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Published: June 22nd 2007
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Helloooooo. Realised that I haven't written my Oz blog yet (I am already in New Zealand), so here it is.
We flew in to Sydney from Bali, and arrived at silly O Clock in the morning. Feeling knackered from the flight and the hour change, we decided to get a coffee at the airport. That cost the price of a big meal in Asia. This didn't please us...
Anyway, checked into a HUGE hostel in Sydney which Ro's brother recommended to us, which was really nice - big change from Asia - apart from anything else, it had hot water. And more than 4 rooms. And - joy of all joys - not a single cockroach!
The first day we were there, we just wandered about in a bit of a daze. After the likes of Cambodia, Sydney was a bit overwhelming. It seemed really clean, big, modern, and above all, cold. Suddenly realised our mistake - although it's nice and warm in SE Asia at the minute, or at least it was when we were there, it is winter in Australia (and New Zealand). So, we each have a bag of shorts and T-shirts which don't
Sydney Harbour Bridge
See those tiny little flags, up at the top there? Thats where I climbed up to. seem to do much to keep us warm. Ah well - I bought a hat, so all is OK.
Ro's friend, who lives in Tasmania, came across to visit us for a couple of days. He'd never been to Sydney either, so we did all the touristy stuff together. Sydney itself is absolutely beautiful, by the way - one of the few cities I think I'd like to live in. Not that I'm planning on emmegrating (?) anytime soon.
Wandered down the the Opera House and across to see the Harbour Bridge, both of which are pretty cool - got a few nice photos, which I will upload in due course. Also went wandering round the botanical gardens there, which are also dead nice. Bit of a suprise when massive bats (or flying foxes, if we're being pedantic) started flying about. They have a wingspan of about 2-3 feet, and they sleep in the trees of the gardens. Sort of expected to be done with silly wildlife after Asia...apparently not.
We were also randomly extras in a film - on the way through the park, someone came up to us asking us to stand about and watch
this woman playing guitar, and then ask a passerby to get our photo taken. My acting career is up and running! I expect its not going to be a blockbuster though. And I can't remember what she said it was going to be called either. Oh well.
The day after Fish (Ro's mate - yes, he's called Fish) left, I got up earlyish in the morning to go and do the bridge climb, which Mum and Dad got me for my birthday. That was really good - you harness up, and climb up to the very top of the bridge (130-something metres). Great views, but bitterly cold with all the wind - it was fairly exposed, so by the end of it, none of us could feel our toes. Or fingers. Or much else, now that I think about it. Moan moan moan... Sadly, they don't allow you to take cameras up, because you might drop them on the 7 lane highway which runs over the bridge, so you'll just have to take my word for it - the views were very impressive.
That night, we went up the Sydney Tower (the highest building in Sydney) to see
the city by night. The top is one of those round rooms, with windows all around, and you could see for miles. Everything was lit up, and was well worth the visit.
Erm...what else... Oh yeah, we went to the Zoo, which was really cool. As usual, I got all over-excited at seeing monkeys and all the other crazy things that were there. The giraffe bit was especially cool - they are in an enclosure, from which you can see Sydney Harbour, along with the bridge and the Opera House. Would have made a great photo, except my camera chose to run out of battery at that very moment. It seems that cameras and I aren't getting along too well recently... Also, I learned things at the Zoo. Thats right - I wasn't just messing about near the monkey cages, it was in fact an educational trip. Fact #1: of the World's 15 most poisonous snakes, 11 of them are Australian. Fact #2:... er... not such an educational trip...
Also visited the Sydney aquarium, which was pretty good - especially the sharks bit, where you wander through these glass tunnels, and see sharks and rays swimming all around
My Film Crew
Look professional, don't they. Had one of those fluffy sound things, and everything! you. Most of them weren't even dangerous sharks, but some of them looked pretty mean.
Then we made the obligatory trip to Bondi Beach. It was bloody freezing, and there were still a hardcore few in the water, doing some surfing. I bet the beach is pretty cool in the summer though, nice place, just wrong time of year.
Anyway, the rest of the time we spent wandering about. One of the nights was the hostel's birthday - which meant free drinks in the bar. For a whole hour. It was messy, frankly - lots of 18 year olds on their first time away from home. Someone chose to vomit on the bar. I laughed. For some reason, the bar staff seemed slightly less amused by whoever it was. Sorry, that's actually not a particularly nice story is it? I'm still leaving it in though.
And, the morning after this monstrous night, we had an 8 O'clock flight to catch, to New Zealand, where I am currently sat. At some point in the near future, I will update you on what we've been up to here, and if I can find somewhere that doesn't have so much
security on their computers, I will upload some pictures, both from Bali and for this blog.
Hope everything is OK with everybody back home. Back on the 18th of July by the way. I'm expecting a party...
See you all soon. Si.
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