Blue Mountains, and Sting

After our arrival in Sydney on Wednesday, we wandered about, purchasing transit passes, and pretending to become familiar with the neighbourhood of Paddington. Our hosts, Mary J and Peter, had make a comfortable room (with great beds, it turns out). A bus took us to Circular Quay, where we sat at a waterfront deck, tasting Tassie beer for the first time. The smoked trout brandade was silky smooth and perfectly seasoned; I wonder whether the cornichon were homemade. Unfortunately the river shrimp tended towards being soft, and D is now off of shrimp... Much walking ensued, landing us at The Rocks, for Wine Hour at Australian Wine Experience; $5 a glass was enough to pay for a viognier, whose label I didn’t bother to find out.

Thursday started early... a 6:45 pick up for our tour to the Blue Mountains. The group was only 12, from England and Germany, as well as we Canadians. “Breakfast with the Koalas” was a sorry excuse for early admission to the Featherdale Nature Preserve. Oversalted ham, non-descript cheese, and scarily large croissant were accompanied by insipid coffee. The “koalas”, in reality: a singular koala briskly displayed by a park ranger... luckily there were many more in their various enclosures in the preserve. I was delighted to see budgies and macaws outdoors, although still in captivity. Lunch at Katoomba Golf Club was much better, especially as I had chosen the roast vegetable stack, over either fish & chips, or pasta w/ mushrooms. Coopers Red Label (sparkling) ale was my preference, over the Green Label (pale ale).
[Insert tourism marketing prose here] :) Let’s just say that except for the food, I loved the Blue Mountains tour with Australian Eco Adventures. The steep railway was one of my favourite parts.
12 hours later, we arrived, again, at Circular Quay, and walked through The Rocks neighbourhood in search of dinner. Which turned out to be lovely ham & mushroom pizza, with glasses of pinot gris, served by indifferent, nearly rude, barely competent staff. But the rock wall provided a cooling respite to the day. Remembering that Sting was to play an outdoor concert at the Sydney Opera House, we walked ‘round the Quay, situating ourselves on a point, with full view of the giant ‘trons of Sting & Sydney(?) Orchestra. Two women from Rhode Island bought us beers.