#I’mTheCaptainNow

Late Thursday night we had two new arrivals to our Christmas festivities. Ocea and Simon had arrived from Singapore and were staying with us until after new year (with a small gap while they’re in Melbourne).

We woke to an exciting day planned on an old tall boat that they used to use in the early 20th century. I put on my new dress and my new hat and felt that I looked the part, ready for the voyage.

When we arrived on the boat, now filled with people dressed as pirates, the guy had to give us the mandatory safety talk and then left us to enjoy the day. As we were one of the last to board we ended up moving to the front of the boat which turned out to be the nicer end.

We watched the skipper at work as he stood on a beam and spun the wheel using his feet. Surrounding us was classic Sydney. The Opera House, Sydney Bridge and tall shiny buildings. We of course had to get pictures with each backdrop as we sailed past them.

We were served canapés and champagne as we sailed slowly through the harbour. I bugged the captain by asking him questions about the boat and if he sees much wildlife in the harbour. The boat was built in 1920 something for those interested and it has been modified with a modern engine and other boaty technical things! And he doesn’t see dolphins in the harbour!
Conversation with him was clearly over so I returned to my champagne.

You could pay extra to climb the rigging but unfortunately I didn’t know this so I only had my dress and didn’t think flashing everyone would be socially acceptable! It also looked hard and you weren’t allowed to have a drink before doing it so that pretty much consolidated my decision not to do it!

The boat came to a halt in front of the Opera House so I of course had to ask if I could have a photo holding the wheel. I debated a Jonny Depp style commandeering of the ship but decided it would require too much physical effort and I would soon drink the boat out of champagne, so I reluctantly stepped onto stable, dry land instead.

Afterwards, we headed into the city. Ocea and Simon needed to finish some work for Satan, oops I mean their boss, because why shouldn't they be working on their holiday? So we met James from work and went for a drink. Once the work was done, we explored the Christmas markets. Now, a Christmas market requires three things.
1. Christmas stalls (a given)
2. Mulled wine or hot chocolate
and finally...
3. German sausage hot dogs!
Disappointment and anger cursed through my veins as each new tent provided none of these vital things! These people need a trip to Europe to see how it's done properly! But, on the bright side, they had one stall that sold really cute, overpriced necklace charms made from scrap materials that were interesting to look at.

After a break of at least, I dunno, 10 minutes, it was time for another drink so we went to the Opera Bar for a glass of wine. Along the way we passed Sydney's possibly Australia's (I can't remember all the facts!) oldest house and found a restaurant for myself and Ocea called The Wild Ginger. We posed accordingly for a photo outside it with Ocea pretending to whack me with her crutches and I went for a more animalistic approach with a tiger like stance complete with nails and teeth,

we did end up taking a nice one too to please the grown ups.

After embarrassing everyone with our poses we found the bar and settled in for a glass of wine. The venue was packed full of people that had just finished work for the season so all of us complained about the noise like the old people we are. Luckily, we found a quieter area and even managed to get a table that they then kicked us off because we had bought our drinks at the wrong side of the bar..the same bar...at the same place...?

We completed the day out with a cheers overlooking the bridge and Opera House before catching the Manly ferry and heading back to the flat for drinks, dinner and of course Ocea's famous LMP (Lemon meringue pie).