Monday 30 April 2012

(Day 44) A walk on the rich side (sort of)


Saturday 14th April (Day 44)


Tonight I was going out on a night out in the posher and more upper class area of Sydney.  I was heading to a bar/club called The Argyle which was in an area of Sydney called The Rocks.  The Rocks is the north most point of downtown Sydney and it is where the Harbour Bridge begins.  It is right next to Circular Quays which was were the wine tasting was held.

The problem with going out in The Rocks was I had to dress up in a shirt and proper shoes.  I really don’t feel comfortable dressing up like this, I am much more of a tee-shirt and canvas trainers type of guy.

I headed off with Nick (cool English housemate) on the train to The Rocks.  It was late in the evening so all the ticket barriers at the train station were unmanned and open so we decided not to bother getting tickets.  However this is a risk because if we got stopped at some point on our journey by a ticket inspector we would have received an on the spot fine of $200.  It isn’t like in England were you can just buy a ticket on the train.  Here no ticket = $200 fine.

Luckily no-one was working the train and we made it to The Rocks without being $200 lighter.
The Argyle is a large red brick building with many windows.  All the windows are covered in black metal bars and the building from the outside looks like an old prison.

The interior was clearly designed by someone who has a fetish for wood; everything was made from wood.  But not like Scruffy’s, this was good solid wood.  Walking around inside this club was like walking around the bowels of an old pirate ship.

Everyone in the club was dressed in smart evening wear and I think that is what was the main problem with the place; the atmosphere was just pretty stale.  Everyone was just wearing different shades of grey or black.  It felt more like a works party at a law firm than a night out.
 
Despite all of this I did quite like the Argyle.  I guess it is just nice once in a while to go to a club which is actually a clean and pleasant environment to be in, even when sober.  It was just a polar opposite from Scruffy’s, a place that stinks of booze and body odour.

After a few uneventful hours at Argyle we went on an equally uneventful bar crawl.  I sound like I am complaining but I did have a good night, just not much to talk about.  No girls who were questionable prostitutes, no bar fights and no people getting kicked out.  We just went from one sensible bar to the other.

After a while we decided to head home.  We got the train to The Rocks because it is quite far to walk from Surry Hills where we live.  But we walked the way back and it didn’t feel long at all.  The journey coming back from a night out always seemed shorter than the journey there.

Anyway overall I would possibly recommend a night in The Rocks.  The place is nice but don’t expect anything mental.
Map from Google

neeaarrhh mateys, the crew of the boring ship!


The toilets are actually unisex here, and the
weird illuminated thing in the middle is the sink

Some crazy street with dozens of canary cages hanging above it

We passed this building with a big pile of coal in the middle,
it turns out this building is an art gallery and the pile
of coal is the main exhibit.  I personally
think it just looks like a big pile of coal.


1 comment:

  1. I totally know what you mean about going out dressed up - I much prefer informal t-shirt/trainers (it's much cooler, less restrictive and comfier). Also well done for not getting a $200 ticket; not sure I would've chanced it - it's a lot to pay out especially when you're not earning much, but I guess Nick knew what he was doing so well played. The unisex toilets idea kind of makes me uncomfortable (my last experience at Old Trafford seeing Kings of Leon was one I don't wish to repeat = puddles of piss and queues of loudmouth girls that weren't attractive who were in the mens because the womens had an even bigger queue) but those toilets look ok :D - and yes you're right that is just a pile of coal

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