Anseth Family Adventures: No Bad Days

Saturday, March 29th was our quintessential Sydney tour. We planned to meet our guide Bonnie in the lobby at 9. Katie was schedule to join us for breakfast but the worst Uber driver in Sydney took 4 wrong turns and somehow managed to take the Harbour Bridge before depositing Katie at the Intercontinental.

When Katie arrived she proclaimed “This is the worst day we have had in Sydney since I have been here.” Rainy and a little windy, we resolved to carry on. Bonnie arrived with the party van and an infectious energy that raised the mood immediately. She also informed us this was her last tour as a full time guide so no way we were going to disappoint.

We started off with a City tour mostly from the Van. Traffic was light and the banter was lively.

The anchor from the HMS Sirius. The flagship of the fleet that left Portsmouth, England to establish the first settlement in New South Wales (NSW)

A pub down by the bridge. They painted some of the windows on to save on taxes. Now that it has been declared a historical site it cannot be changes so it will always have painted windows

In the rain under the Sydney Harbour Bridge

The girls, Luna Park and the Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Opera Hours and the bridge in the rain.

Smiling in the rain.

Mrs. Macquarie’s chair. These steps were carved out of the sandstone by convicts back in 1810 for Gov. Macquarie’s wife who loved the views of Sydney Harbour from this location.

Mrs Macquarie’s Chair!!

We continued to travel about the different suburbs discussing their culture and significance. Some examples are Potts Point, which is stylish and has cool shops lots of boutique artsy shops and salons. Kings Crosss which used to be the red light district in Sydney. There was enough trouble around this area back in the day the city passed Lockout laws to control behavior, if you left the club you could not return.

We travelled up to Double Bay, Darling Point and eventually stopped in Rose Bay at Sonoma for some tasty bits.

Grace and Katie waiting on tasty bits

Australasian specialty: Meat Pie

This cinnamon roll was straight fire. Grace ate 80% before we knew it.

We travelled up to Gap Park, in Watson Bay.

The Gap. Out to sea is right and across you can see the land forming the other side of the harbor opening.

Grace in the rain at The Gap.

The Family at The Gap.

The Gap

Here is a little tid but we learn about The Gap. The Gap is in a relatively secluded place, so over the years a number of Australians have jumped to their death from the Gap. One local resident named, Don Ritchie became known as the Angel of the Gap. If he saw someone climb out to the edge he would leave his near by home and ask them how he could help and invite them into his home. He is credited with saving 180 people but the number may be as high as 500. He was Citizen of the Year in 2010.

On the way to Bondi we drove past the park over looking the house of Australia’s version of Bernie Madoff. Her name was Melissa Caddick who ran a Ponzi scheme which lost $230 million for the investors. She disappeared on Nov. 12, 2020. On February 21, 2021a decomposed foot in a shoe washed up on shore near Bournda Beach about 500 Km for where she was last seen. DNA analysis confirmed it was Melissa Caddick’s foot. Did she jump from the Gap? Was she murdered by the Australian Mob? Did she disappear and cut off her own leg to ensure most would think she died? If your bored checkout this story on Spotify podcast: Liar Liar.

We followed the coast over to Bondi Beach. This is close to Katie’s apartment we checked out the surf and the Iceberg club.

Iceberg club and its tidal surf swimming pool.

The girls at Bondi Beach in front of Backpackers Rip

Bondi Beach in the rain

Nothing gonna bring us down.

Bonnie and the Anseth back at the Intercontinental

Of note, Bonnie’s dad is Craig Johnston. He was the first Australian to play for Liverpool. He played back in the 80s when they were great. When he first arrived in England, Jack Charlton told him “You are the worst football player I have ever seen in my life. You won’t many a player whilst your arse still points to the ground.” He ended up working as the boot/kit man at Middlesbrough and training. Eventually he made the Liverpool squad and became a fan favorite. After retirement he developed a little soccer shoe called the Predator!!!!! Check his Wikipedia.

Our Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb wasn’t scheduled till 4:30 so we had some time to kill in the afternoon. The gloom had certainly sapped some of our energy. At about 2:30, I decide to walk the Botanical Garden next to the hotel. I was reasonably warm and the rain had slowed to a light intermittent drizzle.