Well this is just a token blog to completely cheat and colour the whole of Australia red on my blog map when all I’ve really done is spend 4 days in Melbourne and 5 days in Sydney.
When I bought my round-the-world ticket for this trip I wasn’t sure what I was going to be doing after New Zealand, but with some free flights included in the price it made sense to put Melbourne and Sydney in there… even if has only ended up being for a flying visit - the rest of Australia will have to wait.
Fortunately Sarah and I were both able to match our flights, so we left New Zealand together and ended up spending a lovely long weekend in Melbourne with some relations of Sarah’s - Narelle and Tony and their two young daughters, Sienna and Scarlet. It was actually really nice to be back staying in a proper home for once - a first for the trip - and great fun to join them all for a relaxed weekend enjoying a few events at the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival that just happened to be on whilst we were there. Oh and I
was pretty much in domestic bliss playing Lego in the evenings!
I also got a chance in Melbourne to catch up with some second-cousins of mine who I’d never met - Alex, Emma and Bronwen - who took us out for some drinks and then on to see an Aussie Rules (AFL) football game. It was really great to finally catch up with them after all these years and also great to get to see a good bit of Melbourne sporting culture - although I still don’t understand the rules… um it looks like rugby but you can pass the ball forward… come again?!
Melbourne is a really nice city - I’d been told by a few people that it’s a city to live in, whereas the other big Australian metropolis - Sydney - is more of a city to see. I actually think that’s possibly a bit of a biased opinion… I’d certainly agree with the first part - Melbourne has a nice atmosphere to sit and soak up - but I reckon, having been now and seen for myself, that Sydney has plenty to offer too.
We arrived in Sydney on a gloriously sunny day
Koala Bear.Fact of the day: The Koala is one of the few mammals (other than primates) that has fingerprints. Koala fingerprints are similar to human fingerprints and even with an electron microscope, it can be q
... [more]and spent the morning wandering around Circular Quay and the historic Rocks area, taking in the views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House before whiling away an afternoon in the Botanic Gardens by the Sydney Harbour waterside. First impressions: a visually stunning and fantastically designed city with really great outdoor space - particularly enhanced on a classic Aussie summer’s day. But then the heavens opened and spoiled it all by ruining my chances of checking out Sydney’s other famous attractions - its beaches.
So, instead of sunning and surfing at Bondi, we spent the next four days running through monsoon flooded roads from coffee bar… to juice bar… to, well just... bar. The Opera House Bar stands out for location, but Darling Harbour was also a favourite spot with all its bars and restaurants and we had a nice meal out there with the fourth of my Australian second-cousins, Elizabeth, who is the only one at the moment to have settled here.
It’s been really nice to be back in City Life for a few days and I’m so pleased to have seen the two biggies of Australia. But if I’m honest, I’m already itching to
get on with the rest of the trip… I’m ready to get the backpack back on my back again and head off for a complete change of scenery, culture, cuisine and environment. So Sarah and I are hot-footing it to South East Asia, where the pennies will stretch a bit further, we’ll hopefully get a bit more off the beaten track and, with any luck, things won’t run quite as smoothly!
Australia Slideshow
Australia's Flag
Map of Australia