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Published: November 29th 2008
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................and so to Brisbane. We got the early bus without having booked anywhere and ended up in the City Centre. The hostel was a bit on the “party” side, needed a deposit for just about anything and everything and was really only redeemed by the view of the city from it’s roof top terrace. We struggled with Brisbane - it is a pretty inoffensive sort of place and generally pleasant, but it lacks those must see sights, buildings and attractions. It is probably an easier place to live in rather than visit and there is a resemblance to a city in the US in the respect that the centre seems to become deserted at night. We spent our days checking out such as the Gabba, Queensland State Parliament building and night’s mainly around Caxton, with it’s selection of pubs, music venues and food offerings. The vision of the Castlemaine Brewery tour suggested lots of yellow cans going around a production line, but was quite revealing in that the “rival” blue NSW Toohey’s cans were going round the production line next to it!
We left for Byron Bay, which was busy, overbooked, over-priced and quite possibly over-rated. The town has a
Blue Mountains
The Three Sisters wide appeal, although most who were there for the surf appeared more than happy wandering round with a board under their arm rather than surfing - in the waves stakes, Hawaii it is not! We headed for the Lighthouse and the most easterly point of the mainland, before heading to Coffs.
It was a day of “bigs” - the big prawn and the big banana. Coffs Harbour is banana country. The town is spread out far and wide, so we borrowed a couple of bikes from the hostel. We had another bash at this boogie boarding business, but gave up when the wind became so strong there was a possibility of drifting to Norfolk Island………and for the first time, we figured out what a “rip” was. Port McQ was a more compact version of Coffs.
We rolled into Newcastle at 21.30 hours to find it closed for the evening - which tempered our proposed food plans. Despite the names - Newcastle, Wallsend, Whickham, Pelaw - it was more 1970’s Teesside and to prove the point Stockton was on the north side of the river. It was a real place - no sign of many other backpackers here. Daylight
arrived and the grand architecture of yesteryear when the coal and steel businesses were in their prime became evident - even the YHA, which was complete with a sprung wooden dance floor and a ballroom. We headed down to the beach, where a round of the Quiksilver World Surfing Championship was on the go - AUS$ 10,000 and the pick of the surf chicks being the top prize. The pubs were a little on the aggressive side, largely due to an over consumption in advance of an Australia v New Zealand rugby league game. When in the North East - go to the club - complete with a meat draw big enough to feed a family for a year. HMS Nottingham was in town - an unscheduled stop to check out the hole in it’s side after hitting a reef near Norfolk Island. The world’s press awaited it’s departure on the tide, but it sneaked out in the dead of night to avoid photos that the RN obviously didn’t want the world to see.
The highlight of Newcastle was the trip through Co Durham (disguised as Wales with Abderdare, Neath etc) to the Hunter Valley vineyards. I have a
Balina
The Giant Prawn note of visiting Hardys Hunter Ridge, Hunter Cellars, Golden Grange, Draytons and McGuigan Cellars. It was a bargain at AUS$35 via the YHA.
The arrival into Sydney is very spectacular - across the Harbour Bridge. We left in 30 minutes flat, taking a train to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. The YHA at Katoomba was another architectural classic as at Newcastle. The iconic picture of the Three Sisters, taken from Echo Point with the Blue Mountains in the background, is actually just at the end of Katoomba’s main street. We did the walk at the base of the 900 Giant Steps, took in the sunset at Echo Point, dined on a bargain Chinese and had the dubious honour of receiving the prize for last place - some Three Dogs thongs, two stubby holders and a key ring in the RSL quiz.
We caught the train back to Sydney and stayed at Wake Up across from the Central Station, which was very convenient. Sydney had changed a lot since 1991 - the investment for the 2000 Olympics had dragged the place from it’s 1958 comfort zone. The change was most noticeable around the Rocks - a new mecca of
souvenir retail therapy. We wandered aimlessly and ended up at the Bridge Climb, primarily to check prices. This fortunate move resulted in our biggest piece of backpacking luck on any trip. We were in the way of a group as they arrived and stood looking at the price list. We moved aside for their top man, who seemed grateful. A couple of minutes later he returned and gave us two AUS$160 tickets for the sunset / night climb, as a few of his corporate group hadn’t showed up. The temptations of the Hero of Waterloo had passed us by that afternoon, so breath test completed and full kit on we were climbing 45 minutes later. We were quite happy to participate in the Transfield Services corporate team building exercise for the next 3 hours. If you are reading this and thinking the price is a bit steep - climb anyway, it’s worth it!
We spent our “savings” the following day on some Christmas shopping in the Queen Victoria Buildings and the Strand Arcade to send home, developed a taste for bargain sushi (sold at knock down rates after the office workers have gone back to work) and headed back
to the Bridge to climb one of the pylons. The only downside to the Bridge Climb is that you can’t take your camera, so this is the place to climb for a view of the city and Opera House at a bargain rate - you also get to learn lots about Teesside steel and the origins of the Bridge. We took the ferry round to Darling Harbour and with luck still on our side managed to win a staggering 16 dollars at the Star City Casino. The extra funding didn’t last long as we met a former worker colleague in the Hero of Waterloo. Whilst Sydney has changed, there was still a village feel and over the last couple of days we’d managed to randomly bump into a fellow Matador man, a girl from the backpackers at Port McQ and the guide on the Bridge Climb!
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