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Sydney Opera House
The view of the Opera House from the Harbour Bridge.Our Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Sydney was lovely (they are possibly our favourite airline!!!) We sat next to a really nice lady called Rose (Rose at office Depot - must be something about the name!!!)
The 6 1/2 hour flight seemed quicker than it was - watched some good movies and had great food! We all got a little worried when the Captain came on the speaker about 1 hour before landing! Apparently when we had taken-off there was some tyre debris on the runway so, before we taxied in, we would technicians check our tyres! Then, he came on again and said we would be escorted in by fire engines! Great! So, to ease our minds and relax us we landed in Sydney with flashing red & blue lights!!! Needless to say, everything was fine and we're able to sit here and write the blog!!! We were a little panicked though!
So, drama over, we manage to get our working visa's in our passport really easily and off we head to the City Centre. We were more than a little excited as we were meeting our friend Esther, and her boyfriend Rhys, who were staying in
Esther & Rhys
Esther & Rhys (freezing) on the bridge!!! Sydney for 4 days. They were at the hostel already. We got a shuttlebus to the hostel and, as we were checking in, they walked through the door - cue celebrations and jolly meetings & hugs!!! At the moment it feels like we have been away for longer than 3 months and its great to see familiar faces from back home!
We had already noticed what a shock to the system coming from super-cheap Asia to Australia was going to be so we had booked into our first dorm room! We dumped our bags - it was going to get some getting used to the dorm situation - 2 people were already in bed. So we had to put all our stuff down really quietly and in the dark (to be considerate). It was about 10pm.
Then the 4 of us went to a bar around the corner to catch up and have a few, of our first, Aussie 'scooners'! I think that we were so excited that poor old Esther & Rhys had to listen to us doing most of the talking!!!
We felt a little bit 'lost' and very apprehensive after arriving because it was
The Manly Ferry
Esther & Karen & the great view from the Manly Ferry. such a culture shock. We were very taken aback by the cold weather and the cost of things compared to the places we had been before. It was so easy to live comfortably in South East Asia. It seemed just like somewhere in England and it wasn't sinking in that we were in Australia. We were thinking 'oh no!!!'
The next day the 4 of us went out and firstly walked down to the harbourside. It was about a twenty minute walk from the hostel. We walked to the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Both of them were impressive and give you the feeling that now you're in Australia! We were still feeling a little 'strange' though - we think it was just a case of not adjusting yet - as the last few days had been so hectic and we had fitted a lot in! We walked across the bridge - although not all the way. It was quite far and very windy - we just walked about halfway to get a good view of the Opera House. Next we had a nice pub lunch of fish and chips - yummy! In the afternoon we just looked
Excited at the Opera House!
Us at the 'mouth' of the Opera House! around a lot more.
We were all really tired so we needed a pre-evening sleep! Esther wasn't feeling well so they stayed in and the 2 of us went out to explore further. We didn't get too far with the exploring however. Just found the local burger joint for dinner! We went for a coffee to 'plan' our next steps in Oz - its bizarre - we hadn't really pre-planned any of Australia before we got here. We had been so wrapped up in the places before-hand! So, we spent our time finding a rough route for ourselves. Then we felt a little better!!!
The following day Esther was better (I think the ice-cream had cured her!) so the 4 of us went out again. We spent the day doing more sight-seeing. We had a ride on the monorail (stayed on for a few 'laps' just to make sure we saw everything!) Then we got a ferry across to Manly. It was great in the harbour because you got such good views of the Opera House and Bridge. The ferry ride got very choppy at one point and we had to hold on!
Manly was good although,
Summer Bay Surf Club
Karen at the Summer Bay Surf Club! we may not have mentioned, but Sydney is very cold at the moment! It was quite windy - so not exactly beach weather. We did go to the beach though - although we just looked at it and didn't really venture onto it!!! There were still people on the beach though - even some hardcore people in bikinis!!! After a couple of hours we caught the ferry back to Sydney. Again, all the sightseeing was wearing us out so it was naptime! (Aren't we getting old?!)
In the evening we went out for a lovely meal at Wagamama's. We had great food - made even better by the fact that the waitress thought she had made an error with the order (when she hadn't - we had everything we wanted) so she gave us one meal for free! Therefore, great food, super-cheap!!! After dinner we introduced Esther & Rhys to the delights of the card game - Uno (its become addictive!)
