 Just passing through Town Hall station again… with a good view of people’s feet  Those Sydney Cityrail people just don’t like any fun  Luna Park Sydney: is there an amusement park anywhere in the world with a better view? |
We headed back into central Sydney, bound for the totally awesome Powerhouse Museum. It’s a mish-mash of exhibits about various clever technological things and the people behind them; a kind of opposite to the Natural History Museum in London, if you like. If it moves, lights, flies, generates, turns, computes or pollutes, it’s in the Powerhouse Museum, and as a bonus there’s plenty of stuff for little kids to muck around with too. Isaac was particularly interested to notice that there was a robot who shared his name.
I always thought museum and zoo food outlets were required by law to sting you for as much money as possible for food, but our lunch there was quite reasonable. Afterwards we left the museum and walked over the bridge to the Sydney Light Rail station, where we caught what purports to be a Light Rail Vehicle, but looks awfully like a tram (complete with conductor; oh what a nostalgia trip) to Sydney’s Central Station, which isn’t actually particularly central, but is a station.
We caught a northbound train, which took us over the Harbour Bridge once again, though the view was a little underwhelming because we were on the lower deck of the train carriage. But we did manage to get a glimpse of the top of the Opera House. We got off at Milson’s Point station, from where there is yet another great view of the bridge and the harbour, and we strolled down the hill to Luna Park.
A difference between Luna Park in Melbourne and Luna Park in Sydney is that in Sydney they keep closing it, renovating it, re-opening it, and then closing it again. Which is why it appears most Sydneysiders have no idea if it’s open or closed. We had seen the ferris wheel operating the previous day from the ferry, which meant unless they’d closed it overnight, it should be open.
Which thankfully it was. But another difference between Melbourne and Sydney was that you can walk into the Melbourne Luna Park for free, then pay for the rides you want. In Sydney, you pay up-front and get the rides for free, and with all of us, it worked out to $52. I admit, I had to think about it, but as my sister pointed out, we were on holiday, so we coughed up and went in. And in the end, we went on enough rides to make it worthwhile.
After one last dodgem-cars ride, we walked back out of Luna Park’s gaping mouth, up to the bus stop, and boarded a 227 bus, driven by the crankiest bus driver I’ve encountered in quite a while: he was impatient to us passengers who weren’t quite sure where we were going, and he swore at other drivers. Maybe his radio had broken down and he couldn’t listen to the easy listening station anymore.
But no matter, he delivered us back to my sister’s place and we settled down to a totally awesome rendition of that old (and normally quite staid) favourite bangers and mash.
