Day 46

Day 46 Sydney

Morning crew

Maureen filming being filmed

Well it is official, I now sleep with a TV star (Maureen sys not yet as it is still daytime), we are now waiting for the phone call from Dancing with the Stars. Maureen got up really early and went down to Martin Square and watched Sunrise being filmed and when they opened the curtain, jumped up and down and waved her hands madly, and she was on TV! Karen saw her, so it has been confirmed. She spoke with Barretts after the show and told him he had to show more Hockey and he said he would see what he could do and Maureen told him both men and womens games, none of the sexist stuff and he said okay, so expect more hockey people.

Wax Works

Another party group

After sorting out Channel & Sports department, Maureen came home and we went down to breakfast. I must admit I am warming to the hotel and their breakfast is nice. We hit the road and made our way down to Darling Harbour and walked around there. We went to the Maritime Museum and went in. they have an exhibition on Shackleton there and had a tour

Swing bridge

Maureen on deck Oxley

leaving just as we got there. We joined the mob and off we went. The tour guide was an obvious Shackleton fan and had read the books. He went around the display telling us in great detail how they got down there, why they were there, how they got stuck and made their way back to civilisation. We got to the

Ward room Vampire

Crew bunks Oxley

to the bit where they were starting to sail off the ice sheet and Maureen and I made our escape. We thought if we stayed with the tour group we would run out of time. It was taking as long as Shackleton took but not as exciting.

Bunks Oxley

Business end Vampire

At the museum they have a great collection of ships and boats the destroyer Vampire is there next to Oxley the submarine as well as a large collection of landmark vessels – Endeavour replica and Vietnamese boat people. I am unable to access them but Maureen was off. In the meantime I went back into the museum to see if Shackleton was still alive as well as the other galleries. During our time there we had a cuppa in the café there and I mentioned to Maureen that

Engine room Oxley

Control room Oxley

the bridge next to us was a swing bridge where it pivots on the central pier and swing 90 degrees to allow large vessels to proceed. I also said that it looks like it does not work any more. Low and behold, not only does it still work but a ferry came up and it opened right in front of Maureen.

Below decks Endeavour

Endeavour

Having done the museum, we made our way back to our hotel. We have tickets to Richard Fidler’s Christmas Conversations. They were the whole reason we were here. We had to get to Redfern, apparently a large station according to those we had spoken to from Wynyard station across the road from here, how hard could that be? We went across the road and asked the ticket security person which platform did we go to and how to get there. She told us where to lift was and off we went. We got to the platform and a train rolled up just as we

Dancing Brolgas

Kitchen

got there. The train is a double decker but the middle of each carriage is single where people get on and off, so we lined up only to see a 30cm step up into the train. A man came running up with a fold up ramp so we could get on and asked if we were off to Redfern and we said yes and off he went.

On the train

Jean Kittson

We get to the next station which was the Central station and the next stop was ours. We are sitting there when a man walks up and asks us if we are off to Redfern and we said yes. He says, did we know that there is no lift at that station, so we had to get off there. He went and got a ramp and off we got, holding up the whole train. We made our way to the exit and found a lift and

HG Nelson

Ignatius Jones

made our way out of the station. I had a good idea of where we had to go from looking at the map on the computer. Our map from the hotel cut off halfway down the train station. Maureen was not sure and asked around for directions and got differing ones. In the end we went my way and we found the theatre.

Half time drinks

Ellen Fanning

It is such a little place and holds about 200 people. It has a side entry and it reminded me of Mandurah Little Theatre when it was near the old bridge. We made our way in and the lovely ladies ushered me down the front, right next to the stage. We had front row seats but off to the side. We were a bit too far forward but good seats all the same. The guests for the night were Jean Kittson; Greig Pickhaver (aka HG Nelson); Kate McClymont; Ignatius Jones, and Ellen Fanning. All were to talk about bad behaviour. The night was hilarious and flew by. At the end we had to wait for the crowd to go so we could get out. In the

Richard Fidler

Maureen being interviewed

meantime, Maureen asked one of the ladies running around if Richard would come over to say hello, and he did. He came over and welcomed us and could not believe we came from Hervey Bay let alone Western Australia. Having spoken to people to had spoken to him such as the people at Paronella Park, they all said how friendly he was and warm and I can vouch for that, he was interested in talking to us, shot off and grabbed his producer to take a picture

Waiting for train

help with a ramp

of us and we said our farewells. One of his staff took us out side and had a quick interview with us which was very nice indeed. Maureen was asking how people were selected for interviews and she said that people can nominate people, so look out one of our relations.

Out of the theatre, we walked back through a park and into the station. It took a little while of wandering around to find the right lift to the right platform, but we got there and got on the train with a little help and a ramp. They obviously call forward and there was a guy at Wynyard Station waiting with a ramp so I could get off. As we had been a little late going to the theatre we had not eaten so we looked for somewhere to eat, but it was close to 11pm so we had to settle for a Woolies pre-packed salad.

Back in the room we dined on our meal and at midnight, the Hockey came on with Australia vs Netherlands. We watched the game and saw our two AIS plyers Tim Deavin and Dylan Watherspoon play, the former playing solid defence and the later scoring a goal.

Tomorrow we intend to walk over the bridge to Kirribilli House to some markets and then see Handel’s Messiah at the Opera House.