Advertisement
Published: November 27th 2006
Edit Blog Post
It's now been 2 weeks since I last caught up with you all and it has been an action packed, fun filled fortnight!
After leaving Melbourne behind, we headed north to Sydney! Where else would two backpackers go on their first day in Sydney but, of course, the Sydney Opera House and Harbour! My first impression was one of dissapointment - up close, the Opera House isn't anything special and to make matters worse we got caught up in an electrical storm and had to take shelter under its canopy! We abandoned our sightseeing for the day, read to tackle the city with renewed enthusiasm the following day! That evening I managed to catch up over a quiet drink with an old UBC friend who was in Sydney for the U2 concert.
The following day was a far greater success than the previous day - we took in the Royal Botanic Gardens (and the cat-sized bats hanging from the trees), enjoyed magnificant views over the stunning Sydney harbour from Mrs Macquarie's Chair, re-visited the Opera House, wandered round Circular Quay and the neighbouring Rocks area. We followed this up with a leisurely stroll across the Harbour Bridge, stopping to
take, perhaps, our 100th photo of the Opera House and the Harbour! We enjoyed a picnic lunch on the North Shore, sunning ourselves and enjoying the Harbour views. After re-energising ourselves, we wandered over to Darling Harbour and enjoyed a couple of hours relaxing there. That evening we were re-united with the Irish girls (Mary Collins being the new addition), who had made it over from New Zealand. We enjoyed a few drinks whilst catching up on our news from the previous week!
We also spent a day in Manly, a 30 minute ferry ride from Sydney Harbour. Here, we chilled out on the beach and 'caught some surf' ... ok so I played around in the waves! That evening, we decided to go check out the Sydney nightlife! Grumpy Bouncers, incompetent Barmen, and a Manager sadly lacking in inter-personal skills, didn't leave us with a good impression of Sydney's nightlife (don't go to the Three Wise Monkeys) but in true Scottish/Irish style we made the most of it and ended up having a good laugh....in an Irish Bar! Oh...and Sydney taxis only take 4 people - we tried often enough to get the 5 of us in! Hilarious!
Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge
From North Shore...last one of the Opera House...promise! After exhausting the City, we took ourselves off to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains for the night. We enjoyed a walk in the Blue Mountains National Park, taking in the famous Three Sisters, and a hair-raising ride on the World's Steepest Incline Railway!
We returned to the City to spend the weekend living it up on Sydney's sun-kissed Bondi Beach! We stayed in what can only be described as a 5 star hovel! I can laugh about it now but trust me, you wouldn't even want a common street rat to stay there! Thankfully, the sun shone all weekend, so we spent most of our time on the beach catching some rays, swimming in the ocean, and enjoying some coastal walks over to neighbouring Bronte!
We ended our time in Sydney with a night out on the town. By the end of the night, Jo and I were the last ones standing. We weren't able to get into Bondi Beach Hotel so on our way back up to our 5 star pad, we heard some music coming from an apartment block. Crawling through their front garden, we invited ourselves into this house party! After raiding their fridge
Darling Harbour
Messing around at Darling Harbour for beer, toast, cookies, and sweets, introducing ourselves to the hosts, and getting to know the 'locals,' we left with a santa hat and an inflatable palm tree in hand....don't ask! A night, I won't forget in a hurry!
Sydney didn't leave as lasting an impression as Melbourne did but we enjoyed our week there all the same.
We left Sydney and the Irish girls behind and headed north to Byron Bay! We spent 2 days here relaxing on the beach working on our tans, walking up Cape Byron to Australia's most easterly point and cycling to Broken Head (a beach that seemed to stretch for miles)! Unfortunately, I also had my first run in with Australian wildlife! I was bitten on the hand by some critter causing extreme pain and ashamed to admit it, tears! At first I thought it was a spider, but after talking to some locals, I now think it was the lesser spotted Byron Green Ant which injects some kind of acid into your body! Lovely jubbly! I've lived to tell the tale and my hand is still attached to my arm!
That brings you up to speed with my adventures in
New South Wales.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.139s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 17; qc: 63; dbt: 0.0634s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Jamie
non-member comment
Still taking an awful lot of photos then!
Hey mate, looks and sounds like you're having an amazing time, exactly what you need before starting the real world of work (it sucks!). Send my love to all the ubc folk you meet along the way, will email you soon. Sounds like you're having a good time, you lucky lucky man. All the best, Jamie (ps. Has anyone come up and asked if "I can give you a hug?" yet?