Sydney in the Deluge – 1/28/2013
Jan 29th, 2013 by admin
We don’t know who to drop the car with. We don’t know where to drop the car. We don’t even know when we can drop the car.
During our last meeting with Uvan and later confirmed by email, we did agree to storing the car in Sydney before it’s put on the boat to Chile. We did agree that the car is going to Sydney. We’re waiting for some notification from Ivan so that we can make plane reservations to get home.
Just after 8:00, Ivan emails the name of the company where we are to leave the car and the name of the person we’re to leave it with, a forklift driver named Zac. Unfortunately, Ivan didn’t send the address. Wait another 20 minutes and another email arrives from Ivan. “You can drop the car after 11:00AM.” Down to the car to finish packing and disposing of debris.
We look up the address on the GPS and then check it with the map. There it is. It’s about 10 miles away and there’s a train station nearby for a line that is the same line that the hotel is on. We’re off at 10:45.
Of course, whenever we actually get the GPS to find the address in its data and calculate a map, there’s always a problem on the ground. This time the GPS knows exactly where 76 Gibson Street is. Unfortunately, there’s no street number for 76 Gibson Street. We see an alley where the address should be and exmerge into a lot with large container haulers and stacked containers. This must be the place.
We round a corner and finally see a sign for Apex Transport, the company the we’re looking for. Then we see some cars behind a wall and an office behind the cars. We park the Cherokee and walk up to some men near the office door.
“We’re supposed to car with Zac.” “Zac’s not here but I’ll take it.” Who are you?” “I’m Rick the owner.” That’s who Ivan says is the owner. And he’s here on a holiday with his 2 year old son. It must be the owner. We show him the car and give him the keys. He offers us a ride to the train station in the now heavier rain. We gladly accept.
Now, you may think that it’s crazy to just drive into a storage lot and give the car, its keys and its contents to a complete stranger solely on the basis of an email sent us by an almost complete stranger. (Well, Ivan’s not a complete stranger. We’ve worked with him before.) Our answer: we have no other option. We can’t check the car as luggage on the flight home. Besides, we want the car to go to South America, not Los Angeles (at least, not yet.)
We take the train back to the hotel to drop off the map and the GPS. Then it’s off to downtown Sydney for some sightseeing. In the rain. That’s supposed to get worse. And the cyclone is to arrive in Sydney tonight. This will be fun.
There’s a train station only a few minutes walk from the hotel and the rain is light. It’s a short ride to Circular Quay and the Sydney Harbor.
We start sightseeing in the rain which is really starting to come down now. A few pictures of the Harbour Bridge (and some fools climbing it in the rain) and then over to the Opera House for more rain filled shots. I’d been encouraging John to take the Opera tour but he defers until he can get back to Oz with Linda. Truly a Prince Valiant, that surfer dude.
With the rain making a joke of our sightseeing effort, we retreat to a bar where we, as usual get into some fun chats with others in the bar. Then some lunch in (where else?) another bar. Actually, it’s the bar that I spent some of New Years Eve in. We get in a great chat with a security man who was working that night.
We work our way back to the Circular Quay train stop and head back to the hotel. It looks like the weather might actually be improving but that’s very unlikely. The morning version of the TV news was in full blown “end-of-the-world” mode. The cyclone isn’t even here yet and the prediction is for a great deal more rain and the possibility of high winds and damaging wind gusts. When we get off the train it’s raining again and things look as gloomy as before.
We get back to the hotel and just start to veg out. The rain outside start to pick up and we’re in no mood to do much of anything. John finishes packing. We don’t even bother with dinner. (Lunch was very late.) Just more TV.
The trip is winding down and the weather sucks. And we’re pretty well worn out from the traveling. Time to go home.
Obi-wan