Met up at Central shortly after 10am, because the buses were supposedly running to the holiday timetable, but were actually really freakn early.
Obtained glorified bread and water (chocolate muffin and water) at the cafe near the escalator up from the tunnel under Parramatta Rd/George St. Actually wanted orange juice, but they wouldn't let me substitute it for the water. Was annoyed.
Spent some time watching the 1st X-Men movie there; it was playing on their screen.
Headed towards Town Hall on the free green shuttle bus, because I wanted to try for a cache, and he suggested a movie. It dropped us off near QVB, where we saw a chalk artist beginning a square of art. Resolved to walk by again later.
Continued on to Town Hall proper to see if a security guard would foil the search for cache GC16KT4 once again.
He was not there. However, a swarm of flies were, hiding from the impending heat of the day. We decided not to search down there after all.
Just as well. Rel found it elsewhere, wedged between the wall and a fencepost.
I realised I didn't actually want to see a movie, so we headed to the Town Hall library after that, to see if we could use the computers. Looked up some more caches while he cheated the system by clicking on a link to an external network, allowing him to check forums. Took some dark photos of the maps, since I couldn't print.
Blundered and closed the browser window when I was done with it.
Headed to Circular Quay to wander on ferry.
Tried and found GC1AF4A (Tiny Beach). Dropped off the coin, and Boomerang IV, since it was such a nifty location.
Chatted with Rel about the differences between roleplaying vs roll playing (heh) on the way back to the wharf. I couldn't really explain them.
Took the ferry to Kurraba Point to attempt GA0538, but failed. Thought I was looking for a box at the time, but looking at its page again, turns out it was a log only cache.
Rel did not seem impressed by the amount of greenery we would have to walk through, so we turned and tried the other split in the path. It led us to a private boat ramp, where a cormorant came to dry itself off. We sat and watched it for a while before I tried to approach it, and it inevitably flew off.
Made another attempt at GA0538, this time heading all the way to the water's edge. Was unsuccessful again.
Headed back to Circular Quay by ferry. Filled water bottles from the odd shaped bubbler - it was fenced off all on its own; the entire waterfront area had been fenced off, and a massive checkpoint set up at the entrance so bags could be checked for glass. They'd done it too wide though; Rel and I just walked through, filled our water bottles and walked back out without being stopped.
Went by bus to Coogee Beach, since it was now around 4pm and the worst of the heat had passed. Tried for GCBE7C but was unsuccessful; there didn't seem room to hide a regular sized box anywhere near where the coordinates were meant to be.
Decided to continue on and attempt GCHD77. On seeing the hill and the urban setting (front yards of many peoples' houses), and the fact that Google maps had shown me a very blurry treetop, Rel tried to convince me not to go.
I went anyway; he ended up trying to read in the fading light while I poked around on the hill in the greenery, looking specifically for an abandoned wasp nest.
I was going to give up and was heading back to Rel by going straight down the hill when I decided to take a break and enjoy the scenery (since we were here anyway) from a higher point. Sitting down, I saw an odd mud coloured cone attached to something in the grass, and asked him to pass me a stick so I could (unwisely?) poke at it. As I suspected, it was hard and unmoving - the wasp's nest!
I told him the cache must be nearby. Ironically, he was the one that found it, sitting behind a rock under the prickly bush.
By now it was getting dark, so we headed back towards the beach. Gave GCBE7C another try, but it wasn't much of a search, as more people were using the boardwalk to get to the beach.
Spent the extra time looking for where and when the buses departed before settling in on the beach to await the fireworks.
As Rel deducted, the fireworks did indeed launch from the park. To my surprise, they weren't very loud. I took many photos, but few of them turned out alright, and none were sharp.
Attempted to get the 22:00 bus to Bondi Junction, but it was full and simply drove past the stop.
Attempted a taxi, but the one we stopped refused to let us on.
By then it was 22:30 so we just caught the next bus, but from an earlier stop. Unfortunately I did as usual, walking to the end of the bus and picking a seat. A bunch of loud (drunken?) teenagers then piled into the back seat, and surrounding seats.
Walked to Rel's old place for food, and to watch the fireworks on their TV. We toasted the New Year with champagne.
Headed back to Rel's current place with leftovers, and the remains of the Ferrero Rocher chocolates I'd gifted them for Christmas. His father gave us a lift, for which we were thankful because there was a lot to carry.
Spent the night there.
Woke relatively early the next morning and had a breakfast of orange juice (there's a lot of it!) and sandwiches. Somehow managed to fall asleep again - I think the room induces sleep. Watched Blackbeard when we woke.
Headed home after that, because I didn't want to miss the last bus when it was running to confused holiday timetable.
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