Saturday in The Cross

I only have five weekends left here in Sydney, so time to get cracking on my Sydney to see and do list!  I found a website with printable walking tours so thought I'd try some out.  Today's tour- Passion, Sydney's Wild Side.  This tour took me through King's Cross, Potts Point and Woolloomooloo (for real).  Kings Cross is a combination of beautiful old terrace houses, backpacker hostels, seedy strip clubs and adult stores.  Is pretty well Sydney's red light district.  I saw some special people as I first got out of the train station.  This area also does not smell too nice...

All things shady are open 24 hours.

Darlinghurst Road, the Cross' main strip

First stop- Fitzroy Gardens and El Alamein Fountain.  (Remind anyone of a certain fountain in Kelowna?)  It's a war memorial for soldiers who died in Egypt in WW2.  I took a photo for an Asian tourist here- who still had a film using camera! (Auntie Barb, you're not alone!).  She steerotyped herself by posing with fingers up, peace style.

 I walked around and checked out a few neat old buildings, art deco style, then followed the map up to the Kingsclere Apartments.  These were built in 1912 and were one of the first high rises in Sydney.

More walking around, then to Elizabeth Bay House.  It was built in 1839 and was known as the finest house in the colony.  It's one of the few old mansions still standing.  Boasts some fantastic views of the harbor.  Quite a few other neat old buildings through this area.

Then onto Potts Point.  This is a cool little area that reminds me of some of NYC's older hoods.  More terraced houses and a neat old college.

The Yellow House.  Some sort of art gallery now.

I walked through a park, up and down a set of old stairs, then back to the Cross via Victoria Street.  More cool old houses.  Kings Cross is named because it's main intersection is a cross of three main streets- Darlinghurst Road, Victoria Street and William Street.  It was originally to be named Queen's Cross for Victoria's diamond jubilee, but was changed to Kings Cross as she died and her son took over as king.  This is now the sight of the giant light up Coca Cola sign.

Note- I realize by my pictures that it always looks grey here in Sydney.  For some reason I don't have much luck when I do my sightseeing!  The sun does come out, and the weather is still pretty good, in the mid to high twenties.

When I got home I skyped with the fam and was able to join them singing Happy Birthday to my Mom as she blew out the candle on her cake.  Then I went to town cleaning and making a pile of stuff to sell.

This evening we headed out to the Christmas party at Joel's golf club, Eastlakes.  The food was good, but overall it was pretty lame.  Two older ladies were playing song nazis at the jukebox that was rented and were skipping over all the good stuff to their favored 80s beats.  To get even at them I requested a bunch of songs I knew they would hate when they weren't looking- such as Achy Breaky Heart, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Korn.  Also made up a few stories for some of the drunken Aussies, such as telling one guy (who looked like Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys) that I was a pro skier.