The Oz Files, #6: Lazy Sydney Sunday

It's been a lovely, lazy Sunday here in Australia. We started out with a quick breakfast in the room and then walked down to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, located in the Botanic Gardens. They have a small collection, and the most interesting part is easily the Aboriginal stuff and the 19th and 20th century Australian art, which you really can't find anywhere else.

After a few hours in the galleries, we took a cab over to Darling Harbour (where the Aquarium is) and had lunch at Chinta Ria on Cockle Bay Wharf. It was probably the second best meal that we've had since we've been here. The restaurant serves Malaysian food and has great service --- once determining that we were vegetarian from our menu choices, our waiter offered to swap out the usual sauce that comes with the curry puffs, which has shrimp paste, with sweet chili sauce, which doesn't. It's actually amazing how few waiters manage to catch on to the "we don't eat meat" thing, even after hearing our order. Anyway, lunch:

The critic approved. :) We had noodles in soy sauce and gado gado, and finished with tapioca pudding with coconut milk and dark sugar syrup. I wasn't so into the tapioca, but the rest of it was great.

We walked it off by heading towards Circular Quay through the posh district of The Rocks, where we stumbled on a cute little street market. Although there were booths selling the expected touristy crap and cheap jewelry, most of it was a good bit more upscale than our Philly equivalent. Or maybe it's just that the Clark Park flea market is particularly junky? We didn't buy anything, but were tempted by a stall selling chutneys and spices made from traditional Australian plants. Unfortunately, most of it was in jars and bottles and too heavy and fragile to lug around.

We made it to just under the Harbour Bridge as the sun was setting, and were rewarded with a great view of the Opera House and the moon:

Back at the hotel, we chatted a bit with Alan. He usually brings his two dogs into work with him, where they tramp around the front room/reception area and wait for people come in and pet them. Rough life, no? So we've made friends with them and they were waiting for us when we got back.

This is Slick, who is a little older, shyer, and calmer:

And this is Bear, one of Slick's daughters, who is just over three years old and still quite a puppy:

She didn't want to settle down to have her photo taken, so this is the best we've got. They're both very sweet, and of course Alan was so excited by our interest in them that he got out the photo album to show us what Bear looked like as a newborn. Aww!