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Published: August 12th 2005
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Successfully arrived in Sydney after leaving Sara behind in Auckland. We decided that we both wanted to do and see a few different things so it was better to separate and do our own thing for a few weeks before meeting up again in Alice Springs.
My first challenge in Sydney was negotiating getting to the hostel and despite questionning a shuttle bus several times I was still conned!! I had opted to stay at a large hostel in Sydney close to the train bus station. It was a great base as it was so close to everything. Depsite every Ozzie complaining of the cold I didnt really feel it (somthing to do with beong Scottish and walking at my usual pace all day). My first full day in Sydney was spent walking up to a beautiful art gallery and then onto Mrs MacQuaries Point where I had my first view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. It was quite amazing to actually be there at last. The climb over the harbour bridge was pretty expensive so I took a walk over it instead and still had some fantastice views of the river and city from there. Spent some
time watching some street artists at Circular Quay and was fascinated by some aboriginal musicians and there didgeridoo playing!! Wandered around the Rocks area for a while and then made tracks for "home". I slept well that night as I had walked from 8 till 8!!
The following day I took the ferry to Manly - about 30 mins from Sydney. It was great to watch the surfers there tackle the waves. There was even a life saving school on the beach - very Bay Watch! I wandered further along the headland and sat at a great viewing point over Manly for a while and basked in the afternoon sun (wandering what all the complaints about the weather were about!!). Avoided to traditional fish and chip dinner in Manly and took the 4.30 ferry back to Sydney and wathed the sunset over the Harbour Bridge and Opera House - well timed.
Sleeping that night in the hostel wasn't too easy as there were a few girls in the dorm room that came in at 3,4 and 5 in the morning. I felt a bit like Mrs Doubtfire when I built up the courage to ask them to keep
the noise down!! We were all entertained the next morning when they had to get up for a 7 am bus and were shouting at each other and asking us to help them pack - not a chance! I had to get up early anyway to catch the train to the Blue Mountains. I think I must have had a run of bad luck as the train had to stop as live cable had fallen onto the track. It took an hour and plenty of panicking passengers to sort the problem out and we could continue our journey. Despite having limited time there I still managed to see plenty. To reach all the main walking tracks there was a London style bus that did a circuit that you could get on and off. I opted to do a couple of the longer tracks in an effort to get fit. I had also been warned to wrap up as it was really cold there. However after a good walk down 1,000 dodgy stone steps I needed to de-layer!! After eventually reaching the bottom there was a good "bush walk" and then the stairway out. As there hadn't been much rain the
waterfalls weren't that spectacular but the views over the mountains made up for it. The journey home proved quite an adventure. I had my third piece of bad luck for the day. The train broke down again - just like home really!! I had been so tired though that I had fallen asleep on the train and was woken up by an Australian woman telling me that I had to get off the train (dad you will sympathise with this!). We all had to transfer onto buses and were driven to the next station and getting on another train. I got chatting to an English girl and her mum and they had some stories to tell so I was entertained the whole way back to Sydney. It had been a pretty full on day so I went to bed as soon as I got back.
Spent my last full day looking around Darling Harbour and then headed out to Bondi Beach to meet one of Sara's relatives, Georgina, for a coffee. I was really surprised by Bondi as so many people had said it wasn't that great. It was a lovely day when I arrived and we walked along the beach and watched the surfers brave the massive waves for a while. The beach itself was smaller than I had imagined and there were lots of houses dotted on the hills around. Later that night there was a concert on in Darling Harbour - a Queen tribute band were playing and they were pretty good. The harbour was packed out and the fireworks at the end were fantastic - a great way to end my time spent in Sydney.
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