RiverCats and exploring the Sydney Harbour Bridge

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We had about 28 hours in Sydney before heading to the airport.  After lugging our bags up numerous stairs, we made it to the bed and breakfast in The Rocks, where we found we were on the third floor (more stairs).  We dumped the luggage, and took advantage of our location, right next to another set of stairs that leads to the walkway along and over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

So we've ridden bicycles across the bridge, and took a bus that drove across.  We've been under it on numerous walks, and the ferries and tour boats give you a good perspective from underneath.  But we had never walked across.  There's a good breeze, so a warm day shouldn't keep you from making this trip.  And it is free.  If you have the time and money, you can walk over the inner (about $160 AUD) or outer rim (about $300 AUD) of the bridge, or climb one of the pylons ($15 AUD).  Jeez... or you can rent a bike for about $25 AUD and ride across, or walk for free, and use your money for other things.  It's a bridge, not the Matterhorn.  


We found a quirky lunch cafe (the Celcius) near one of the ferry docks in North Sydney.  Great vegetarian options.  Then, back over the bridge to walk around The Rocks (the original settlement site for England's colonizing criminals), visited a Coles grocery store in central Sydney to pick up dinner supplies, then back to The Rocks where we had scoped out a spot for wi-fi and a beer.



Oh, we also found our first automated public toilet!

The voice in this automated toilet tells you that you have 10 minutes, then the door opens!
The next day, we walked to Circular Quay, wandered around the Royal Botanic Gardens, and took a RiverCat ferry up the Parramatta River as far as it would take us.  We motored past Cockatoo Island and could see some of the venues for the 2000 Olympic Games.  Finally, the river narrowed, and the last 30 minutes we were going 7 knots through an urban mangrove forest, to the final Parramatta stop.  Then, back down the river, a dash to our B&B, and an Uber ride to the airport.  Alas, no cats anywhere.  And we were looking!






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This device is supposed to keep the flying foxes (fruit bats) from roosting.

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