AUTRALIA : Sydney

Date Visited: 16th-19th March

I was grateful to leave the sound of police sirens screeching cars and the revving of car exhausts of Christchurch for a totally different place - that being Australia of course. A shame our wonderful 3.5 months ended on a bit of a low - (Christchurch and cold weather)!

Still, despite this we felt totally satisfied that we completed New Zealand successfully and now looked forward to the next country.


Warned of their strict immigration procedures we proceeded warely.

We completed our landing cards on the flight and Ben declared our dried 'hiking foods' and 2 kiwi fruits not thinking anything of it. Typically when Ben was collecting our bags after our flight had landed an immigration official lingering around me decided to set her sniffer dog on the one bag I had on the floor. The one with food in! - knowing how events would unfold (being the assumed holder of the bag without declaration of its contents) I stayed calm before the inevitable question and suspecting look - that is, why I didn't disclose the food on my declaration form. I kept calm explaining it was Ben's bag not mine and called him over. As soon as he got his form out all was ok. Was this a sign of things to come ? The trial and tribulation continued when we then walked on to the 'quarantine zone' where officials beckoned us to the desk dressed to the hilt in their laborotary gear (rubber gloves included)(I tried to look at them with due respect but found this a challenge)... Out came our dried food again, their beedy eyes examining the ingredients as if they were poisonous matter from another planet. Then the official sternly said " This is chicken! we will have to confiscate that". We tried to explain that it was in dried powder form in a sealed bag unused but this bared no weight. We gave up. Our final amusing moment was when we were asked to take out our tent pegs. The gentleman checked the pegs for soil deposits and told us to walk through. Need I say more about Australian Immigration ?!! More later.


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Fran greeted us at the arrivals gate which was a welcome sight - he led us to his car escorting us swiftly to his family's luxury rented house overlooking a bay and golf course on the edges of Sydney. We had a lovely meal with the family and chatted the evening away whilst admiring the views from the balcony and appreciating the warm mediterranean air which was a weather-upgrade as far as I was concerned!

We had one full day in Sydney which incorporated a walk through the obvious sights such as the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Botanical Gardens, various drinking and eating quarters (such as the Rocks') and a few governmental buildings. Getting a bus to town took about 40 minutes but gave us the time to observe daily life. No complaints. Upon meandering our way around the rather (relatively) compact city centre - I was really suprised how leafy and relaxed Sydney was and how the nature and wildlife was totally interdispersed within this metropolis. I'll come back to this.

In the same day we managed to squeeze a quick trip to Manly which was an excellent way of having a relaxed boat ride in the harbour and sussing out a totally different seaside scene - Manly might as well have been somewhere in Europe for its boulevards, fab beach, pedestrian zones and seafront walks. A good live'n'kickin' atmosphere too.

Our day concluded with a nice evening spent with Fran's family and relaxing in the house. I was pretty chuffed what we managed to do that day - one total suprise I will take away with me is the walk around the central gardens where we stood under a colony of grey-hooded flying foxes (or Bats) for about an hour in awe at their sound and sheer numbers of these creatures going about their daily business - it was like some scene out of Dracula except this was a stroll from the heart of Sydney's centre!

Other random wildlife observations included pelicans in the park, a large lizard seen at Manly! a penguine looking out to sea, and hundreds of Orb spiders hanging in the trees overhead (in rather disconcerting numbers)!

The last day I enjoyed a lengthy swim in the open rock pool by the sea which gets a top-up at high tide. The pool was really near Fran's place. I kept a look out for the blue ringed octopus (poisonous does anyone know?) which was on a warning sign by the beach. I was told the rock pool was safe - I felt it was but it was bloody cold. I swam about 50 laps - to the point I couldn't really feel my feet or fingertips.

We collected our swizzy nissan hire car before battling with Sydney's endless suburbs until we finally made the break to the Blue Mountains, 90 mins North West of Sydney. ahhh!

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