Sydney

March 31-April 1
Sydney

This visit to Sydney was slightly different than the usual. Instead of docking for the day, exchanging passengers and leaving again, we had two overnight charters. This meant the passengers from our last cruise left the ship, a company sent rented out the ship for the evening and then left in the morning. Luckily for the crew, the first charter didn’t want to leave the port (as opposed to sailing to nowhere), giving the crew another overnight in Sydney, always a welcomed event.
I had big plans for Sydney on the 31st. First there was the matter of getting my hair cut, where in a friend showed me a place where you get a decent hair cut in record time and for $12 AU, or about $8 – just my style. It was just as promised, I chopped off my now overgrown mop, and am now sporting my more streamlined look.
This was followed by a trip to get money exchanged. I believe that I put this in the post last time I was in Sydney, but my goal for this Sydney was to win back the money I lost in the casino last time I was in town. To do this I was going to play roulette, bet either red or black, and double my bet every time I lost (not an entirely original idea, but mathematically much more in my favor). The trick is going in with enough money that you can double your bet multiple times, thus increasing your odds. So I changed over a decent amount of money, more than I’d like to admit to my family, and went to meet my destiny (and take some revenge for the $50 the casino owed me).
I met up with Terry, the original bad influence who took me to the Casino, and we made our way over. I sat down at one of the rapid roulette tables, put my money in the machine, and began implementing my strategy. Well, let’s put it this way…I had my revenge. I left the table with $300 more in chips than I started with, enough to compensate the prior loss and then some. 300 was the magic number for me so I stopped, cashed in my chips, and have now retired from casinos (till a better strategy hits me).
I returned to the ship at that point to play my first set of the evening, a 40 minute big band set to a room full of people who couldn’t have cared less. This was followed by hanging out in my room till the next set, a repeat of the first. It wasn’t till the end of the second set that the night could begin.
I got off the ship and met some friends at the Opera Bar, named after the famous Opera House and located on the pier just beneath it. We hung out there for a little while listening to a local duo before heading out for the infamous “World Bar”, a place one of my friends swore was guaranteed to be a good time. My group of 5 grabbed two cabs and made our way to the red light district – aptly named “Potts Point” (I wish I was kidding).
My friend described the area as a very tame Red Light district, “one you could bring your Grandma to” he told me (no wild ideas grandma!). And though it was packed with adult entertainment, it was surprisingly clean and inviting, not scummy at all. Anyways, the cabby dropped us off somewhere in the area where we then found our way to the World Bar to see what was in store.
After the guy at the gate checked our ID’s we were let into a packed club spread out over three levels (actually the top level was closed, but three sounds more impressive). Now I’m not a big club guy, nor do I go bar hopping, but you could tell this was the happening place, especially for a Tuesday night. But again, I’m not big into clubbing, and managed to have a couple drinks, talk to a couple of Swedish girls, and spend the rest of my time worrying about the escalating risk of permanent hearing loss…sorry, I kind of need my ears. It was a good vibe though so I enjoyed myself, but we left within an hour in search of a better scene.
This is where the night got weird. It started with us all getting in two cabs again, and telling our driver to take us to a bar back down town. I should have been tipped off that things were going to go downhill when I saw my cabby wearing a white hardhat with “kick me” written all over it in sharpie marker. He was an interesting guy though, older German dude from what I could gather, who I think was more interested in finding a party for himself than for us. He took us where we requested, only to find that it was past admittance hours, wherein he suggested we go to a bar of his choosing, another $10 back to where we came from at Potts Point. His bar was empty, and with the group still not satisfied, he took us somewhere else, and yet another dive. My friends in the cab with me had him talked into not charging us for the cab rides by means of buying him drinks at whatever bar he finds us. However, after three failed attempts, two of my friends (the more responsible ones) decided they had had enough and broke off from the group, and staring at either going with my responsible friends or the crazy ones with the head-geared-cabby we named George, I took the more conservative route and left the cabby.
From here we split, My friends and I found some food from one of the many joints set up along the street, ran into another group of Swedish girls (go figure), and caught a cab back to the ship, returning us at about 4 am. I concluded the night in a buddy’s room playing Mario cart for Wii, maybe not the most exciting ending, but a far better result than ending up who knows where with a crack-pot cabby with two guys that couldn’t see straight.
The next day was completely off so I left the ship when I managed to wake up (around 1:30) and tried to get some internet time in. I only had till 5 when we were scheduled to leave with the next charter so I was kind of pressed for time. My other goal for the day was to find a decent Didgeridoo shop to check out seeing as my interest had sparked the interest of two friends of mine, both of whom I’d love to see playing the didge. I figured I’d ask the aborigine playing didge on the pier where I could find a shop, a good idea, and he directed me back towards the ship to a small souvenir shop with a good deal of didges in the window. Sydney is packed with souvenir shops, all o which have didgeridoos in the windows and this place looked no different, but when a guy in a loin cloth and body paint tells you to check something out, you do it.
I walked in the shop, grabbed a few didges, was fairly surprised at the quality, and spent the next 90 minutes talking to the retailer about his horns. Let me also add that the owner was quite impressed with my playing and almost fell over when I told him I’d been playing for just over 2 weeks. But I was running out of time and told the guy I’d be back the next day with some friends to check out the didges again. I left, hopped on the ship and waited for the second charter to finish so I could get back to the didge store.
And that’s it for the day…keep reading for the continuation of this nail biter (yeah, maybe not quite, but thanks for hanging in there).