Sydney

Saturday:
We said goodbye to our lovely neighbours in Lithgow, sad to think we will not meet again. And now the 3 hour train journey back to Sydney which was good, just to sit and glide past all the place names we have visited during the week. And to see the eucalyptus in all their glory. There was 'work on the line' and a bus transported us into the city for the last few miles.

The queue at Central station for a bus or taxi was long, nobody appeared to know what was going on. At the back we could see a long wait ahead. J suggested I go and see what was going on and taxi was waiting, one of those big vans that can carry 6-7people, with the driver looking around. When asked if he was free he said yes, I questioned the queue behind me and he indicated he didn't know what was going on. Nobody had approached him and he was ours. I hurtled back to collect John and back to the guy who was now fending off 4 people.
Oops. I was very British - no, I didn't offer the taxi to the group - , just apologied told them the area we were heading to, suggesting they could share and then with with a smile (I hope) we climbed in. The last I heard was this woman saying 'there's only two of them'.

Well, Sydney is a busy place, the taxi driver was excellent, and brought us to our new beautiful home for the next week. The house and area are perfect. Within a few minutes of walking we are in the middle of a thriving shopping cafe street, all looking very interesting. The ferry point that will take us to the centre of the city is a 5 minute walk away, and the pic above shows its rapid departure. We wanted to see how the system worked and luckily the ferry approached to show us. All very speedy, no messing about it pulled up level to the landing stage, threw out a walk way, people walked on and off in seconds, walk way removed and off it went. Wow!