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After a quick, very un-Christmassy Christmas in Singapore, eating Subway sandwiches and watching Harry Potter in our hotel room, we were feeling all Asia’d out so we boarded the plane on 27th December bound for Sydney in excitement and great anticipation (if only for the luxury of the aeroplane itself – free drinks? I’ll have the bubbly thanks!)
We landed shortly before midnight and rocked up at our lovely little hotel in Kirribilli whose name I will not put on here for fear of it becoming overrun and our not being able to stay there on our next visit! It was small but homely and clean in a fantastic location, just a short walk from a fantastic view of the Harbour Bridge and across to Sydney Opera House.
We had shipped over suitcases of clean and somewhat more civilised clothes for Australia and America which was the biggest luxury of all having lived in the same get-up for the last four months! Sydney was scorching and we enjoyed every second. After a much needed trip to the hairdresser which resulted in a new, much improved, clean-shaven Hans, we had a wander about the shops, a trip to the supermarket
to stock up on all the food we’d missed and generally basked in the sunshine and in the glory of having all our home comforts once more.
I met up with school friend Selina, who I hadn’t seen in 7 years, for lunch in the harbour which was fantastic and resulted in far too many bottles of wine and reminiscing of days gone by. Hans and I also took a boat trip around some of the other little harbours which left us windswept and pink from the sun but was enjoyable nonetheless.
New Years Eve, while everyone else in Sydney seemed to be piling into the local parks, spending hours in queues getting in and trying to pitch the perfect spot for the midnight fireworks amongst the mayhem, Hans and I had a quiet day, wandering in the sun and reading in the shade. In the evening I made a meal in our little kitchenette which we ate by the window overlooking the Sydney lights. At 11pm we wandered around the corner to the perfect spot next to the Harbour Bridge and looking directly over to the Opera House, with a smaller crowd, and waited for the legendary
show to begin. The fireworks were fantastic and we congratulated ourselves on putting up with each other every day for four months and seeing out 2010 with Team BailBerry still intact.
The next day everyone in Sydney was an interesting shade of pink or red having spent all day in the sun...apart from us – yes, us celts were VERY smug.
After a few more days in Sydney and meeting up with Jess and Luke from Borneo for a fun, if slightly drunken, night out, we picked up the rental car and headed south-bound for Melbourne. We spent a couple of days driving down the coast through Ulladulla and Bateman’s Bay, staying at Lynch’s hotel in Narooma, which was definitely haunted! We drove the Great Alpine Road, up into the mountains with beautiful views, and through Glenrowan, the scene of the great Ned Kelly shoot-out although unfortunately we drove through too late and everything was closed!
Before Melbourne we drove down the Great Ocean Road which was stunning, starting off from Torquay we drove through Apollo Bay and Port Campbell before a glimpsing the famous Twelve Apostles (although I only counted about 4).
We arrived into
Melbourne late and were put up by Hans’ lovely friend Johnny who lives in Richmond. I used his Internet and booked us into a hotel for the next few days on the best deal I could find through my tired haze and we promptly went to bed. When it came to checking into our “hotel” the next day we turned up at the address and found an office where we were given a set of keys and directions to our apartment! It was brilliant! Fully equipped kitchen, front room, balcony, cable TV...heaven! Hans spent most of our time in Melbourne hitting the gym, in the meantime I met up with a family friend for lunch, walked through the gorgeous botanical gardens and went to a fantastic self-portrait exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Federation Square. I also relished in making many a home-cooked meal in the kitchen, determined to make the most of it. Suffice to say Johnny was very well fed by the time we left!
After a few days in Melbourne we drove back up (not before stopping at Pin Oak Drive, Glen Waverley, aka Ramsay Street for a quick peek!) through Glenrowan, which was
open this time, and stopped at their little museum which was a truly bizarre and hilarious experience. The man who ran the museum was so passionate about his masterpiece and although the tickets where fairly pricey his pitch made it sound too good to pass up...and we’re so glad we didn’t! He led us into a dark room set out like a haunted house, with frightening-looking and to-scale model people dotted about. We were the only ones there so we took a seat and he disappeared off to start the show. All of a sudden the room came to life, the mechanical models started moving and the narrator (with a truly scary computerised face) started the Ned Kelly story.
After each section had finished a small cowboy (the old man’s grandson dressed up and looking mortified) led us to the next room, this time it was a bar, and the same thing happened again with the room suddenly coming to life in the creepiest of ways and all the characters talking to each other while we stood about awkwardly trying to follow the story. This continued outside where a play gun-fight took place and then he left us in
a barn which they pretended to set on fire. It was absolutely hilarious but mainly because the man whose museum it was told us it was the latest technology and soon Disney would be doing it too...it was VERY dated.
We drove up to the Blue Mountains for some spectacular views before arriving back at our Sydney hotel. While we had the car we look the opportunity to drive around the Sydney beaches including Bondi, Coogee, Bronte and Clovelly and also took a quick trip to Sydney’s koala sanctuary in Pennants Hill, stroking the sleepy koalas and feeding the hungry ‘roos.
On the evening before our flight to San Francisco Hans surprised me with an early birthday present – a sunset climb of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We donned our super-cool all-in-one overalls and set off with our group and lovely guide Nick for the climb. It was a beautiful evening and we climbed up in the sun (and wind!) and down to see the sun setting on the other side – not before a few snaps of the occasion. It was absolutely wonderful and one of the best birthday presents of my life.
The next day
we packed up our clean clothes, waved farewell to our very worn Asia get-up and our lovely hotel, and boarded the plane to head to a new continent and a new chapter in our travels. Bring on San Fran Jan!!!!
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