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In day two of our Australian adventure, Mrs. Groovy and I ended the touristy part of our day in Darling Harbor. But before we wound up there, we ferried across Sydney Harbor and spent several hours at the Taronga Zoo. The highlights of the zoo, in turn, were the gorillas and the bird show. Below is a picture of the male silverback. What an impressive beast! And below that is a picture from Mary’s, home of one of Sydney’s best bar burgers. [Mrs. Groovy here. You wouldn’t find Mary’s unless you were specifically looking for it — and knew WHERE to look! A burger joint in a cement building covered with street art? Good thing I saw a photo on TripAdvisor!]
We ended our day at Mary’s, and it didn’t disappoint. Great freakin’ burger. We were caught off guard by Mary’s payment process, however. They don’t bring you a check. When you’re done, you just go up to the register and tell the hostess your table number. Since we didn’t know this, of course, we sat like idiots at our table for about twenty minutes until another patron took pity on us and told what to do. Oh, well. No one ever said being a tourist was going to be easy.
I laughed when you bemoaned the price of the Big Macs. America has such CHEAP food, clothing and housing.
Hey – you saw my place – it’s worth +1Million AUD. In most states in the US I’m guessing it’d be anywhere from 300K up.
(I’m catching up on the Trash talks while I’m doing some pruning. )
Do they tip over there? I have not been to Australia, but I have been to many countries over seas. Most do not expect tips as part of the servers salary. I found I could not break the habit of tipping regardless, but I did get great service. I think they knew Americans would do that, and it’s obvious I am one. My accent alone screams NY, and Brooklyn if you are so tuned. The fact that I usually wear a NY Yankees hat is likely also a factor. This brings me to another question. Did you have any funny experiences with Ex-Pats? My hat has caused many NYers or at least fans of the team to strike up a conversation when I travel. Once, a ground crew, while I was getting off a plane on a tarmac, approached me and starting talking about the last game. Another time, a father snuck away from his family, we were all hiking the same trail, to ask me the scores. He explained that his wife forbade him from checking the whole trip. My wife, who has 0 interest in baseball, laughed. Comically, her Irish born father is a huge baseball fan, as it’s how, in his words, he learned to be an American after he got here. My great grandparents pretty much said the same, I am told, when they did as well.
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They really don’t tip. We tipped bartenders a few times and Uber drivers but one driver argued with us about taking the money.
We met a few expats and people who briefly lived in the U.S. Coincidentally, two of the gals lived in my old neighborhood in Manhattan and we reminisced about the best bagel place in NY (Essa bagels — the original one near Stuy Town on 1st ave and 19th st. Go there for the bagels and the gruff old guys who work there. They didn’t even carry my favorite kind which is egg, but they were still the best).
Also coincidentally with you, I’m from Brooklyn and Mr. G’s mother is the Irish Catholic (but born in the U.S.). She and I have red hair and don’t suffer fools too gladly so Mr. G refers to us as the two evil redheads.
My father loved the Mets! I’ve been to the old Shea and Yankee stadiums. Last time I went to Flushing though it was for dim sum, a long time ago.
Thanks for commenting!
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