Saturday, September 16, 2017: Last Day in Sydney Before Uluru

Up at 0430 this morning... Rosie said I crashed last night.  I was beat.

Our primary goal on this day would be to hook up with Rosie's cousin, Gearoid, and his two children, Maeve (10yrs) and Sam (8yrs).  We hope to squeeze in a lot of activities and prep for our upcoming trip to the 'red center' of Australia, Uluru aka, Ayers Rock.

Chose to have breakfast at Guylians, a Belgium Chocolate shop nearby on George Street, that also does amazing pastries and a tasty breakfast.  Pedestrian traffic this early in the morning, 0630, was very light.  Vendors having spots within the Rock for their weekend Market were up and about getting their stalls set-up and stocked.  This is our first time in Guylians.  There's a sign as you walk in that states, 'please wait to be seated.'  I bring this up because most places we've gone, service has been different.  I asked our waiter about being served or ordering for oneself and he told us that if the 'please wait to be seated' sign is up, you should expect to have your order taken and delivered to your table.  No sign, expect to go to the bar, place your order and you may or may not have to pick up your food/beverages.  Well, that helps some moving forward.

We both ordered spinach omelets and a cappuccino for Rosie and a latte for me.  I also substituted my toast with a ham and cheese croissant.  Excellent breakfast.  After breakfast we headed back up to our room to organize our luggage for Uluru.  JetStar, Qantas' low fare/1 class/low service airline, has very stringent rules on checked luggage and carry-on.  We only paid for 1 checked bag weighing up to 23kg/50# and our carry-on, per person, could not exceed certain size limits and a total of 7kg/15#. So, we ended up scaling way back and packing only essentials for our 3day/2night side trip to the Northern Territory.  Turns out most hotels, including the Holiday Inn, have scales that you can weigh your bags on - which we would do - to ensure our luggage and carry-on would all be under limits. We had also ordered some food ahead of time online for the flight out.  You pay for everything on JetStar, nothing is free.  We will take our excess luggage via train to the Holiday Inn at the airport for storage while we're in Uluru.

Packing done around 0930, we headed down to the Market expecting things be still be in flux for a 1000 'official' start time.  We were wrong, there were plenty of people shopping and vendors selling. So, we joined in.  After making a preliminary pass around the main Market stall area we ended up making the following purchases:

- some really cool oils - Frangipani and Emu Oil.  Frangipani, also known as Plumeria, is one of our favorite scents.  Emu Oil, according to the very nice Chinese lady we purchased it from, was great for a variety of maladies and ailments.  What the heck, couldn't hurt to give it a shot;
- bought 2 very cute, self-propelled, wooden kangaroos for Ben;
- a clear lucite paper-weight of the iconic symbols of Sydney, the bridge and Opera House, and;
- a really cool 'singing' bowl made in and brought from Nepal.

We were expecting Erica Brown to join us around 1100, so Rosie walked back towards the Holiday Inn to meet her there and ended up running in to her on the way.  We did some more strolling around the Market and decided to do lunch at the Tea Cosy, a cute restaurant near the Mercantile right along Market row.  Turns out they served a mini-version of the High Tea we enjoyed way back when in Scotland - that's what we ordered.  Picked out our various teas and the finger sandwiches and scones, with local jams, they served up were quite good.

After lunch we wandered around the Market for a while longer with Erica until we bid her goodbye at 1230.  We needed to head back to the Hilton to wait on the Ryans.  Before she left, we invited Erica and her brother, Simon, if interested and available, to join us upon our return from Uluru for our last night's dinner in Sydney.  I was going to try to make a reservation at the Sydney Opera House's Bennelong Restaurant.  Back at the Holiday Inn, the folks at reception were helping me with making a reservation at Bennelong for 1730 on Wednesday, 9/20, for 4.  Texted that to Erica and she said she'd love to make it and would check on Simon.

As I was in the middle of doing this at the lobby's reception desk, I felt a tap on my shoulder... I turned my head to look and saw a familiar face that did not immediately register, until I did a double-take - it was Gearoid!  Offered up my apologies for not being able to chat some at the moment and he headed over to some lobby chairs to wait.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rosie come out of the elevator at that moment, having stashed our Market 'booty' in our room.  She spotted Gearoid and kids and made over for a joyous reunion - they haven't seen each other since Rosie was bouncing Gearoid on her knee when back when in Ireland!

Needless to say Rosie was extremely excited and happy to finally see Gearoid after all these years, as was I, and to meet his kids: adorable and mature, Maeve, and; precocious and mischievous, Sam! We took a little time in the lobby to get re-acquainted and shared the gifts we'd brought along for the 3 of them.  Sam loved his candy and dinosaur egg but, he was more interested in Maeve's sequined purse Rosie had gotten for her.  That purse would end up being 'footballed' around for most of the day. We'd heard that the kids, particularly Maeve, really loved the Botanical Gardens so that's the direction we decided to head towards via CQ and the Opera House.  On our way to the Gardens, took advantage of at least one of the celebrity impersonators at CQ, 'Crocodile Dundee.' Took a group photo of all the kin.

