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Published: January 5th 2010
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Life doesn’t get much better than this. FACT. I am sat by the window of my friend, Jasons place in Phillip Island. The Ocean is 5 metres away if that. Coupled with 35 degree heat, and the tide is just going out in time for some beach cricket and, last but not least the fridge is full of beer. It is NYE at the moment, and nearly 2pm in the afternoon. I have spent just over 2 weeks in Australia so far and the time has just flown by.
I flew into Sydney from Christchurch on 16th December and spent 10 days with an old friend I used to go to school with. Five years ago he took the plunge and decided to move out to Australia to work, and in that time I have only seen him two, or three times, so it was great to spend some time with him and his girlfriend and catch up.
Sydney, from speaking to other travellers has everything London has to offer, plus sunshine. This seemed to be a big ask, but I had ten days to find out if that was true. Out of the ten days in Sydney I was
lucky with the weather probably five days, where the sun was out all day. The other times the weather was just as bad as London. My friend Adam’s flat was in Neutral Bay, which is on the other side of Harbour bridge, next to Milsoms Point, so I had the option of walking into the city, getting the ferry in Circular Quay or the Bus. My first day sightseeing I opted for walking. By the time I had reached the Harbour Bridge (only a 20 minute walk) I looked like I had been swimming in the harbour it was that hot. My first sight as you walk across the Harbour Bridge was is Opera House, probably Sydney’s most famous Icon. First impressions. Well, it wasn’t as white as it appears on television, but still a magnificent sight nonetheless. From crossing the Harbour Bridge, I walked past Circular Quay to the Opera House. After doing a Opera House tour, I walked to the Botancial Gardens. The morning was nearly up. Time in Sydney just seems to fly past, It is a fast paced city like London. I arranged to meet up with some girls that I had met in New Zealand
and we ended up going to the Coogee beach for the afternoon. During my time in Sydney I managed to only visit two beaches, Coogee and Bondi (typical backpacker joints), to the frustration of my friend Adam, who had lived in Manly for a number of years and always told me that the northern beaches were twice as good as the eastern beaches. Adam did take me out for a few ‘froths’ in Manly one afternoon/night, but the only problem is that when you go out with two couples, the couples will always call it a night early. We left the Manly Wharf Hotel at 10.30pm to get a cab back to my friends place. After seven months of travelling I thought I had seen it all, but that place (coupled with Hugos in Kings Cross) had some of the best looking women in I have ever seen. Any single guys heading to Sydney in the next few months head to the Manly Wharf Hotel and Hugos in Kings Cross.
The rest if my time in Sydney involved trying to fit in as much sight-seeing as possible. As mentioned earlier, the weather didn’t help that much as when it
was raining, the rain seemed to take that buzz out of Sydney.
Christmas day in Sydney was very strange. The fact it was a white Christmas as home made it a little bit stranger as well. After a couple of glasses of bucks fizz, I set off to meet Tom and Luke ( a couple of guys I shared a dorm with in Queenstown, room 308 reunited) as we had tickets for a dance event on Bondi beach. The weather wasn’t sunny, but it was still warm. After meeting them and making our way to Bondi Beach we hit the bar to take advantage of the $4 drink offers. Dressed in Santa hats and the smallest pair of santa shorts ever we were greeted with a few comments from people along our way.
Hold on just one second guys, I am just going to grab another tinny from the fridge..... Thats better...... I will continue...
The dance event was ok and the weather took a turn for the worst and started to rain. My first Christmas away was spent on a wet Bondi Beach in Sydney. The worst thing was that my santa shorts has spilt up
the back during the day and to get back home I had to get a bus, a train and then another bus, by that time I wasn’t bothered.
The following day i was due to fly to Melbourne to spend some time with another friend, Jason, who I used to work with in London. I had booked flights to Melbourne a few days earlier, which weren’t that much more than a coach down, but 12 hours vs a 1 hour 15 minute journey, flying always wins. The forecast in Melbourne for the following seven days looked good. Jason picked me up from the airport and took me for a little cruise around Melbourne. It wasn’t long before we were in a pub enjoying a ‘frothy’ and I was being introduced to Jason’s mates who had either spent the day at the races or the Boxing day test match. After a couple of drinks we left to call it a night as we were due to go to the cricket the following day.
As much as it pains me to admit it, the MCG (the G)is probably the best stadium I have been to. With a capacity of just under
100,000, for a cricket stadium that alone is impressive. I was lucky to be in the members end with Jason and his mates. People wait on average 20 years to become members of the MCG. The nearest thing that I know of that in football is the waiting list to become a Barcelona season ticket holder. Over the day we probably watched about 20 overs of play, the rest of the time was spent enjoying a ‘frothy’ on the balcony bar which overlooks the city of Melbourne. So far you can probably see a trend appearing when it comes to drinking ‘frothies’.
The following day Jason took me down to his place in San Remo, Phillip Island. His place is a stone’s throw from the beach. We spent the night there and then visited an animal reserve the following morning. All morning Jason had been laughing to himself about something. When we got to the animal reserve I thought he was going to try and get me to touch a snake (which is never going to happen). In fact he led me to believe that it would be fine to hand feed an Emu. The bird almost pecked a hole
in a my hand and Jason was wetting himself. In the reserve there were Koalas, Kangeroos, Wallabies, Wombats, birds and snakes. I managed to feed a kangeroo, Wallaby and of course an Emu. It was a great experience as there aren’t many places in Oz were you could get so close to the animals.
It was back to Melbourne that afternoon as the next day Jason was taking me for a drive down the Great Ocean Road. From Melbourne we drove to the Twelve Apostles, which was about a four hour drive away, and then worked our way back along the Great Ocean Road. The weather was as good as anyday I have experience travelling, perfect weather to be driving down the Great Ocean. Along the way there are hundreds of beaches where you can stop, sunbake and swim. The water was crystal blue, perfect for swimming or surfing. If to do the trip again, I would take 3-4 days to do the Ocean Road, as there are so many beaches to stop at and enjoy the weather. The following day we would be heading back to San Remo, Phillip Island to spend NYE on the beach.
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