On the Saturday we went to the market at Paddington. It was a really good 'bo-ho' style market with good things on sale. It was quite a walk there from our hostel so, by the time we
Jamie More Excited at Summer Bay Surf Club!
You can see the delight on Jamie's face at being on the Home and Away set (and he said he's not a fan!!!) Didn't see Alf though!!!!! had walked there and back - and looked around - it was already lunchtime. We went for lunch at a chinese buffet. Then, sadly, it was time to say goodbye to Esther & Rhys. They were flying back to Adelaide. It was an emotional goodbye, mainly from Karen! The time we had spent with them was great but had seemed to fly by.
On the Sunday - now just the 2 of us - we explored some more. We went for a long walk and then caught the tram to Darling Harbour. It was still sunny even though not that warm so it was good. We took a picnic - although the Australian Marmite is a fake we discovered! After wondering what the strange smell was we realised that it was our sandwiches - cheese & (the Australian) Marmite - which we thought would be better than their Vegemite offerings (and like our Marmite). How wrong we were!!! Uurrrgggh! Our Marmite is the true 'nectar'!!!
After the disappointment (we want Marmite dammit!) we walked around some of the Paddy Markets and then strolled back to the hostel.
On the Monday we went to Palm Beach - where they
Palm Beach aka Summer Bay!
"I want to stay forever...home and away...closer each day!!!" film Home and Away! (It really should be called Summer Bay!) We caught the bus there which was quite nice in itself - we went over the Harbour Bridge and drove through Manly. It took about an hour. Then we walked up the hill (we were so excited that we got off the bus a stop too early!) Then the first bit we saw was the beach - the bit with the wooden fencing which we recognised straight away. Well, I (Karen) did - Jamie was playing it cool at this point (clueless more like!!! (Jamie)) Then we walked further along the beach and there we saw the Surf Club!!! It had Alf Stewarts name above it too!!! OOooohhh!!! I think you'll agree from the photos that, despite pretending he didn't care and that he was being 'dragged' to Summer Bay, Jamie actually looks happier than me posing outside the Surf Club!!! We brought an ice-cream from the Kiosk (more excitement!) Then we spent the rest of our time walking along the beach (watching the surfers). Forgetting the Home and Away excitement, it is actually a really nice beach too. There are some lovely houses overlooking the beach as well
Didgeridoo!!!
Men playing famous music 'thingy'!!!! which were good to 'nose' at! We caught the bus back to Sydney just before it started raining!
When we got back to our dorm room about 11.30pm - the 2 Korean guys who were some of the people sharing (there were 6 of us in total) offered us some Korean Whisky. We said 'yes' thinking we would just try from the bottle briefly but they went out the room saying that they had to get some 'snacks' and that we should wait 10 minutes for them! We waited, hesitantly! They returned (after 10 minutes exactly) with a bag of shopping. One of them laid out his bed sheet on the floor and the 4 of us sat round. They had brought quite unusual random things. Apparently at home they drink the whisky with hot soup and thats why they had gone to buy snacks. They said they can't cook, or can't afford to either, so they got other food instead. They brought corned pork (in a tin), smoked squid legs, and a tin of pineapple. It sounds disgusting but actually really nice! The Whisky wasn't as lethal as it looked either and went down a treat! Jamie had
Korean Whisky Party!!!
Jamie enjoying the whisky and strange (but nice) Korean 'snacks'! Jack Daniels in his hipflask - which he got out. The 2 guys tried it but found it far too strong and were scared to drink too much of it. It was one of those completely unplanned things which turned out to be really good fun. One of the Koreans had been there for 5 months already and spoke quite good english but the other couldn't speak any english really so it was funny us all trying to communicate. We managed it though and he had an english lesson at the same time!!! They were really nice.
We spent the Tuesday walking some more round Sydney. We packed our stuff (ready to leave the next day for the Blue Mountains) and generally meandered around!!! We went to the cinema in the evening and watched Basic Instinct 2 - ha ha!!! (Very cringeworthy!)
The following morning (Wednesday 3rd May) we caught the train to the Blue Mountains.................................................................
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Kaylene & Will
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Welcome!!!
Hi guys! I am glad you are in Oz and enjoying yourself. Catherine B (from our thai tour) stayed with us on saturday night, and wanted to go up to palm beach,but the weather sucked on saturday so we went to malnly instead for a picnic. Are you still in Sydney? I just got your blog, but it is dated 3 May- so perhaps you have moved on? Keep on truckin' my friends K.