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Published: April 26th 2007
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Sydney Opera House
A lot smaller than i thought We got up full of intent an our last full day in HK. The plan was to systematically visit every museum in Kowloon, the reality was, that as soon as we got near the Space museum we were submerged in a vast wave of school children. The guidebooks do warn you of this unusual phenomena, but we failed to heed the warning, there really are thousands of them.
This dampened our spirits somewhat, so we decided to wander around downtown until the children subsided. Question: what do you call Chinatown in a Chinese city? Can you even have one? I don't know, but we certainly found something very similar.
First we went for a beer, then we decided that Sarah needed some sunglasses. We searched high and low but they were all, in no particular order; too big, too small, too square, too round, or just, just not. We eventually came across one chap who was so tired of handing Sarah glasses to try on, he offered her a pair of Gucci's for half price, as long as she bought them then and there and promised to leave. They were no good either. Such is life.
I
Charlie!
Lager: the death of vanity did manage to buy a new phone however, it turns out that i misplaced mine at the leaving party, i think it was quite good value, plus it comes with the dialling codes for every major city in China. Spot on.
I honestly cannot recall what we did for the rest of that day, we certainly didn't go to a museum, i can only assume that the children didn't subside. Either way, I'm sure we got to bed early, we had to be at the airport at 7:30 the next morning for our flight to Sydney.
The next morning we got up at five, checked out of the YMCA, thumbs up to them, very clean, efficient and reasonable value, and made our way back to the MTR. Got off at the airport half an hour later, and checked in. The next ten/eleven hours are a bit of a blur of sleeping, eating crap food, watching crap films,(Sarah wishes to point out that her feckless boyfriend, clearly has no concept of what constitutes a good film, and that the pursuit of happiness is, in fact, a very good film) and getting severe pins and needles in both legs.
The next lucid memory i have, is of going through Aussie customs at about 9:00pm local time, and being met on the other side by Charlie, one of our friends from Chippenham, who had left to go travelling himself 6 months ago and who i knew was in Sydney but hadn't arranged to meet. Bless him. He chartered us a minivan and we made our way to Base Backpackers on Kent street, about 20minutes from the airport. We checked in, dropped all our bags and headed out to see what Saturday night in Sydney has to offer. Everywhere is very strict; no matter how old you look, you will be asked for ID, also, virtually nowhere allows tracksuits or football shirts, despite the fact that there were live matches being played on the TV.
Sarah went home at 3:00am, but Charlie and I carried on catching up until 6:00am when i returned home, slightly dishevelled, and more than a touch on the late side (or so I'm told, i would fervently disagree.) In her rage at my slack timekeeping, Sarah somehow contrived to fall down two steps and twist her ankle, the argument was forgotten, we went to bed,
and all was well.
At 2:00pm that afternoon when we finally woke up, we discovered that Sarah's ankle had ballooned to something more commonly seen on fat old ladies, a 'cankle' i believe is the technical term. Anyway, apparently it was as painful as it looked, so i rang Charlie (who is staying elsewhere in the city) so he could come and help us find a pharmacy or something similar. We found a pharmacy, and subsequently spent a small fortune on bandages, anti-bruising cream, anti-swelling cream, anti-inflammatory tablets, deep heat muscle rub etc etc.
We left the Queen Victoria Building, where aforementioned shop was found, and discovered that the heavens had opened, i don't remember the last time i saw rain like that, certainly not something you expect from Australia. It rained at the same intensity for nearly 2 days, so we did virtually nothing, except go to the Barracks museum on Tuesday 24th. It was very interesting, detailing the various shipments of convicts, how they were treated, and how they were punished amongst other things. There was one chap from Chippenham, who had dispossessed his master of his handkerchief, and was sent to Australia for 7 years.
It's not the same as speeding down the London Road in a stolen Vauxhall Nova whilst high on Crystal Meth now is it? And those guys don't even get asked to stop. But then, times have changed.
The next day (Wednesday) was Anzac day, a national holiday in OZ, it commemorates the bravery of the Anzac regiment, a Kiwi and OZ regiment, in WW1. It is similar in type to the Remembrance Sunday Celebration, in that there is a large parade through the city centre, and the Last Post is played at the senataph in central Sydney. The fact that it is a national holiday seems to add something to the occasion, virtually no-one is working, so they are all out watching the parade, and all very sombre, and then as the afternoon progresses, everyone goes to the pubs and bars, and the city is left heaving with people in suits and uniform, complete with their berets and medals, for the rest of the day. A very good day out.
The following day we went to Taronga Zoo, you either have to get there by boat, or a very long bus drive around the side of the harbour.
We took the boat, a Captain Cook cruise/ferry, which included a small tour of the harbour on the way back as well for about $32. I'm not sure that it is possible to write about a zoo, so suffice to say it had animals in it and was a good day out. Look at the photos to see what an animal looks like.
Probably the only gripe i have with Australia is, aside from the shite weather, is how it is completely dark by 5:45 each night, which, when you only got out of bed barely 3 hours earlier, can be quite depressing. Anyhow, i concede that it is probably, mostly my fault that i do not see huge amounts of sunlight.
On a final note, i must apologize for the enormous numbers of photos of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge that the next couple of blogs will contain, but they are quite beautiful buildings.
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Colin cunningham
non-member comment
Yes label the animals please!
I wouldn't recognise a spider monkey if it slapped me in the face, which is probably exactly what it would do. Sais hope your ankle is better, glad you are both having a great time, your blog is very well written. Take Care Colin (dad)