Advertisement
Published: January 8th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Having arrived slightly crumpled from SE Asia we were glad to get to a country where we could speak the language and cross the road in relative safety again. Sydney, and specifically the suburb of Glebe where we stayed, did not disappoint. On our first full day there we caught up with much needed things, food shopping, getting our haircut and buying small fake Christmas trees, all good. We were slightly suprised to find that there was not nearly as many house and street decorations as at home, so we tried to make up for it in our room. The following day, Christmas Eve, we were suprised again as it poured with rain in the afternoon, this was not what we had signed up for. We stood sheltering in the Glebe fish market wondering if we had accidentaly been transported back to England. Nevermind, Christmas day came good. Following a celebratory breakfast with our fellow hostelees, bagels, bucks fizz, salmon, bucks fizz, fruit, bucks fizz, eventually just the fizz, we headed out (in none too straight a line) for the ubiquitos Bondi beach. As we arrived the sun came out, the santa hat man started to sell his santa hats, and
the surf was breaking in quite a scary manner. Even the ice cream came dipped in chocolate, mmmmm. We packed a picnic bought from the local deli (not quite Christmas dinner but nevermind) and sat back to soak up the sun. Very different from a traditional Christmas, but you could get used to it.
Boxing day saw us watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race from the steps of the Opera House (albeit in the distance) and then heading to Coogee beach, another great beach just round from Bondi (slightly less frightening surf but bloody cold all the same). After that we decided it was time for a bit of action, so the following day we headed for the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Instead of doing the traditional climb which takes you over the top arch of the brige, we opted for the brand new 'Discovery Climb' which takes you over the inner arch of the bridge and then up to the very top. The idea being you have more 'interaction' with the bridge. This means you are swaying out over the road deck more on impossibly narrow 'catwalks' and climbing up ladders that have a
very good view of Sydney Harbour directly through them. Not one for the faint hearted. We did get spectacular views from the top however, right over to the mouth of Port Jackson and back the other way to Glebe where we were staying. After an a somewhat posed 'throw-your-hands-in-the-air-you-ARE-having-a-good-time' photo we headed back down to more solid ground.
The next day we decided to be even more adventurous and managed to catch a train out of Sydney and into the Blue Mountains. So called because they are tainted blue by the haze from the millions of Eucalyptus trees that make up the surrounding forest, they really do appear quite blue. On arrival we headed straight for 'Scenic World' (if this conjours up images of longs queues and spilt ice cream you'd be right) and boarded the 'Scenic Skyway.' This was a horizontal cable car that crossed the gorge over the Jamison Valley. It gave spectacular panoramic views of the famous rock formations, The Three Sisters and Orphan Rock and even had a see-through floor which allowed you to see all the way to the valley floor, higher than the Sydney Harbour Bridge we were reliably informed. After disembarking we
joined the queue for the worlds steepest incline railway, down to the valley floor. As promised this was suitably steep and required the train to have a wire cage over the top of it to prevent people falling to their deaths. After a walk round the rainforest boardwalk at the bottom where we could inspect gum trees at close quarters we joined another queue for the cable car back up to the top. After much pushing and shoving we emerged back at the top relatively unscathed. After all that standing around we decided to do some walking and set off from Echo point (a great lookout) to try and find the Leura (yes Leura) cascades. Although we never found said cascades (we realised we were going to miss the last bus back, disaster) we did see some fantastic scenary including the Bridal Veil Falls.
After all that adventuring we were a bit worn out and required a few days in the pub before heading back into Sydney just before New Year to visit the Aquarium. This had a great shark tank with huge sharks and manta rays swimming about above your head, a platypus display (they are pretty cool
creatures) and a resident crocodile. This was all groundwork for our forthcoming trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The next day being New Years Eve we took pretty slowly and headed out into Sydney just in time to see the 9 o'clock show of the fireworks. These were pretty good but we decided we couldn't see enough from our spot in Glebe park so we set out for Pyremont Park which we had scoped out in a reconnaissance mission the previous day, whilst heading to the aquarium. This was a great spot with a good view of the bridge, right on the water, and thankfully not too crowded. We had decided not to go into Circular Quay as we would have needed to be there by midday and no alcohol was allowed (clearly these two things contradicted themselves entirely). After a brief stop in the pub we headed down to the waters edge with our new friends Drew and Eema and cheerfully saw in the New Year with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a great display of fireworks.
New Years Day found us needing sunglasses to walk to the toilet so we stayed in until late afternoon. Then
we ventured into Sydney for one final look at the bridge and Opera House and a "hair of the dog" pint with another couple of our friends Gemma and Rich. Next stop is Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation up in the tropics of Queensland where we're keen to find crocs, snakes and sharks, hopefully from a safe distance.....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.103s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 18; qc: 76; dbt: 0.0672s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb