Hall-Reppens in Singapore: Taking the Sydney Monorail to Darling Harbor

Thursday night was our last night in Sydney. After our Bridge Climb, we headed down to the harbor. This would be our last chance to see the Opera House lit up. Plus, we had seen scaffolding going up as we headed to the bridge. Nobody could tell us with certainty whether there would be fireworks that evening. I love fireworks, and would hate to miss a show due to uncertainty. We got to see a beautiful full moon rising over the Opera House, but alas, there were no fireworks. The scaffolding was for a large tent that was being set up. The highlight of this visit, though, was a slightly inebriated American girl. She was walking along with her friends, and said quite loudly, "I'm in Sydney, I'm partying, and I'm living the dream!" Words to live by.

I had seen an article that said that June 30, 2013, would be the last day of operation for the Sydney Monorail. It had only been in operation for 25 years, so I don't know the reason for its demise. I don't know if it was low ridership, or high maintenance cost, or easier ways to get to the destinations. I do know that the Chinatown Station was already closed.

Erin and I decided to take the monorail to Darling Harbor that evening, as we would never have that chance again. Tyron, our Bridge Climb guide, had told us that we had to make the complete circuit before we got off, so we could see the whole of Downtown Sydney. We followed his advice, despite the fact that Erin was starving.

When we got off at Darling Harbor, we ran into quite a few revelers, still celebrating ANZAC Day. We wandered around the pier until we found the Italian restaurant that we had seen on our Cook's Cruise. We knew it was the right place, because the courtyard was enclosed by large red, white and green flower urns. Erin also followed her nose. (She has a very good sense of smell!)

The restaurant wasn't really crowded, for its size, but it did appear to have several people who needed to get some food into their systems, and it did seem a bit understaffed. It didn't matter, though, because Erin and I each had 2 glasses of wine, and Erin had a great dish of gnocchi, and I had the best lasagna I'd eaten since I left the States! And, it was veggie lasagna, not meat lasagna, so that made it even more surprising. Happily, I saved 1/2 for my breakfast the next morning.

As we got back to the monorail, there was a big group of young people which had been celebrating for the better part of the day. At the back of the group was a guy on a bicycle. They were pretty much blocking the whole entrance. Erin skated to the left, going between the bike, the ticket booth, and a garbage can. I tried to follow suit, but I wiped out the garbage can! I tried to deftly pick it up, but the top came off, and things spilled out of it. I tried to pick it up again, with better results. Then the woman in the ticket booth came out to help me. She yelled at the guy with the bike, saying, "Move yer bike out of the way, ya stupid b@#$%@^d!" The Australian people are amazing! They could be so helpful, answering questions, and even going out of their way to lead you to the correct place, but they have such potty mouths! The F-bombs drop like mother's milk! I can't even count how many I heard as I walked down the streets of Sydney. And they didn't even need to be angry. It would just be a descriptive term. Anyway, by the time I reached Erin, she was laughing so hard she was going to pee her pants! Luckily, she had hand sanitizer for me to use to rid myself of the remnants of the refuse. We laughed for our whole last monorail trip!