It didn't rain! It didn't rain! For the first time in a looooooooong time it didn't rain on my weekend off! Yesterday (Saturday) was sunny and hot and nice and wonderful. It was so nice that it wasn't smashing rain. I took the train into the city in the afternoon to do some sight seeing and then see the Mardi Gras (Gay Pride) parade. It was a good day.
I took the train to the city and walked to Darling Harbour. Darling
Harbour is a very touristy area and is usually a hub of activity both during the day and in the night. I went to the visitor centre because I wanted to get a few maps. Turns out I need a damn map to find the stupid visitor centre. It was so hard to find! Once I found it it proved to be pretty useless anyway. I had high hopes because the one in Melbourne was so awesome and I got a lot of good information from it. I didn't find much at this one. But I did get a small map of around the harbour area, which was good enough for the day. I actually lucked in because they were having the Chinese New Year dragon boat races in the harbour. So I was able to sit and watch some of those for a while. Then I decided to take a trip on the monorail. Every time I think of the monorail I think of the Simpsons, hehe. So I walked up to the Harbourside monorail station and bought myself a daypass for $9.50. With the day pass you can get on and off the monorail as many times as you want for the whole day, so I figured it would be worth the money. I took the monorail from Harbourside to Paddy's Market. Paddy's Market is a really big indoor market not unlike the Parklea Market that I go to beside the house. I walked around a bit, but not a whole lot. I bought a bag and a cheap pair of sunglasses, and then headed back to the monorail. I was going to take it to Chinatown. So I flashed my pass and sat down on the bench to wait for the train, which runs every 3-5 mins. I s
at and I waited.......and I waited......and then I looked at my watch, then I wondered where the hell the train was. Then the ticket guy made an announcement that the train was shut down for now and to proceed to the ticket counter for refunds. I was dissapointed but when to get my money back. Then the fellow behind the counter told me that they weren't refunding day passes. To which I replied "The hell you aren't!" You see I had only had my day pass for one hour and had used it once, so I feel that I was indeed entitled to my money back. After a breif argument the ticket agent told me that he couldn't give me back all of the money because I already used it. So he gave me back $8.75! I guess that is the cost of a power trip these days 75 cents, lol. I figured if it made him feel better to keep my 75 cents then he could go ahead and sleep that night, lol.
Harbour is a very touristy area and is usually a hub of activity both during the day and in the night. I went to the visitor centre because I wanted to get a few maps. Turns out I need a damn map to find the stupid visitor centre. It was so hard to find! Once I found it it proved to be pretty useless anyway. I had high hopes because the one in Melbourne was so awesome and I got a lot of good information from it. I didn't find much at this one. But I did get a small map of around the harbour area, which was good enough for the day. I actually lucked in because they were having the Chinese New Year dragon boat races in the harbour. So I was able to sit and watch some of those for a while. Then I decided to take a trip on the monorail. Every time I think of the monorail I think of the Simpsons, hehe. So I walked up to the Harbourside monorail station and bought myself a daypass for $9.50. With the day pass you can get on and off the monorail as many times as you want for the whole day, so I figured it would be worth the money. I took the monorail from Harbourside to Paddy's Market. Paddy's Market is a really big indoor market not unlike the Parklea Market that I go to beside the house. I walked around a bit, but not a whole lot. I bought a bag and a cheap pair of sunglasses, and then headed back to the monorail. I was going to take it to Chinatown. So I flashed my pass and sat down on the bench to wait for the train, which runs every 3-5 mins. I s
at and I waited.......and I waited......and then I looked at my watch, then I wondered where the hell the train was. Then the ticket guy made an announcement that the train was shut down for now and to proceed to the ticket counter for refunds. I was dissapointed but when to get my money back. Then the fellow behind the counter told me that they weren't refunding day passes. To which I replied "The hell you aren't!" You see I had only had my day pass for one hour and had used it once, so I feel that I was indeed entitled to my money back. After a breif argument the ticket agent told me that he couldn't give me back all of the money because I already used it. So he gave me back $8.75! I guess that is the cost of a power trip these days 75 cents, lol. I figured if it made him feel better to keep my 75 cents then he could go ahead and sleep that night, lol. After that I headed over to Chinatown on foot. Lucky for me they were having a market there too! I am a sucker for a good market and cheap shit :). So I strolled through the people having a look at all the interesting things. I saw one guy making noodles, and that was pretty cool, and I just looked around the area. I walked around Chinatown a bit, but didn't go too far, then I headed towards the Chinese Gardens. I walked through Tumbalong Park and took a few pictures, and looked at the Ibis' in the park. Then I went to the gate of the gardens. That is as far as I got was the gate for you see, it costs $10 to enter the Chinese Gardens. So I was unwilling to pay this price to look at a garden that should be free so I snapped a few pics of the koi in the pond and a couple of pagodas and carried on. I walked around a bit more, stopped and had a beer and then headed toward the parade route.
