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Published: April 2nd 2010
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So we have finally arrived in Sydney!
Arrived back in Hobart on the 27th and got straight to finishing our packing and organising everything. The tent STILL hadn't arrived, so we sorted all of that out (with basically only minutes to spare...but it wasn't our fault! Stupid delivery company!) and finished packing up the car, trying to get to bed fairly early. We were up again at 330 to get on the road as soon as possible...we had to be in Devonport for around 7am! We were lucky enough to find Banjos open in Campbelltown (our road trip coffee place) so we stopped off there for a very early morning coffee, and arrived in Devonport with plenty of time to spare. We had to sit in the queue for awhile before we were finally allowed to board the boat!
The next 9 hours of sailing were pretty uneventful. We slept a lot of the time, managing to score the best seats on the boat, cos we were both able to lie down. I got started on a really good book (Trueblood - thanx Jess!) 😊 and managed to pass the time. We arrived in Melbourne a bit before 7apm,
and drove straight through the city on the way to the M31 - the main road to Sydney. We arrived in Seymour just before dark, and decided to set up camp here for the night. Our first time sleeping in the roop top tent!! It was a very nerve-wrecking experience, especially climbing into the tent and feeling like it was going to fall down 😊 We were both very careful to make sure that we only slept on the half of the tent that had the car underneath - I'm sure its okay, but still a little worrying!!
We were up early the next day to continue our drive. The M31 is one long freeway that bypasses all the country towns, but you can come off the freeway and detour through the towns, which is what we did. Proper tourists!! 😊 They really weren't that exciting, although we looked at the Visitor Centre in Benalla, and found out that is where Ned Kelly grew up and went to school and all that, which is pretty cool. It was very exciting to cross over the border into NSW, although there wasn't really a definite 'line' cos the Murray River is
the border, so we just knew that once we got to the other side of the river that we were in NSW. And the fact that the roads suddenly went from gravel roads to cement - its a very obvious difference! Soon after the border we passed a sign for the original Ettamogah Pub, so we went for a drink and a look around. They also have one in Cundernin (which we passed way back when we first left Perth), but the one in NSW is the orginal one, and is based on a pub from a cartoon - hence, 'The Cartoon pub'. We stopped in Gundagai for lunch and to work out our next move, and then continued on towards Canberra! We were umming and aahing spending the extra money on petrol, but kinda figured it was worth it in the end to get to see another state (or territory, whatever the case may be). We arrived in Canberra in the late arvo, and drove straight to the Parliament House. It was absolutly stunning!! Steve couldn't believe how clean and tidy it all was - as I said to him, its the State Capital of course it would be
clean, but he figured because it was so old it wouldn't be *shrugs* hehe but he did love it. We then went into the City Centre and wandered around for a bit before having a Friday arvo drink at one the pubs...went down very well considering we had been in and out of the car all day. We then went to the Visitor Centre just after 5pm, and found that it had shut, but still had a list of local caravan parks. We decided to drive back out of the ACT to Sutton (only 20 mins or so away) and stay at the caravan park there (hey, we had been in the ACT for not even two hours, but at least we got to be go!!). But once we go there we couldn't find it anywhere, it barely looked like a town that would have caravan park, so we continued to drive towards Goulburn and maybe stay there.
We passed Lake George on our right, which has the cutest little rest area, and we considered just staying the night there and not paying. But it was so so windy, and we couldn't really find anywhere with shelter from it,
and were worried about being blown around while in the tent. Plus, there was writing everywhere on the ground warning about snakes, so I didn't really want to stay 😊 We continued to drive to Goulburn, and arrived a little before nightfall, setting up camp at the caravan park just off the highway. It was a lot easier to set up this time, and we were a lot more comfortable settling in.
The next morning we were up early, and exploring Goulburn and its 'Big Merino', which is the massive sheep. Goulburn also has one of the busiest McDonalds in Australia, because so many people make that drive and pass the Big M. We then drove through the town and got some sausage rolls and coffee for breakfast. It was the cutest little town and I really wanted to stay, cos I had read in a few places that Goulburn is good for fruit picking work, but we had already made plans to get to Sydney.
After stopping at a gorgeous winery on the way to Sydney (Sutton Estate) we tried to navigate our way into the city. We stopped at the cutest little park in Alexandria for
a breather before heading into Pyrmont, which is where we knew where Andy and Penny lived. We started to get worried driving through Broadway (which would end up being where I worked at Coles) because the car was really overheating, and there was a lot of stop/start traffic. We finally made it safe and sound and found a spot on the street to park, and then called Andy to find our where he lived. Turned out we were a 10 minute walk to his place (and had woken him up - he did ask Steve to call him once we were heading into the city, but we just decided to wait until we got there - bad move!).
We spent the afternoon relaxing in their apartment, and wandering the area a little, before heading to Hurricanes at Darling Harbour (a place I had heard of heaps through 123) for their yummy ribs!! We then went down to the Watershed to meet some of Andy and Penny's friends - like Dave from the Potbelleez!! It ended up being a big and really late night - which was awesome cos it was our first night in Sydney and we were living
it up already 😊
Now to figure out what we're going to do, and find our own place here! 😊
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