So today our New Year's Day wine tour was cancelled, but not before we got up (only 5 hours of sleep) and spent 45 mintues waiting for a bus that never showed. So we decided to walk around, took a bus down to Circular Quay (pronounced "key") and hop a ferry back to Darling Harbour.

We thought it would be a good day to visit Otzi, the oldest mummy found, as the Maritime Museum had a display on artifacts found. They did a nice job of it, replicating the body as found in a block of fake ice, then again a complete representation of the body with the skin looking very realistic and in the position that he died. There were several videos playing wich showed the careful process of study and x-ray. It was all very interesting, although I found it odd to have been on display in a ship museum. We also got to go aboard and exlore 3 ships, The Onslow, a a pre-Collins class sub, (I have to check the postcard again), The Vampire, a Destroyer, and the Endeavor which was an old 1800's ship that I'll add details about when I remember my notes.

After that, Sharon went to check email and relax on the Harbour, while I made a dash over to the Aquarium for a quick run through and comparison to the Melbourne one. I was disappointed that there was not as much care taken with the stress levels and comfort of the animals and fish as flash photography was encouraged, even for the normally noctournal animals like the platypus. There were also a ton of people there too. So jostling for position for a good picture was the order of the day. I skipped a good many of the exhibits as I had seen simliar at Melbourne and went for the main shows of the seals, sharks and the touch pools. The underwater walk ways or gerbil tubes were longer than Melbourne's Aquarium, but the big room in Melbourne certainly beat out the one in Sydney. After I finished my tour, purchased the obligatory postcards, I made my way back along the pier to meet Sharon.

Back to the room for a nap (still recovering from New Year's and getting up early for the non-existent tour is taking its toll) we relax and head our for dinner about 7:30. We found a restuarant on the pier and had dinner on a dock over the harbour. Sharon had pasta with lots of shrimp and I had half a lobster. It was a good meal, but not great. But with Michigan facing a winter weather watch, who are we to complain, eh?

More tomorrow.