Excited to peruse the Big Smoke today, John and I rode the lift down 17 floors from our hotel suite to meet our guide, Andrew. Owner and operator of Sydney Harbour Boat Tours, we discovered the bloke was also a copper who had served 17 years with the New South Wales Police.

He drove us, along with eight other mates, to the Rose Bay Marina, where we began a delightful arvo with Andrew on his boat. For the next six hours, we climbed in and out of the boat at various stops to sightsee, takeaway drinks, and use the loo. He regaled us with stories of the rich and famous, pointing out various owners’ homes along the 186 km shoreline, including escapades of ripper parties, a drunk couple having a naughty in Bravehart producer’s swimming pool, and a naughty gardener planting listening devices in Tom Cuise’s garden. How did he know such fodder? By being on the police force, of course. 

We also went to Darling Harbour and then Manly Wharf for a lunch of fish ‘n chips. John had a pint of amber fluid and I, squash. The delightful meal, I discovered, was actually “flake” (flathead shark flesh). 

As the day wore on and the sun grew hotter, we stopped briefly at Manly Beach, of surfer competition fame, and quieter Store Beach, of penguin habitat fame. Watsons Bay, with its jagged cliffs, and Doyles Fisherman Wharf, with its mossy rocks, rounded out our day.

We thanked Andrew for the ace trip and paid him with Aussie dollars, then walked around Macquaries Bushwalk and through the Royal Botanic Garden on the way back to our hotel. According to John’s pedometer, we walked almost 9 kilometers (6 miles) today. Again, I’m bushed. G’day, mates!

(Photos to be posted tomorrow.)