Today was our last full day in Sydney so we spent most of it wrapping up the last few places we wanted to hit before departing for Melbourne on Monday.
Started the day just like the days before with breakfast at the hotel. Turns out that we’ve been eating the “full” breakfast all along so good to know! Coffee at Starbucks for wifi leeching.
However, upon arrival at Starbucks we learned that their credit card processing was unavailable! Oh no, we’d need to understand local money! Off to the ATM at the train station to pull out AUD $20. The bills are about the same size, but multi-colored and with a little clear window in the one corner. I guess that’s for spying on others at the cafe with. Back to Starbucks we went and re-ordered our coffee. I handed over the money and received AUD $13.10 back. That turned out to be one AUD $10 bill and three coins: $1, $2, and $0.10. With that limited exposure I’ve concluded that amounts greater than AUD $10 are paper, amounts less than that are coins. Coins are further divided into gold colored for amounts greater than AUD $1 and silver for less than. If I need to pay with the money again I’ll hopefully get a chance to verify my suspicions.
After Starbucks we wandered over to The Rocks where they have a Saturday & Sunday artisan market, much like the Saturday Market in Portland. We were on the hunt for budgerigar pieces, but nothing was to be had. Also, we were looking for presents for family and friends, but things we wanted to get we wouldn’t have been able to bring back to the States.
After the market we walked back across town to the Barracks at Hyde Park to resume the historical part of our trip. Very interesting background on the building, its uses through time, and relation to the history of colonial Australia.
Wrapping up there we prowled around the Royal Botanical Gardens again where we were treated to parrot chaos and a freak thunderstorm and downpour. The rain definitely pulled at heart strings since I miss the colossal thunderstorms in the Midwest — ones that would shake the house as they rumbled through.
Back to the hotel to take a break from walking and then a quick run out for dinner.
We fly out early tomorrow for Melbourne so hopefully I’ll finally be able to sync up those pictures at the airport and start adding some visuals to the long winded ramblings.