This was our last full day of this vacation and our final day for sightseeing in Sydney. Our plan for today was to visit the Australian National Maritime Museum and Sydney Aquarium in Darling Harbour. However, the maritime museum had enough to offer that we didn’t have the time to visit the aquarium too. Rather than take a ferry, we walked through the CBD to Darling Harbour, which is surrounded by a mix of entertainment and dining venues. Of these, I was especially surprised to see a Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville (at nearly 15k kilometers from Key West, FL). 
Overlooking Darling Harbour and ships of the Australian National Maritime Museum
The Australian National Maritime Museum features a variety of exhibits in its galleries, but it’s most popular features are the ships in the harbor that may be toured. These included a destroyer (HMAS Vampire), a submarine (HMAS Onslow), and a precise replica of Captain Cook’s ship Endeavour. We thoroughly toured all three ships, but I was most impressed by the submarine. My grandfather—who served in the US Navy during WWII—always commented on never wanting to serve aboard a submarine.
I can now understand why. Wow! Talk about tight quarters. I can’t imagine spending 6-10 weeks under the surface of the ocean in such a confined space with a full complement of crew. After about a week, I think I’d be ready to fire myself out as a torpedo!
Exploring inside the HMAS Onslow...
For the “strange but true” file: I stopped into an EZ-Mart this evening to pick up a few supplies for our trip home. The foreign guy (Middle Eastern? North African? I dunno.) behind the counter got really excited and blurted out, “I’ve seen you before! I know you! You’re from Florida, right!?!” I couldn’t recall ever seeing this guy before, but I wasn’t wearing anything that was labeled “Florida.” I was tempted to ask about the circumstances of our encounter, but I figured that 1) this would only prolong our social interaction, and 2) it would make obvious my complete lack of awareness of our prior meeting. So, I just smiled and said something inane like “wow, small world, huh?” Still… amazing and, yes, kind of creepy.
Tonight, we had Mexican again for our final diner in Sydney. We then spent the rest of the evening relaxing and preparing for our journey home tomorrow. We have three flights: 14 hours to LA, 5 hours to Atlanta, and 1 hour to Tampa. With layovers, it’s about 24 hours of travel time, which isn’t bad compared to Captain Cook’s voyages to the South Pacific that we learned about today.