Sydney

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We decided to stay in Bondi for our first couple of days in Sydney. It was very similar to St Kilda (beachy, funky, lots of shops and restaurants) so we felt instantly at home! Instead of sleeping in the van, we thought it would be nice to stay at a hostel for a couple of nights. Big mistake! We had to walk through the smoking terrace to get into the hostel and, once inside, it was filthy to the point of being a health hazard. We stayed one night anyway but by the morning I had decided it was time to leave. A complaint about the blood in the bathroom and the yelling until 3am (both true) as well as a story of a cockroach running over my pillow (possibly not so true, but the woman didn’t bat an eye and said “ah yes that happens, was it a big flying one?”) got us a refund for the second night. We had a look at the hostel reviews afterwards and 50% of guests had rated it as terrible…Ah well, it was a good learning experience.

Instead of going to the hassle of finding somewhere else, we just decided to free camp for the rest of the week. And we found the loveliest spot, at Blue’s Point on the north side of the Harbour Bridge. With stunning views of the bridge, harbour and opera house :-) Our neighbour (a homeless chap occupying the bus shelter) also seemed quite happy with his spot.

On Monday afternoon, we took the ferry over to Central Quay and clocked up some serious walking miles around central Sydney. We had both been to Sydney before, but only briefly, so it was nice to be able to take our time to explore as much as we liked. The city is certainly a lot more vertical than Melbourne and the city centre is more spread out. It doesn’t have as much of a coffee/foodie culture, but it makes up for that in fashion and style. It certainly is hilly so we didn’t cycle all that much! For me, Sydney had always been a sort of elusive, untouchable beast. Being here, though, has taught me otherwise. It’s a city, just like London or Melbourne, and – as iconic as the opera house and the harbour bridge are – they are functional pieces of architecture and for anyone to use. For me, Sydney came a little bit down to earth, which was nice.

On Tuesday, it was time for me to visit the dentist (my orthodontic treatment is coming along nicely and will soon be finished, yay!). Afterwards, we visited the Gallery of NSW (well worth a look for really nice contemporary exhibitions), went to the North Sydney Olympic Pool for our daily shower (AMAZING views over the harbour bridge and Luna Park) and treated ourselves to an Indian dinner (also a fantastic bridge view).

Wednesday was a rainy day so we took it nice and easy. We went out for brekkie with our lovely friend Sarah and then chilled out in her flat whilst catching up on emails and blogging etc. Thanks Hughsy!

The weather was a lot nicer on Thursday so we drove out to Manly. This seaside suburb feels just like a grown-up version of Bondi. Things seemed quite familiar to me – which made sense when Dean reminded me that we had come here on our first visit to Aus :-) We spent the day at the beach, doing part of the scenic coastal walk (from where I saw a pod of dolphins!) and indulging in some retail therapy. It was a bit of a low energy day, so we kept it fairly laid back.

Friday was pretty much an unplanned day. I started off the morning with a yoga class with a difference. The class had been focusing on the various chakras, the last one being Ajna, the third eye chakra. So moving on from that, this class was done blind-folded! It was actually really enjoyable (there was no comparing oneself to others and all the other senses were heightened) although the balancing poses were a bit of a challenge. We then headed north of Sydney to Palm Beach, where Home & Away is filmed! Gone are the days when I recorded H&A and rushed home from work each day to watch it… but it was still a thrill to be there. That said, it’s not that impressive a beach and, for a place called Palm Beach, the quantity and quality of the palms are a little questionable. We spent the evening at Balls Head Reserve, cooking up our dinner and chatting with fellow travelers. There were four of them – a German, an Italian and French couple – traveling in a van smaller than ours! :-)

On Saturday, we decided to do our own things so, while Dean walked around the city centre, I visited the Rozelle market. If you’re ever in Sydney, don’t bother with that one… it’s not really worth mentioning. In the evening we visited the Comedy Store and, as we will be missing this year’s Melbourne Comedy Festival, sampled a “warm up” festival gig. A big part of the day was spent driving around, either looking for parking or getting lost. Sydney really isn’t all that car friendly and the drivers love to hoot and tailgate which is a shame (we loved travelling by ferry instead!). We’ve enjoyed our stint in the big smoke, but we’re both really looking forward to getting back outside the city.

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