Sleep is right

One of the things I do when on proper holiday, not manic holiday, is recreationally sleep. So even having fixed my jet lag a bit, and in a house full of activity with two young kids off to daycare and school, I slept in til 1100 on Tuesday. It were bliss. And actually this happened most days. There's really not much in my plans for Sydney to be honest - it's my 7th visit, to my family, I'm staying in a suburban house, and it doesn't feel foreign at all. This is not least because they drive on the left, as they had in Bali and Malaysia. I hadn't realised before this trip just how much familiarity and sovereignty I attach to left driving countries. If you drive on the queen's side of the road, you ain't foreign. You're easy to navigate on foot and that means I am home.

Started off listening to a couple of Steve Austin podcasts, he interviews current WWE stars without staying in character or storyline and it's super interesting. And then I went shopping. I needed to buy some running shoes because there wasn't enough space in my bags for mine, and I was due to do parkrun on Saturday. Naturally this meant I had to wear my RUNNING SUCKS nike t-shirt. Bought a pair, failed to buy a hat, and went down to neutral bay wharf for a boat to the city.

From there I was actually going to do something new and touristy - a trip to Cockatoo Island. You get there by public transport, but it's an old historic island full of convict stories and shipbuilding works and etc. It's great, a self guided non-audio tour around quarries and old shipyards and prison cells and officers' quarters, the lot. One of the convict stories is about an escape in 1863 about a guy who had been sentenced to 7 years in 1856. Are they sure he wasn't just y'know, let free?

Cockatoo island also has Sydney's only pub/bar on an island, which did not publish its opening hours on the pamphlet nor at the venue itself, but only on the website. Which told me it wasn't open on Mondays and Tuesdays. Fail. And the boat had a replacement bus service schedule poster. It's an island. Bus?

A GIANT cruise ship had come in overnight. Took a few photos for Chris.

More shopping. It's all very well buying a new ipad but when it's a different size to your last one, you need a case. The girl behind the till asked me where I'd bought my shirt, and was about the 5th person to comment on it after the old woman who refused to run after her blown-away coke can, the school kids who'd said "running doesn't suck!" and the chugger who was so distraught that I wasn't local and fleeceable.

Back home after an ice cream, for more tea time and bedtime chaos followed by an argument about whether natural talent exists. It does. Kevin is wrong.

Another lazy day on Wednesday, another midday start. Kept racking up the boat rides with a trip to Watsons Bay, essentially an OAP day out just for fish and chips at Doyle's. Oh my god, they were so worth it. Had to wait 45 minutes for the return ferry as they seem to take a lunch break, and on the way back there was a pretty decent Red Arrows style display over the harbour. Popped round to Darling Harbour for the microbrewery which served a very decent stout, and realised I've never had a Guinness in Sydney, or at least not one I could recall.

Got the Manly Ferry back, and the free wifi forced you to fill out a poll before it activated. Did I support their application for a licence to serve booze? Would I be a likely purchaser of booze? Quickly checked that the pope still shits in the woods and bears are catholic, failed to find the OF FUCKING COURSE option.

Thursday, also not overly busy. The UK weather had kicked in now, so that when I left the house to walk to Manly the rain was hotter than the shower I'd just had. The wind was grim too, so my original plan to meet Kevin for external pie at Harry's Cafe de Wheels suddenly turned into a solo jaunt to The Australian for kangaroo pizza and a beer made by a brewery younger than 12 months old, which was called Wayward Charmer and was DELICIOUS. This would, presumably, be my last day on the sauce, since I had a 6am start for a 5km run scheduled for Saturday, and flying on Sunday without wanting to be hungover. That probably explains why I had 2 gins and 2 whiskeys back at the house.