The Rocks

Sunday was the final day of the conference, and Chad and I were excited to explore outside of Darling Harbor.  We got an early start and caught some of the morning sessions, including one of the most interesting ones, called “Messages from Chernobyl”, in which the speaker talked about the liner non-threshold radiation risk diagram, and how – really – it’s false.  I’m sure that means absolutely nothing to those of you in any other profession besides Radiology, so… moving on…

After having our minds woken up by these final early sessions, Chad and I hurried back to the room to kick off our heels and our fancy clothes, put on our walking shoes, and went out to explore!!  Our first stop was Circular Quay, where we would explore “The Rocks”, and see those iconic monuments of The Sydney Harbor Bridge and The Opera House.

The ferry was a welcome difference from the usual trains and busses, and totally worth the fare. We wandered through the gorgeous streets of “The Rocks”, admiring the kooky little alleyways, the amazing stones, and funky old buildings. We wandered through the market, and devoured some “Mini Monet Cupcakes” (that almost came close to Norwood’s “Cupcake Café”). We oogled at the bridge, and were surprisingly unimpressed with the Famous Opera House (surrounded by Construction, I might add). 

By far, the most impressive area of Circular Quay was the Botanic Gardens.  The gardens are ENORMOUS, and seem to stretch on forever, and they would definitely be somewhere I would spend a lot of time if I lived here.  They were green, gorgeous, and full of amazing little creatures.  I was SO excited to see my first wild Kookaburra wildly trying to crack a big nut at the base of a gum tree.  And then, to top things off, we got to the café which was nestled beneath some trees housing hundreds of enormous flying foxes!!!  Branches filled with brown furry bats hanging upside down, stretching their enormous black wings and bouncing around with their claws.

To top off first “touristy” night, we had booked a dinner cruise on “Sydney’s only and oldest) authentic wooden 3-mast tall ship”.  With a light drizzle, and a chill in the air, we sailed around the harbor admiring the city lights.  Although the overall experience left a lot to be desired – not to mention that there were a few real jerks on board – it was still a nice, enjoyable evening. We had “snags”(hotdogs) & peel-your-own prawns on board, and after we disembarked and ferried back to Darling, we treated ourselves to some good ol’ American deserts at the Hard Rock Café… which I won’t go in to detail on how quickly we devoured them!