After many Saturdays of walking, heading to the beach, oh and unpacking; we decided to have a change and head downtown to the skyscrapers of Sydney.
Our first 'job' was to go and sign up for private health insurance.
We have spent the past four months (that long, already?!) trying to figure out what the government operated healthcare system, Medicare, offers. Some people we spoke to said the cover it gave was enough, others said we definitely needed to get private health insurance. (After many hours spent reading up, we still aren't 100% sure what is covered by Medicare and what is not...)
We decided to get some basic private health insurance cover on the basis that we can still try to figure the whole medical costs thing out and decide whether to keep it, opt for a more substantial cover, or not continue with it; but with the piece of mind that should anything happen we are hopefully covered for it and we have started our cooling off/waiting period.
We decided to go with Bupa, as we had health insurance with them when we were in Munich and they were very good.
So first stop, go and see Bupa. We found the store...and it was closed!
One of the main reasons we had come into town was because the website said the stores here were open on Saturdays! (Note to selves - ring the store beforehand...)
Not to worry, there was another store a fifteen minute walk away.
Thankfully, this one was open, and we now have basic private health insurance.
By now, our stomachs were firmly telling us it was lunch time.
Where to go?
We had that feeling you often get on holiday: you walk for ages (usually after already having walked what seems like miles), and see no where that really takes your fancy so, on the verge of crying (well, that may well just be me then), opt for an OK establishment to eat. Full, you walk around the corner and see an amazing looking place.
But we had actually seen somewhere on the way to the second Bupa store - an interesting bakery called, The Dough Collective.
We walked in and were greeted with the sight of more than a dozen freshly made flavoured breads in glass display cabinets. Infront of each variety sat a container of cut up bread enabling you to sample before you bought.
We tasted a fair few of the samples...
The flavourings were so imaginative: both sweet and savoury, from tuna to cheese, garlic to sweet potato, nuts and dried fruit, chocolate, coffee...it just went on and on.
There was a delicious chocolate bread, studded with nutella and cream cheese that nearly enticed us, but we were taken with the ring bread bun with dark chocolate chunks, walnuts and orange zest, as it reminded us of our favourite Montreal Bagels.
A couple of blocks down from the bakery was Hyde Park, so we walked over there and sat in the sunshine eating our finds. The soft bread oozing with chocolate, the chunks of walnut providing crunch, was amazing!!
Fuelled, it was time to hit the shops.
My three work outfits were being stretched, and the whole getting them washed in time for the next work day was proving tricky - I needed an extra outfit!
The shops were somewhat busier than the last time we had been (we keep forgetting Christmas is just around the corner - the heat is throwing us off!), and although I went in with armfuls of clothes I came away with nothing. It's just the way it goes.
Before catching the ferry home we stopped for a drink on the harbour.
There was a bar we visited a few years ago when we were here on holiday, and have wanted to return; but since we have been living here, every time we have dropped in it has been closed for a function. Saturday was its last chance to redeem itself...
Closed for a function!
There was a bar we visited a few years ago when we were here on holiday, and have wanted to return; but since we have been living here, every time we have dropped in it has been closed for a function. Saturday was its last chance to redeem itself...
Closed for a function!