we were on the water and on our way to the city of Manly. The ride itself was nice for a couple of reasons. First of all it was different than being on a bus. I didn't have anything against using the bus, it was just a welcomed change of pace from what we had been doing. Secondly it was nice to get out of the city again for a while. I had had some hopes of going to see the Blue Mountains, but I soon realized that that wasn't going to be happening with the limited time that we had left in Sydney. I suppose that it could have been done if I had really tried, but it also seemed like quite a bit of effort for one day. Besides I had already paid for the harbor cruises as a part of my package to Australia. We only had an hours worth of time to explore Manly before we had to take the ferry back to Circular Quay so that we could do the two and a half hour cruise around Sydney harbor. For the most part we stuck to a path along the shore with Hope complaining about the weather the whole time. It was too cold for her. It didn't seem to sink in that this was autumn and that we were near a major body of water. Even back in Milwaukee the summer forecast always says that it will be cooler by the lake. Rather than thinking of this as being May, the month of October back home would be more appropriate. In her defense I will admit that three was a brisk wind, but it certainly wasn't snowing. Nor was it that cold. The afternoon cruise was pleasant enough, but by the end I had had enough. The canned commentary was starting to annoy me and the scenery was getting repetitive. All that we kept seeing was houses built one on top of each other right to the end of the shore. Both of us had seen this before in California. The fact that I was getting hungry didn't help either. ... After being on the water for most of the afternoon, food was our next objective. We had hoped to find something worthwhile in the area of town known as The Rocks, but it didn't happen. Hope couldn't seem to make up her mind. Soon we found ourselves in a part of the city that was new and unfamiliar to us. Rather than backtracking we kept walking until we got back to a part of the city that I knew. Thankfully it didn't take that long for that to happen. The walking and my anger at getting detoured also took my mind off of my hunger. Eventually we arrived at the food court of a large local shopping center. Once again Hope complained about the food, but I didn't care. At least we had some food and we could people watch as we ate. Hope wondered why this grown woman was wearing what looked like a Brownie uniform, while I got a chuckle out of the riot grrl wearing a bright pink Barbie backpack. Another local celebrity for us was the woman wearing the floral spandex pants. She certainly filled them out and probably shouldn't have been wearing them if she had any pride. ... There was something that kept Hope and I arguing through part of the night. Suddenly there were sailors everywhere that we went in the city. I said that they were American sailors from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Kitty Hawk that we had seen in the harbor this morning. The bus driver had told us about them coming for some kind of training and that more of them would be coming later. Hope didn't believe either of us. She kept saying that the sailors couldn't be American. She said that they had accents. I then asked her why did they have American eagle patches on their sewn on their uniforms. She however wasn't convinced until she read U.S.S. Kitty Hawk on one of sailor's sleeves. Despite my arguing against it, Hope wanted to return to the red light district of Sydney known as Kings Cross. She wanted to see all of the crazy people. Sigh. From what I saw on our first visit, it didn't seem too dangerous. However, I still didn't want to go. Hope said that she wanted to meet people. I said that you don't go to a bar to meet quality people. Soon we were in Kings Cross, which not surprisingly was crawling with sailors. Then we saw the ultimate cliche. We saw two sailors in a tattoo parlor. I'm not too sure if they were getting a mermaid or an anchor. Popeye it seems lives in the twenty-first century. As we were walking along something happened that made me laugh. A drunken sailor bumped into Hope and said the following: Damn, that is one fine lady. I love Australia. For my sister a hormonally charged twenty-one year old girl this comment was the ultimate drug. Not only did some complete stranger think that she was hot, but he also thought that she was a local. Flattered doesn't begin to describe how she felt. I however knew better. He was just some dumb drunk sailor out on leave for the first time in weeks. Eventually we sat down in some sports bar where Hope paid for all of the drinks. This was fair for a number of reasons. First of all I didn't want to be there. Secondly I had to stay sober to protect her in case something happened. In my defense I should also mention that I only had one drink the entire time we were there, while she had three. From our vantage point we could see the front door of an establishment known as Playbirds. We could easily see the social coordinator trying to drum up business. He would wave over a group of five sailors, talk with them briefly and then usher them all in at the same time. It seems that he gave them a group discount. ... After a few wrong turns on the walk home, we made it to the hotel. No, I did not get lost due to drinking. The map that I had was missing a few key streets near the hotel. By the time that I got to bed, I was tired and angry. Hope on the other hand was happy that she got to go out drinking and see some local color.
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