My alarm didn’t go off because the alarm app had adjusted the time the alarm went off i.e. it had changed it from 07:00 to 09:00, I must remember that in future. I had no breakfast so I headed over the road to a shopping centre, for a coffee and pastry. I found the bus stop but quickly realised buses these days don’t take cash, so I went back to the shops to buy one from the newsagents. I got a free card and loaded it with $20 and I would see how long that lasted.
I did not have long to wait, the T62 stopped and we traveled the short distance through Seven Hills, to the stop at Joseph Banks where the 607X stopped and would take me on the M2 all the way to the city center. I oriented myself and decided to walk around to Circular Wharf, my walk was interrupted by a crane being assembled so I stopped and watched for 10 minutes. They were lifting some heavy bits which included the cab up to to top of a building.
I was watching the crane from a train station so I used that to go one stop round. I got off right at the wharf where it was all happening all sorts of people about, to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House as was I. I got my pictures and headed for the Botanical Park where it was a bit less busy. The park was a gem and plenty of flowers were blooming. I grabbed a bird leaflet from the information hut, by the time I leave Oz I will have a complete bird list made up of leaflets. It will save carrying a thick volume about full of more birds I am unlikely to see that those I would.
I decided to get a boat part way back my residence, it would be a similar journey time but more interesting. I got the 15:07 boat to Parramatta it stopped off at various points and at the last wharf there is a single bus that goes north to where I was staying. The sun has swung round by that time and the mist/haze earlier had cleared, the opera House was in the sun and the bridge clearer. It was quite cold from my prime seat at the front outside but worth ensuring for the sights.
I thought I had missed the bus at Parramatta but it was late and I had started walking. I ended up walking a couple of miles till the next but was due. I had to change to another bus for a last three stops and the bus stop was beneath some large trees full of roosting Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos. I nipped onto the Cokes supermarket then had something to eat at Il Largo, an Italian. I had one of the specials, squid in a gremolata sauce with pasta.