We spent a bit of time in the morning in the town and we found where many of the koala statues hang out - there is a shop in town that has over a dozen of them but being a Sunday it was closed.
We headed to McDonalds (known here as Maccas) for breakfast where Pam found another koala and Mark found all staff to be about 12. Apparently you can work here from just under 15 and Sunday is double pay and kids are cheap so it is all youngsters on Sundays. Logical but just looked like a McDonald’s juniors branch.
Next up was the beach and this beach also does camel rides - an item on Mark’s to do list. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we found the beach but no camels. Apparently they were cancelled today due to transportation issues - they arrive in a camel box but it broke or something.
So off to Sydney. There has been a change of plans here too. We were meant to stay in an apartment hotel with free parking. This is near to where Mark’s dry cleaning is and also commutable to tonight’s dinner reservation. However the hotel emailed to say parking could not be guaranteed and would cost 49AUD per night. We could have rung up and argued but Mark’s friend Nick and his family were keen for us to stay with them and we really enjoyed our dinner with them all a couple of weeks ago so we accepted their kind offer.
So new plan was to drive into Sydney’s Newtown area and see the drag and dine show we had booked, for the last day of the Pride festival, and then go off to stay with friends near Manly.
We arrived in Sydney early so popped back into the rocks area first. It was strange being back there with an empty gap where our cruise ship used to be.
There was a festival with lots of market stalls. They were just coming to the end but we managed to sample the atmosphere as we wandered. There was also a massive Irish pub pride party just finishing which had music blaring out - they know how to have a good time.
Whilst here, Mark walked under Sydney Harbour Bridge - we had recently driven across it in the car.
Our free time done, it was time to catch the train back to Newtown. They use double decker trains here like many places in Europe so not crowded at all and good views from the station.
The Imperial hotel is the venue for our evening and it was a strange setup. It is basically a very large bar and area and tucked at the back is about 20 tables with a little stage and an open kitchen behind. This area was cordoned off and we ordered and ate food whilst 2 drag queens took it in turns to sing (lip sync) and also do some banter with the audience. Their names were Ruby Royal and Fahran Heit. They were amazing and lip synced to two songs each.
Once the dinner section was over the entertainment moved to the main bar area where another act consisting of a drag queen, a girl with a electric guitar, a guy dressed like Borat in a mankini and shorts. A very mixed bunch but great entertainment. They lip synced to 3 songs and got the audience involved with the singing. We left after this and walked back to our car.
We drove back to our friends, getting slightly lost. Upon arrival at 9:30pm their children were tucked up in bed but not all asleep. Their daughter, Brontë, had made 2 signs for our guest room. One saying Mark & Pam’s room pinned to the door and another welcome picture ready for us on the bed. It was so kind, welcoming and very sweet.
We sat and chatted for a while and then crashed in a very comfy double bed.
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