Sydney = Bridge Climbing

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Sydney , March 08

I was really looking forward to going back to Sydney as i had spent quite a few months there during the me,Fozzy&Waz trip of 2000. I needed to go back to ( well, in my mind anyway ) ..................................

1) The Manly Wharf Backpackers just to see if Hollingsworth was asleep on an ironing board and still paying no rent
2) Eva's place in Surrey Hills was worth a visit as i could pay the rent that me,Cook and Fozzy still owed after doing a runner
3) Waz's hostel in Manly to apologise to the landlord (a long story)
4) Hyde Park , to see if Danielle needed any help with her diary....
5) EP1 in Kings Cross for old times sake and to hopefully meet the homeless guy who beat three of us up (another long story)
6) Levey Street, home of the huntsman spider and the illegal backpackers

This won't mean anything to most of you ! So i will move on ........

We arrived at the airport, got a train to central station and then had a 5 minute walk to our hostel right in the centre of the main backpacker area. Just outside our place was a bar with a massive queue stretching around the corner, we started to feel a bit old as we were the only people over the age of 21 and sober. Gill was greeted by one of the drunk lads with "Oi Ginge !", a lovely welcome i thought !

After we had settled into the "most expensive hostel in the world" we went for a wander, it was memory lane for me, probably boredom lane for Gill ! She had to listen to quotes like ........ " that didn't used to be there, it used to be a ....... " , ' Me and Waz came here one time and ...... ' , ' this is were we ......... ' .

Over the next few days we ticked off the main touristy bits a boat ride to Manly , trip to Bondi , Darling Harbour , the rocks ........... Our favourite day was probably the tourist bus that took us aroud the many bays around Sydney, a lot that I hadnt been to ( suggested by my Dad, give yoursef a pat on the back Col ) , we had some quality fish and chips in Watsons Bay , wandered around wooloomoloo bay and rushcutters bay ......all good .

One night Gill had a rather embarrassing incident in our hostel. The hostel was huge it had about 8 floors so it was very busy all the time, we were given electronic key cards which were needed to get in everywhere...... our room, the kitchen, the bathroom etc. One night after quite a few beers Gill half asleep nipped to the bathroom, thinking it's 3am and that no one would see her, she just went in her towel ! Unfortunately Dolan didn't take her key with her so was locked out in the corridor, haha ! Apparently she banged on the door for half an hour but after a few drinks nothing can wake me up, unfortunately the banging did seem to wake everyone else on our floor up ! Gill reluctantly had to go down to reception in her towel for a new key, to make it worse the reception was really busy with lots of people finding Dolan's lack of clothes amusing, to make it worse still the first key she was given did not work so she ended up going down to reception again ! Rather harshly, she still hasn't forgiven me. I thought the towel was a great idea ....... ???

With the money that had be kindly given to us as a leaving gift from Hursts and GyrusACMIOlympus we had decided to do the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb a while ago. We booked it whilst in Sydney and it was a superb day we arrived in the office in the morning and were all breathalised (we passed with flying colours of course) and then we slipped into our very attractive jumpsuits and walked underneath and then along the bridge. The views at the top were amazing and we really enjoyed it. Cheers to everyone who donated anything to this worthy cause.

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Photos

Sydney Harbour
taken on the Manly ferry

Posing near the top of the Harbour Bridge
Thanks again to everyone at Hursts and Gyrus

The Wharf Backpackers
8 years on and without the Lotto bag