Sydney

We arrive in Sydney tired and hungover, luckily we are staying with Matt, who Jenny used to live next door to in Hazel Grove, so we have not only a place to stay but a useful source of information for seeing Sydney.  We go out for a couple of beers with Matt, his girlfriend Amanda and his brother John - talk a about Hazel Grove and Australia, then go for a reasonably early night.

We are sleeping in the lounge and are woken up about 730 by he return of Matts housemate Robbie, a scouser who lives up to the stereotype by swearing, talking about taking drugs and accusing people of trying to rob him at a party he had just returned from.

Matt has given us a rough itinerary for the day so we get the bus down to Coogee beach, have breakfast then walk north along the coast toward Bondi beach. it's easy to see why the first immigrants from England decided to stay here, it's the middle of winter but the sun is out and it's still relatively warm.  We walk past various beaches and coves stoppping to watch the killer whales do some jumps while they migrate north.  When we arrive At Bondi we are a little underwhelmed, the beach is very nice but the the buildings and overall setting is a bit Lancashire seaside town.  There is a good atmosphere though and it seems a fun place to hang out for a bit.  We get the bus north up to Watsons Bay where we have fish and chips and our first sight of the city and harbour bridge in the distance. We walk up to The Gap, where the ocean meets the harbour, take some pictures then walk back down to meet Matt and Amanda at Watsons Bay. We planned to get the ferry into the city as it turned dark, but as we watched the sunset over the city we also watched heavy clouds come in and obscure it with rain.  We sheltered in a bar while it passed over us and then took the later ferry into the harbour past the Opera House and bridge to Circular Quay.  It was pretty cold and wet and we weren't really dressed for it. We took some pictures of the Opera House then took a brilliant double decker train to the cinema on George St where we saw " the hangover" - a bit fun but not great.  We took a while afterwards to find the bus stop back to matts but eventually found it with the help of the iPhone and went to bed.

The next day we got up earlier and took the bus straight to Circular Quay to see the big stuff.  It was a beautiful day and the setting of the Opera House and bridge around the harbour was really stunning.  We walked around the botanical gardens next to the Opera House to be rewarded by ever improving views of the harbour and city, I loved the botanical gardens and could have spent all day there watching the fruit bats and various other crazy looking birds whilst sitting in the sun.

We headed back to the city along with all the lunchtime runners and overheard some of the biggest business bullshit ever "an embryonic regime" was one quote.  The guy must have been on drugs.  We had lunch at a business cafe the walked around to "the rocks " which is the oldest part of the city.  Some more amazing views of the opera house and bridge and a while sat on the edge of the harbour taking it all in.  Tired from walking all day we made a final push and trekked up the the pylons of the bridge which from the top of gave us another brilliant view of it all as well as an interesting display about the history of the bridge.  Finally we walked back down to circular quay and took the ferry under the bridge and around to Darling harbour as the sun finally set.  A long but brilliant day taking in the most picturesque city I have been to (including Rio - albeit in the rain).  I'd love to come back and spend more time here. 

Back at Matts we hastily booked a motel in Brisbane for that night and subsequent 4 day car hire in Mackay before Matt and Amanda very kindly dropped us off at the airport. 

Pictures at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/phy7tes/Sydney#

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