This morning, I waited till 9 for the YHA travel office to open, and am I ever glad I did. My photocopied sort of breakfast vouchers didn't even work right there in the hostel, so I didn't have much faith that my sighseeing vouchers were going to work, either. The Travel office said the vouchers were at the hostel all along, they just couldn't find them... which was the truth. The manager knew I was very, very frustrated, so refunded me $50 right on the spot. Good stuff, but I still wasn't certain that my vouchers were going to work today. She said they would, and sent me on my way. Sure enough, I got to the sightseeing bus, and for sure they did not work. So back to YHA Travel, who apologized profusely again, and finally wrote out new vouchers for both my red bus and the harbour cruise. I also talked to the hostel manager, who was flabbergasted with all the problems I had. So she refunded me my accommodation, and apologized for all the inconvenience. She even refunded the cost of the night harbour dinner cruise I bought myself on Sunday night. It cost me an hour of my time this morning, but all was resolved as best as it could be. I said it would be nice if I could stash my backpack without having to pay, and they even did that, too.

I finally got on the red bus sightseeing, which is a hop on, hop off bus. I took it all around to many of the sights I saw through my rain splattered glasses on Sunday. The nice man said 'Hang on to your ticket, you'll need it to get back on the bus'. This part is very important to the story! I got off at 'The Rocks', the original location of the convicts, and had a self guided walking tour, since I missed the touris one by 10 minutes! This is a recurring theme through the day. It was a gorgeous day today, and I took many, many photos... too bad I'm not in any of them! The self guided walking tour was great, the map was great, people are very friendly, etc. I bought myself a very small pair of crystal opal earrings, that was my big splurge! I got back to the spot to pick up the red bus, and of course, had lost my ticket. I knew that was going to happen! I sweet talked the bus driver, and told him my long sad story of my visit to Sydney, and he let me back on, no worries. He just said 'don't tell anyone'. Oops, I guess I did!

The bus transferred to another one that did a loop out to Bondi. It's a beach. There were lots of people there surfing. All with wetsuits on! Just like home! The bus dumped us back at Kings Cross, where you can pay to watch pretty much any kind of depravity you want! This is the location that Michelle and Kaitlin got put up in for a month when they first got posted to Sydney in 96... sweet.

Got back to the city proper, which isn't far... everything is fairly close. Missed my 3 o'clock harbour cruise by 6 minutes! So I hoofed it back to the hostel to get my pack, and hopefully catch the 4pm. My estimated sprint back to the hostel of 25 minutes turned out to be 45, because of all the damn tourists (!). I had 15 minutes to get back to Circular Quay, so I grabbed a cab... and he got me there with about a minute to spare! Thank the gods they had beer on that harbour cruise!

The cruise itself was really nice. It was almost sunset, though, so the light wasn't the best. I think I may have even gotten a picture of me in front of the Opera House this time out!

After the hour harbour cruise, I had to run back to the train station to make sure I was at the airport on time. Transportation here is a real treat, it is SO EASY to get around! I left the harbour cruise at 5, and I was checked in here at the airport at 5:27. Amazing. Vancouver could learn a thing from Sydney, for sure.

So here I am, safe and sound, at the domestic terminal of Sydney, with lots of time so spare. That's the first time all day that has happened! I board at 18:50.

Sydney was nice, but I can't say I'm sorry to be leaving. Darwin, here I come! And Drew, I'll see you the DAY AFTER TOMORROW! WOO HOO!!