Sydney Day three Wednesday 9/11/11

Back to the railway station and bought our day ticket and set off on the same line as yesterday to Blacktown then on a bus to Featherdale wildlife centre. This concentrated on indigenous species, got up close to koalas and roos and possums and so on. Decided against eating our sandwiches there and so for once as we got to the bus stop a bus arrived to let us retrace our steps to Parramatta where we walked across the town to the river hoping to pick up the ferry to circular quay but as it was low tide we had a bus replacement service to the next ferry stop. Chose the all stops ferry service rather than the direct service and had an interesting cruise down the Parramatta river. Decided to hop off at Cockatoo island as we had plenty of time. That's an abandoned naval, shipbuilding,convict base and thee are remnants of all these previous uses, mainly falling into dereliction. Back on the slow ferry to circular quay and a break for tea whilst we waited for our appointment with David (a contact through work). Found his office and set out to have a beer or 3 with him at the Opera House plaza. Very interesting chat and suggestion for dinner in Manly. As we departed we had just missed the normal ferry so opted for the high speed cat which got us there just before dusk allowing us to have a quick look round before finding a restaurant for dinner. Fish or fish were the main choices so we had some excellent fish in the "Fish Cafe", bit noisy though as there was a table of 14 beside us. Caught the normal ferry back and had a wonderful moonlight trip across the harbour. Total confusion about where to catch a bus home so ended up in a taxi.