Sam's got a ton of energy, much of which he directs towards tormenting his big sister. You can see that they're best of friends and thorns in each others sides, all at once.  Although, superficially, it would seem that Sam gets the best of Maeve most often, I wasn't fooled, Maeve can give as good as she gets.  As the day wore on, we had a lot of fun interacting with them throughout the Gardens.  I was very cognizant of the fact that Rosie and Gearoid were enjoying each others company catching up, filling in the history gaps time tends to create when you're away from loved ones and, wanted to do what I could to keep distractions - Sam primarily - out of their bubble. Did so by rough housing with Sam quite a bit.  Believe I enjoyed playing as much as he did - at least I hope so.

Gearoid is a great guy and better father.  I likely him immediately.  He's easy-going with an engaging personality.  Patient and loving with his kids, he cares for them deeply.  As we meandered our way through the Botanical Gardens, the kids were starting to get hungry as it was past noon.  Headed over to the Cafe and treated everyone to lunch:  Gearoid chose a cChicken sandwich; Rosie, the pumpkin feta wrap; me, the beef brisket burger; Maeve, the fish and chips (x2), and; Sam, the chicken fingers (x2) - they were hungry. While they went to find a nice place to sit and have lunch on the Garden's grounds, I waited for and picked up our lunches.  Rosie had picked the exact spot we picnicked at yesterday with Jan.  It's the perfect spot, tree shade and plenty of sun too.  We made a short video and Rosie posted it to Facebook for all of our families to see.  Lunch consumed, we continued with our stroll.

Made our way towards Mrs. Macquarie's bench - it's becoming a familiar stopping point for us - taking photos all along the way including a great family photo of Gearoid, Maeve and Sam all on the old seawall.  Continued on around the boardwalk back to the Opera House, carousing around the entire way.  By the time we'd reached the Opera House, Sam needed to take a biology break, so we went down to the public toilets by the Opera House Kitchen.  On the way out, we'd gone about 75yds away when I realized I'd left my camera on a table back on the lower concourse! We all took off running back to the table and, with immense relief, found the camera was still there!  Was a very crowded day and I was amazed the camera hadn't walked.

At the top of the Quay, treated the kids to some gelato which held them until we made it back to the Mercantile where Gearoid treated Rosie and I to a round of adult beverages.  We'd talked about the difference between exported Guinness and Guinness in Ireland.  Guinness in Ireland was smooth, full-bodied, no after taste and, just buttery good.  The Guinness I'd had in the U.S. always reminded me of burnt soy sauce - not good.  But, just to see how Guinness fared in Australia, we both gave it a go.  It wasn't very good, Gearoid agreed.  Tasted just like Guinness in the U.S.  No matter was still good enough but, nothing I'd request again here in Oz.  while we were relaxing in the Mercantile's outside bar area, Rosie was able to successfully call Una Ryan, Gearoid's sister, via the Facebook messenger app... one of them started crying, believe it was Una first, and then the next thing you know, Rosie's crying and all the grown ups are getting teary-eyed.  Heartfelt tears of Joy!  It was a very sweet moment, even though we couldn't hear Una well - there was a very good and loud Irish lass singing in the Mercantile bar - while we passed the iPhone around to say hello and send our love.
We also called Gearoid's mum, Aunt Peggy, she was in bed and we couldn't hear her over the noise either.  She tried calling us back but, we all missed the call because we didn't hear her ringing in!  The Ryan's have an amazing, loving and supportive family.  They are good people and I'm glad to be a part of the family!

It was getting late in the afternoon and a bit cooler.  After finishing our drinks, we walked back to the Holiday Inn, retrieved the other gifts we had for Maeve and Sam, Gearoid's Gerber multi-tool,
and bid them a happy/sad farewell with our best wishes and prayers. Another really memorable visit!

Rosie and I hurried back upstairs and quickly separated out the luggage we'd be leaving behind at the Holiday Inn Airport near Mascot Station for safe keeping while we visited Uluru. Excess baggage in hand, walked over to CQ and jumped on the T2 train to Mascot Station.  We exited Mascot Station and made a left onto Bourke Street.  Three blocks later we were in the lobby of the Holiday Inn having our 3 pieces of luggage tagged and stored for us.  We were relieved... even though we'd been reassured by the staff at Holiday Inn, the Rocks, that it wouldn't be a problem, until we actually made it happen, we'd had some doubt.  Relieved of our burden, headed back to Mascot Station and trained back to CQ.  Back at the hotel for our last night in downtown Sydney by 1930.

We weren't hungry after the great day we'd had with Erica and the Ryans so, passed on dinner. Worked on this blog and retired a little early.  It's gonna be another long, busy, adventurous day of travel and discovery for us on the 'morrow!!

Fuji