Blogs from Darling Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

Woke at 09:00 to a foggy day, looked out the window and saw that it actually heavy showers. After tea, toast and shower we donned the Boyes cheap waterproof jackets we got for Cairns but had no use for, then walked down Pitt street. Mooched round the Westfield shopping centre, then headed further down and ... bought a replacement document wallet in lime green (how exciting!) Had latte and banana bread / cherry muffin then onto the Rocks and Circular Quay. Toyed with becoming stowaways on the Caribbean 'Rhapsody of the Seas' loading passengers (who wouldn't), and took some photos from the International Passenger Terminal observation area not discovered before the before the camera battery died. We then walked back under the Harbour Bridge and through Hyde Park, bumping into our artist friend en route so ... read more

The 26th January is celebrated as 'Australia Day' marking the first day the ships arrived with the convicts aboard, back in 1788. Think 'queens jubilee' or 'independence day' -type celebrations, with flags, music, food etc. We caught the train from Emu Plains to central Sydney arriving mid-morning and headed up to The Rocks and Darling Harbour for the celebrations. The main programme started at 7pm with numerous speeches and the ships and tall ship parade around the harbour. This was followed by a pretty spectacular firework and light display finale! After a long day on our feet we caught the train back to pick up the campervan and had a brief drive to Sun Valley to visit my cousins Alison & Simon (who had kindly taken us in for the ... read more

I arrived in Sydney earlier this afternoon and concluded my two week tour of the east coast of Australia! I've had a brilliant time, met lots of interesting people and learned a lot about Australia, I've also done my fair share of partying of course. I'm now staying at the Wake Up hostel on Pitt Street for 5 nights which takes me up to Wednesday 25th April, also known as Anzac Day for aussies. It's their national memorial day for veterans and it's held on 25th April every year as that's the first day that Aussies/Kiwis served for their country in it's own right, as opposed to serving in the British army. Apparently it's a big deal and there's usually a lot of drinking and gambling as well as the standard memorial services, so I plan ... read more

I woke up at 7pm, got changed, ate breakfast and did everything else. It was a sunny day and the temperature was 28 degrees. The streets weren't crowded, because it was a Wednesday and people were at work. We were going to walk down the city and going to the Sydney Eye Tower. We walked down and took the first left turn. Once we were there, we brought the tickets and it came with a 4-D movie. We watched it and it was epic. After that we went to the Sydney Eye Tower. It was really high up in the sky and some people even went to the top of the tower and outside ! It was a very good view at the Sydney Tower. We spent 1 hour at the tower. After that, the temperature ... read more