Robert's Travels

This was the day we returned to Sydney. We got up around 7:00, had breakfast, and packed our things. We had a leisurely chat with Jeff and Marilyn over coffee, and then got into the car around 9:00. They took us for a bit of drive to Lake Macquarie, a saltwater lake just south of Newcastle that connects into the ocean. We got out and walked around the lake for about 30 minutes - it was a bit cooler than yesterday, but the wind had died down so with the sun out it was a nice temperature. We got back in the car and they drove us to our next destination, the Blackbutt Nature Reserve. This small zoo was located in a park near Kotara, and had a small selection of animals that we could see as we walked along an elevated pathway. We saw wallabys, koalas, red-tailed black cockatoos, finches, king parrots, barking owls, black-winged stilts, emus, and kangaroos. It was a pretty nice little setup; it was interesting to learn that Jeff used to run a feed supply business that supplied birdseed and other food to the city that was used to feed these animals. We spent about 30 minutes here before getting back in the car.

Our train back to Sydney was scheduled to depart from Fassifern Station at 13:05, so we finished the morning by having a snack of coffee and pastries with Jeff and Marilyn. We drove to a mall that was located between the nature reserve and the station, and went a coffee shop they enjoy. After our snack we drove on to Fassifern Station where we were dropped off at the platform. We ended up arriving in time to catch the 12:45 train, so we said our goodbyes and got onto the train.

As we were travelling back to Sydney I watched the Chris Pratt movie ‘Passengers’, while Todd alternated between reading and napping. Our train arrived at Central Station just after 15:00, and after disembarking we began walking towards the last place we’d be staying on the trip - an AirBnB in the Surry Hills district. This AirBnB was only a 15 minute walk from Central station, and it was pretty easy to get there with our suitcases. I had booked an AirBnB that was only a block from Oxford Street, which runs through the main gay district of Sydney. We had chosen the location to make it easy to wander, and to make it easy to go out dancing Saturday evening. Our check in was scheduled at 16:00, however we arrived at the location just after 15:20. In order to kill some time we went into an Aldi grocery store that was just around the corner to get some snacks, then did a bit of planning for our remaining days here in Sydney. We ended up getting into the apartment just at 16:00. It was a pretty nice place - it wasn’t huge but it had a separate bedroom, it was clean and it was well located. Once we were settled into the AirBnB I pulled out my laptop, connected to the Wi-Fi, and booked us a car rental for the next day. This small chore out of the way, we connected to a VPN and watched the Ru-Union episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race - Season 11. It had aired the week previous, and our previous accommodations didn’t have Internet fast enough to stream it. Luckily the Internet at this AirBnB was pretty fast so we were able to get through the episode with only minor buffering.

After finishing the episode we did some searching on Google Maps to find a place to eat dinner. We settled on a Vietnamese restaurant named Xage, and shortly after 18:00 we left the AirBnB to get some dinner. The walk from the AirBnB to Xage only took ten minutes, but with the sun down and the wind up we got a bit cool. When we arrived the restaurant was pretty empty, which meant that the food came quickly after ordering. We both enjoyed the dishes we chose (Todd had a chicken stir-fry dish while I had a beef stir-fry), and then we left. Our next destination was a cowboy cocktail bar I had found on Google while looking for meal choices, named the Shady Pines Saloon. The bar was only supposed to be a 5 minute walk from the restaurant, however we ended up missing the door to the place on our first try and it took us a bit to finally find it. The bar didn’t have any signs out front - the only way we knew it was the correct place was they had their liquor license posted on what was otherwise a completely blank white storefront with an unmarked metal door. I took a chance, opened the door, and stepped into an entrance way that felt like it belonged in an old American Western, which signalled our arrival at the bar.

We went downstairs into a very country-themed bar, complete with stuffed animal heads mounted on the walls. We found ourselves a table at the back, and then went up to place our drink orders at the bar. The bar was supposed to be known for their whisky, so I ordered an Old Fashioned, while Todd chose their ‘Plum Delicious’ specialty cocktail. The bartender was meticulous while making our drinks, then served them to us in a pair of fancy glasses. We returned to our seats and enjoyed our cocktails and the ambience of the bar. It wasn’t super busy, as it was 19:00 on a Thursday, but there was a pretty reasonable crowd. We left after we had finished the drink.

We stopped by the Aldi again our way back to the apartment, and picked up some breakfast and lunch supplies for the next few days. We got back to the AirBnB, did a bit of reading, then headed to an early bed in anticipation of an early wake-up the next day.