I’m already mourning at the idea of leaving this wonderful city. There is so much to see and do here in Sydney, and it is safe, generally clean, has great public transportation and is so walkable. I think we could easily spend a few more weeks here. Alas, our final full day has arrived, and tomorrow we head out early to catch our flight to Australian state number four (of the five we will visit while here), Tasmania!

The Rocks

We had a lovely brunch this morning at the Walrus Cafe from a recommendation given to us by a fellow cruise ship passenger from Sydney. From there we took the train back to the harbor area, and set out on foot to explore The Rocks. The Rocks is Sydney’s historic harbourside neighborhood, that was the site of Australia’s first European settlement in 1788. Today it is full of cool pubs and shops and hotels. We stopped and had a beverage this afternoon at Sydney’s oldest pub, Fortune of War.

Crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Q: Why did the LeBeaus cross the bridge?

A: … to get to the other side?? <message us your reasons!>

The massive Sydney Harbour Bridge, completed in 1932, is made of steel, and is almost as iconic for many as the Opera House. It can be crossed underneath by boat, of course, but on the bridge they have car and bus lanes, a pedestrian path, and train (subway) tracks, as well as an option to climb up the steel staircases on the side of the bridge and go OVER the bridge itself on foot (https://www.bridgeclimb.com/). I love heights and am really adventurous so I originally thought that was the way I would cross the Harbour Bridge, but my poor 50+ year old knees said “Don’t push it, chick!”, and when they talk, I listen. So, we settled for a good, old fashioned easy 1.9 km stroll across the bridge. The views from the bridge are great, and given that the weather was in the 80s today, we appreciated the strong breeze as we walked.

Paddington Reservoir Gardens

Once we reached North Sydney (on the other side of the bridge) we walked to the train station to head to our next destination today: Paddington Reservoir Gardens. The Paddington Reservoir is a heritage-listed park designed by Edward Bell and built from 1864 to 1866 to operate as a water reservoir. It later closed and in 2006 the city converted the site into a sunken garden and park. I had read about it in a travel blog last year, and it was really cool to see it with my own eyes. They also used part of the park as display areas for a local photography art contest right now, which I loved seeing.

We left the gardens and did some more walking around the city as we headed to a train station, passing the huge cricket and rugby arenas. Here are a few more interesting sights from our walk:

Door Dash Order: Day 4 – Misdelivery Vs. Foul Play: Enquiring Minds Want to Know

It’s stilllll hereeeeee… we’re on Day 4 of DoorDash-gate. Thanks to some gentle prompts by our alert readers (I’m calling on you, Leta and Tiffany!), we were urged to do some further investigation into this mystery delivery that has been sitting just inside our locked building entranceway for four days now. Questions are buzzing through our minds: Why is it here? Where did it come from? How did it get into the locked building? Is this order related to the mystery boxes that have also been sitting in the lobby since we arrived five days ago? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ORDERER? For that matter, what happened to the delivery guy or gal?!

Using our finest detective skills (aka willingness to touch the bag), we read the receipt on the bag and learned that this was indeed a food order from a nearby Chinese restaurant that had been picked up by Hungry Panda. Further investigation (Google) revealed that Hungry Panda is a local Asian food delivery service. Extensive research (Reddit) revealed that this particular food delivery service in Sydney is well known for mis-delivering food orders (we’ve renamed them from Hungry Panda to Rotting Panda). Hmmmm… so the plot thickens. We still have so many questions left unanswered. Might have to start a go-fund me for our return to Sydney until we can crack the case. After all, there might be foul play involved!! Can we trust the Sydney police with this delicate matter? They, who have left this putried bag to rot for four days with not a single bit of police presence or investigation?! I think not!

Until tomorrow, we bid you g’day, and thanks for adventuring with us us!