Final fling (Sydney day 4)

My final day in Sydney started very leisurely – we had a buffet breakfast set up for us in one of the ballrooms, so after I finished repacking my case etc I wandered down to consume a cooked breakfast, followed by fresh melon, danish pastries and coffee … just what the doctor ordered!  After I’d finished I took my bags down to the Concierge and asked them to place them in storage for the day, and hit the road … my first port of call was to Town Hall train station where I caught a train out to Killara – most of you who’ve been there will likely guess where my destination was 😉

On arrival at Killara, I walked the few short steps round the corner to Crewel Gobelin for my first LNS visit in Sydney.  I just browsed around the shop for a while, kicking myself I didn’t think to bring my list of threads that I needed … I absolutely refuse to visit a LNS and not buy something, it just isn’t right!  Considering I’m supposed to be on my 50 Project Challenge, this now put me in a bit of a quandary … do I buy some threads that I ‘think’ I need, or do I just go ahead and break the challenge for a while … I guess you can see for yourself what my decision was! 😉  Now I just have to work out how I’m going to deal with my breaking of the challenge – perhaps add on another one or two projects for each new project bought … hmmm … 

I ended up coming away with three charts for smalls (I had decided to buy The Cat’s Whiskers Dilly Bag, but then who could resist With My Needle charts for $5?  So I bought both of them – Swan Stitcher’s Etuis, and Cherished Workes) and the Dec 2006 JCS magazine (which I can never buy locally in my newsagents).  I was seriously tempted to buy one of the Veronique Maillard alphabet books (the one I fell in love with was $85, though, so I think I’ll just have to save up for that one).  I meant to order some fabric as well, as I need some 32ct Belfast in Little Boy Blue for a couple of different projects, but I got chatting with Margaret (the owner) and I forgot all about it.  I have to say we stood at the counter and chatted away for quite some considerable time, and it was the most wonderful time spent – Margaret is a really lovely lady who is extremely knowledgeable about her craft and eager to share her knowledge.  If anyone is visiting Sydney it is the easiest shop to get to by public transport – you just hop off the train at Killara station, and if you stand at the station facing back towards the city, you head off to the right.  Turn left at the road and head towards the park on the corner of Marian St & Culworth Ave, and Crewel Gobelin is just a few steps up the street on the right.  It is literally only about 2 minutes walk from the train station. 

Where Crewel Gobelin is located – within a 2-minute walk of the Killara Train Station

Eventually I tore myself away from Margaret’s wonderful company, and headed back by train to Circular Quay to buy a ferry ticket to go to Taronga Zoo – unfortunately, though, this was now 2.45pm and the ticket seller said I’d be lucky if I got an hour’s visiting time at the Zoo so I decided it wasn’t worth it (it just means it’s something left for me to do next time … along with a trip to visit Karen at Dragonfly Dreams!).  Instead of the Zoo, it was time to get back on the train again on my way back to the Hotel.  I thought I’d just take a leisurely walk over to Darling Harbour and ended up having a splash-out dinner at one of the restaurants instead.  On the way, though, I was transfixed by some beautiful old buildings by the Town Hall Station – one was the Queen Victoria Building, and the other was the Sydney Town Hall.  I just adore grand old architecture, and I spent a wee bit of time just pondering the wonderful nooks and crevices of the outside of the buildings.

Queen Victoria Building (“QVB”)

Town Hall

From there it was over to Darling Harbour – once again I took my time to just stroll and dawdle round the harbour, before I settled on having dinner at Blue Fish restaurant (mainly because they had a 25% discount for earlybird diners … but also because I was dying to try their Vanilla Creme Brulée haha).  Creme Brulée is one of the bad habits I picked up on a trip to Paris … I had it once at a restaurant and never looked back – it would have to be one of my absolute favourite desserts, and thankfully one that isn’t very popular so I can’t have it very often, or I’d be even bigger than I already am teehee.  I started off by having Kangaroo Loin on sweet potato rings with crunchy asparagus, washed down with two big glasses of Sangria, followed by the creme brulée and a mug of cappuccino … it turned out to be a wise choice to eat before I flew, although I was questioning my choices while I was waddling back to the Hotel after totally stuffing myself stupid 😉

One half of Darling Harbour (with my Hotel in the centre)

On return to the hotel I grabbed a quick change of clothes into my business attire, ready for my taxi to the airport and my flight home.  It turns out I hadn’t realised they’d changed my flight home for 1/2 an hour earlier (they’d stuffed up my booking a total of 3 times, including sending me home before the actual event had even started!!), so I couldn’t check my bags in using the quickcheck service, and had to pop over to the sales desk for assistance – she managed to get me back on the original flight I’d been given, and gave me my business class upgrade straightaway, which was wonderful news.  The flight was very full, though, and because of that I missed out on the food inflight (one of the downsides of being staff, because you travel on a standby basis all the time there are no guarantees you’ll actually get fed if they’re running short) … the crew member was very apologetic, but I was personally just happy to be on the flight in a seat – anything else is a pure bonus, and as it was I would have been turning the food down anyway after stuffing myself senseless at the Darling Harbour restaurant LOL.  Unfortunately when I arrived there was some sort of problem with the baggage carousel so we had a significant wait for our bags, but eventually they arrived, and it was time to jump on the bus to the long-term parking ready for the drive home.  I got in at about 11pm, and was back in at work for 11am yesterday where I had to re-tell the event stories to a few people.  There is also a “day of stars” at work next week, where we get to celebrate with our own colleagues after the event, but I’m on night shift this week so I’ll miss out – but I have enough memories to last a lifetime already.

All-in-all it was a wonderful time away – filled with love and laughter, wine and song, and experiences that lift the soul and make life worth living.  For now, “life is good” 😀