Friday 30th December 2022
Today we’re going to Cockatoo island, so caught the morning train from Chatswood into the city. We passed by an interesting looking sculpture outside the Intuition SofTech Australia building as we walked to the pier at Barangaroo.
We didn’t have to wait too long to get the ferry from Barangaroo to Cockatoo island. It’s a short (about 10 minutes) but pleasant ferry ride across the harbour.
Once at the island, we went to the visitor centre and hired an audio guide for $6 (about £3.50). The island has a fascinating history – first as a convict prison, then a girls reform school, and finally as a very big and important shipyard. The audio guide is comprehensive and goes into a lot of detail, so is definitely worth the money. Even without the guide, it’d be a very interesting place to wander around. There are quite a few informational boards to give some context, and it’s fascinating seeing all the old machinery left behind.
We spent a few hours on the island before catching the ferry back to Barangaroo, and then walking around Darling Harbour. We then crossed Pyrmont Bridge and continued to Sydney Fish Market.
We had a wander around the Fish Market then enjoyed a leisurely late lunch at The Boatshed Pyrmont. We ordered a fish platter and portion of mussels between us. The food was decent but the platter was a bit mixed (the prawns were cold and the calamari slightly chewy, but the battered fish and bbq octopus were excellent). The fish market itself was interesting to see, but nowhere near as impressive as some other fish markets I’ve visited (eg Tokyo fish market), so I’m not sure it’d be worth making a big trip to see it.
After lunch, we walked back over the bridge to Darling Harbour. All the bars along Darling Harbour seem to have happy hours on in the afternoon, so we decided to give a couple of them a go.
First we went to Zoha Food and Wine, where I had a passionate martini and Pete had a beer. It was very pleasant overlooking the harbour and the drinks were pretty good.
We then went a few doors down to Georges Mediterranean Bar & Grill. Here the happy hour cocktails were slightly more expensive but they had a bigger selection included so Pete found a cocktail he liked the sound of. I had an espresso martini, and the cocktails were definitely slightly better here than at Zoha.
As we’d had a big and fairly late lunch we weren’t particularly hungry so we went back to our hotel to relax. At the Silkari Suites we’ve got a small apartment with separate living room so it’s actually quite a pleasant place to just chill for the evening. We also need to pack, as tomorrow we move hotel to an Airbnb much closer to the city centre.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 