Well Sir! They had sai
d on the radio to get there early because of all the people. So since I am fron the land of hardly any people I figured if I got there around sixish that I would be good. The parade didn't start until 7:45pm. I figured it would be along wait on the side of the road, but worth it to have a front row seat for the parade. Boy oh boy how wrong was I! I waited for Chris and Anna (A German nanny and her boyfriend) so we didn't end up on the parade route until 6:20ish. There were so many people that I couldn't even see the road. There were at least 4 or more rows of people infront of us on each side of the road. The estimated about 100,000 people to show for the event, but it was wayyyyy more then that I think. So I end
ed up paying $10 for a stool to stand on to see the parade. It was good because we found a spot that we could see very well on the stools, although by the end my legs and feet killed from standing up on that thing. It was still over and hour befor the parade even started so we sat down and chatted while we waited. The Dykes on Bikes kicked off the parade with a wonderful ride through on their motorcycles. The crowd really erupted for them and they really kicked up the energy level that is for sure. The energy at the parade was awesome! Everyone was there to have a good time. Once the parade started it was a cornucopia of lights, glitter, sequence, dance music and screaming. It was great! I love love love
d that floats and all the costumes. They really put a lot of hard work into it, that is for sure. We watched the different displays go by and enjoyed all the hype. There was even a Canadian Mountie carrying a Canadian flag! We left before the parade had ended in order to beat the thousands of people to the train. Plus I was glad we left when we did because things were starting to turn. I saw glass being thrown, tons of drunk people, the riot squad going somewhere in a hurry and a bus with a slashed tire. I think it was best we got the hell outta dodge before things got ugly. So I took the train home and climbed into bed.
d on the radio to get there early because of all the people. So since I am fron the land of hardly any people I figured if I got there around sixish that I would be good. The parade didn't start until 7:45pm. I figured it would be along wait on the side of the road, but worth it to have a front row seat for the parade. Boy oh boy how wrong was I! I waited for Chris and Anna (A German nanny and her boyfriend) so we didn't end up on the parade route until 6:20ish. There were so many people that I couldn't even see the road. There were at least 4 or more rows of people infront of us on each side of the road. The estimated about 100,000 people to show for the event, but it was wayyyyy more then that I think. So I end
ed up paying $10 for a stool to stand on to see the parade. It was good because we found a spot that we could see very well on the stools, although by the end my legs and feet killed from standing up on that thing. It was still over and hour befor the parade even started so we sat down and chatted while we waited. The Dykes on Bikes kicked off the parade with a wonderful ride through on their motorcycles. The crowd really erupted for them and they really kicked up the energy level that is for sure. The energy at the parade was awesome! Everyone was there to have a good time. Once the parade started it was a cornucopia of lights, glitter, sequence, dance music and screaming. It was great! I love love love
d that floats and all the costumes. They really put a lot of hard work into it, that is for sure. We watched the different displays go by and enjoyed all the hype. There was even a Canadian Mountie carrying a Canadian flag! We left before the parade had ended in order to beat the thousands of people to the train. Plus I was glad we left when we did because things were starting to turn. I saw glass being thrown, tons of drunk people, the riot squad going somewhere in a hurry and a bus with a slashed tire. I think it was best we got the hell outta dodge before things got ugly. So I took the train home and climbed into bed.Today is Sunday and very shortly I am heading back into the city to check into my hostel for the night. I had to find accomodation for the night because tomorrow is by big naked photo sesh. The only thing is I have to be there at 4am! I am sooooo not looking forward to that part, but I think it will all be an experience. I will let you all know how it goes.
Peace!
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