First Cornwall.. now Whales..

Hi dearest ones,

Back again with yet another update to our travelling saga.. Strange to think we've already had 10 days in Sydney and our Australian leg has come to an end.. it feels like we've just arrived to tell the truth.. Maybe we should start again??

Maybe not, we've just checked the bank balance!!

Oh well, so what's new?

Well, we made it to Sydney with no scary dips out of the sky (luckily Quantas' flights were more expensive!!) and amazed ourselves with getting a great deal on a posh hotel right in the heart of the city. We've had a mini-apartment for 10 days, all at a rate less than half the price of sleeping in the van.. and there's cable TV to boot!! (We're seriously starting to reconsider the whole backpacker thing after this experience - luxury certainly has a charm once you get used to it).

Sadly I arrive a little worse for ware. After 4 months of taking anti-malaria tablets without a hitch, my very last tablet refused to go down (not helped by my endless talking no doubt), and when it exploded in my mouth I spent 24 hours puking, coughing and generally feeling 1000% sorry for myself. Amazing the effect such a little thing can have on your body. Arianna and I both started to ask ourselves what exactly we've been doing to our insides taking in these "innocent" little tablets for almost a 1/3 of a year!

Maybe we'll glow in the dark when we get back??

Maybe I'll finally have super powers??

Maybe I need a cape???

So eventually after a days rest we took baby steps into Sydney, only to discover that we loved the place! Easy to get around, cool shopping centres, friendly open minded people, the ocean and beaches all just a stones throw away... plus lots of art galleries and even a botanical garden to wonder around.. What more can you ask for??

We had a dash around the Opera House, which was nice but not really anything out of this world. (It looked to me like it had been built by council workers in the 60's although my moustache fitted in very well, I'm proud to say!) We also walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge (The one Billy Connelly climbed up) to visit the Luna Park.. which is just like Blackpool really, only without as much candyfloss, rain or tough looking drag artists. Much more fun was the Botanical Garden's filled with flying foxes, which gave Arianna the Heebie-Geebies big time. She shuddered whenever one of the little buggers flew over us, and I started to enjoy myself scaring the pants off her (revenge for the Yellow Mountains).. amazing to see the trees filled with so many of them. It turned this beautiful city park into something from the set of the "Addams Family". We also went to Bondi beach, again not much more than a sunny version of Newquay, but people walked around with smiles on their faces and we ate a good Falafel as we watched the surfers do their stuff...

I guess the highlight of our time in Sydney was Whale watching.. After a few hours of turning slowly pea-green in the sea, a pod of Whales popped up close to our boat and the youngest humpback started to breach and tail slap.

Wonderful!!

So tomorrow we fly to New Zealand and there we begin another dash around to see as many things as we can in the short time we've got. It's all stress you know, but at least we have you all to turn to when the going gets tough..

Till then, happy days and big smiles from us here in lovely Sydney
Nige and Ari xx


Ciao ragazzuoli!

Stiamo lasciando Sydney, quindi una qualche parola di raccomandazione per questa citta' bellissima mi sembra d'uopo...

Sydney e' fantastica, elegante, rilassante, vivibile. E' una capitale a misura d'uomo, con grandi spazi, chiiiilometri di passeggiate a ridosso del mare e bei giardini lussureggianti lasciati dai botanici inglesi, increduli, forse, davanti a tanta abbondanza e diversita' e desiderosi di raccogliere e classificare tutte le bellezze della flora locale.

Per noi assomiglia tanto ad una grande citta' americana, con grattacieli altissimi che si mischiano ai palazzi vittoriani e d'inizio '900. Bella bella bella. E' una tra le prime citta' in cui potremo vivere, oddio... solo se fosse un po' piu' vicina a casa... Qui mi sento proprio lontana da tutto e da tutti... ma questo e' un mio problema :)) Gli abitanti di Sydney hanno comunque ragione ad essere orgogliosi... Non ci sono molte citta' in cui puoi mollare l'ufficio, fare 5 chilometri di strada ed andare a fare surf a Bondi Beach!

Pure i negozi non scherzano! Ce ne sono di meravigliosi e molto originali! Siamo andati al mercatino dell'artigianato di Paddington, (si, a "Paddington", sulla "Oxford Street", si, dopo "Liverpool Street"... A volte ci sembra di essere a casa, che tra il pallore dei residenti, la lingua e l'architettura, uno fa presto a dimenticarsi che siamo dalla parte opposta del mondo!)

Qualche giorno fa siamo andati a vedere le balene (o megattere, Cri, grazie per la traduzione!)! Che belle! Ce n'erano almeno 5 attorno a noi, ma con la barca ne abbiamo seguito tre che sguazzavano dentro e fuori dall'acqua ed erano fantastiche! Non ci potevamo avvicinare piu' di 150 metri, ma e' stato abbastanza per osservare quanto grandi fossero! Che bello che bello! Tanto per ribadire che qui in Australia tutto e' grande, pure gli animali in acqua, ah ah!! La mamma che stava gironzolando con il cucciolo e altra balena accompagnatrice ci hanno detto che doveva essere tra i 12 e 14 metri! Grande!!

Un animale che NON mi e' piaciuto e' la flying fox (Cri, aiutami con i nomi in italiano che sono una frana...) insomma, un pipistrello ENORME con la faccia che sembra un volpino. Ce n'erano a centinaia e centinaia ai giardini botanici, per la gioia di Nigel, e la disperazione mia!

Il mese in Australia e' passato in un baleno, e siamo ancora un po' in shock al pensiero di dover partire per la Nuova Zelanda domani!

Un bacio a tutti e alla prossima!
xx

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