by John New
Following the Mortgage Choice publicity event, we started our walk around Darling Harbour from near Tumbalong Park and the Exhibition Centre, beginning with about 50 people and exactly 42 beagles. This was an excellent turnout for our first city walk. A few people even travelled from Canberra.
It was a very low-key walk, because Darling Harbour is always very crowded with plenty of tourists and others who just want to enjoy one of Sydney's central entertainment and meeting areas. The weather was perfect for an autumn day, with hardly any clouds and a light breeze.
We started off, very slowly, walking along the foreshore towards the Maritime Museum. There were a few scary moments for our beagles, like fountains making strange watery noises, some nasty grates in the ground, which maybe didn't smell too nice, and a few steep stairs. Once we on the footbridge crossing Darling Harbour there were some even scarier moments as the monorail crossed overhead. Our beagles had no idea where that horrible noise was coming from!
The beagles were probably very glad to get to the other side of the footbridge and go down the stairs to relative peace and quiet, near Sydney Aquarium. At this point, we walked along the foreshore again, back to Tumbalong Park, where we finished up.
A very adventurous walk for our beagles. I'm not sure they really enjoyed it, with all the commotion around them and probably not so many interesting smells. Perhaps some quieter city areas would be better.