$26 Fish and Chips

Still on Tuesday...I was hungry for fish and chips. We had passed several restaurants with Fish and Chips on the menu, but the prices were crazy! We were in Circular Quay though, which is quite ritzy, but I mean come on...it is Fish & Chips. So we finally find a restaurant that looks more like a diner that looks like it might have reasonable prices...yah...$26. At this point I am just like, OKAY! I need the fish & chips let's just do it!

Well...it was 100% worth the $26. They were the best fish & chips I have ever had :)

Afterwards we went to the Rocks Museum...a museum on the history of The Rocks (the neighborhood on the harbour). We found that the history similar to that of Canada with the Aboriginals being highly mistreated upon arrival of the Europeans. Interesting.

We then had 17 minutes to visit the Australian Wine Company...I'll let Tanya tell you the story there and then headed off for an afternoon of Opal shopping. It was raining, so we had rescheduled our visit to the Bridge and Royal Botanical Garden until Wednesday morning. So...we walk down Pitt street popping in different jewelers along the way. The National Opal Museum was a great disappointment...and only those with thousands of dollars were able to afford anything in there. There was actually a butler there to pick up some jewels for his employer..."No..no...he said a white gold chain with a black opal pendant...alright...I'll take a look at what you have in yellow gold..."

After visiting a few jewelers...one funny Asian lady with frog opal rings that promised if we bought it and kissed it our prince charming would appear...we headed off to the "Opal Factory". We had seen signs for it and little ads in the tourist guides, so off we went. It was on the third floor of a building, we hop in the lift and up we go...to come out to a caged door with a little speaker...before we even press the button to announce our arrive a voice comes over the speaker and demands, "Opals or pearls!"...Hmm..."Opals",,,,we are buzzed in...hmmm...stranger and stranger by the moment..we walk into a grungy office like space, with more caged off high security areas in the back. We are guided to a table where we are told that first we will teach you about opals and then you will be shown opals..."Do you want anything to drink?" Hmmm...no...afraid that you will drug me and take off with my kidneys...we remain alert...

So, the 'salesperson' tells us all about opals, different kinds, cuts. He asks us, "How did you find out about us?" At this point we are sure cops are going to come barging in and take down the place, but we assure him we found an add in the tourist magazine. Tanya proceeds to check out earring and ring selections. She gets a pair of earrings and off we go...just dying to talk about our clandestine experience.

What a day...and it is still not over...that night was our opera night...my first opera ever! More on that in a future post :)