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Hello!
Hope you are all enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend, wish I was there.
SYDNEY
Saturday 24th April
We arrived in Sydney at 10am, which was very good considering we were due in at 9.30, and had started off half an hour late and been delayed another 2 hours. My first glimpse of Sydney was pretty awesome; there were a few 'wows' from people on the bus. We drove over the Harbour Bridge and into the city where we made our way to the hostel, was glad to be staying there for 5 whole nights. We checked into Base Sydney (first time in a Base since Auckland), did some washing (it's all rock n roll!) and got the bus out to Bondi. We had to catch it by Hyde Park, which was not quite the same as London's Hyde Park. It's not so big and not so tidy. We arrived at Bondi after a 30 minute bus journey and first impressions were that it was not at all what we expected. It's quite small, not like it looks on the program (Bondi Rescue) as Caryl said! There was no surf and it wasn't very clean, although the sand itself was nice. It was wasn't very sunny, was actually very cloudy and we thought it might rain at any minute, but the clouds were really interesting and nice to look at because they were such strange formations. And even though the beach was not what we expected it was so nice. There was such a nice vibe, it gave you a really nice warm feeling, the clouds added to that feel and then a band started playing Samba with drums and a saxophone, they were great. It was a bit chilly, but we sat there for an hour and I ate my salad lunch from Bondi Fresh (a deli type place I would definitely recommend to anyone visiting Bondi). We then headed back to the hostel (made it back just in time before the rain). When we got back we tried to have a sleep (as had had no sleep on the bus) before Mairi and Jorgen (our friends we met in South America) arrived from the airport. I was not in a sleeping mode though....... I kept talking to Caryl and she kept on like "you are supposed to be sleeping" or ”thought you were asleep", she was looking after me.
In the end I gave up and decided to get ready for our night out for Katie's (our friend we met in New Zealand) birthday. As soon as I decided to do that Mairi and Jorgen arrived and it was so exciting, seeing the dorm room opening and them being there!!!! We had a quick catch up, got ready to go out and then went out to Surry Hills, which is a very smart part of Sydney. It seemed very posh and classy, definitely compared to what we'd been used to. We went to a wine bar to meet Katie and it was really nice catching up with her and talking to the locals. There was one Kiwi bloke there, it turned it he was from Onewhero where Jenny, Craig and Terry live! We had good fun there, then when they went onto a club (which our budget would not have stretched to!) we went back to the hostel bar. But, they wouldn't let Mairi in(even though she is nearly 30 and there were only about 3 other people in there!) so we went to a place called 'The Pub' across the road. That was cool, there were 4 floors and each of them were very different, you could be forgiven for thinking they were different venues. We went on the top floor so had an interesting city view from the roof top. We got a big hungry so went to the local 7/11 for something to eat and ended up eating it outside our room (as we thought the French girl was sleeping) - it was really nice, veggie pie and crisps! When we decided to go to bed we found that the French girl wasn't asleep and was instead watching a film with 2 friends. We were not too happy as it was very loud and the other 2 girls didn't live there. We did ask when they were going to turn it off (it was 2am) and 5 minutes turned into 10 etc. And then two of the girls ended up sleeping in the room in the same bed.
Sunday 25th April
We got up a bit later today, was nice to have a sleep in. Once we were all ready we left to go out towards Manly. It was ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) day (like Remembrance Day, which they also have on the 11th November) and there had been a parade earlier (we missed that, shame) so there were loads of people in uniform about, mostly getting drunk (as it seemed was most of the city that day!). As we were approaching the Quay what looked like a Scottish regiment just started up the bagpipes and marched across the street, I welled up, found it a bit emotional. We then got the ferry to Manly, which gave us a really nice view of the city. Manly itself was very nice, had a nice feeling about it like Bondi, but it was more of a family feel. The beach is also much bigger.. We had fish and chips (except Caryl, who smuggled in some left over salad from Bondi Fresh!) and then ice cream (Ben n Jerrys for me, I'd thought they didn't have it in Oz!). There was a lovely sunset that night over the beach, again it was twilight time and the sea was stunning. It was a pinky pearly metallic colour; so lovely. On the way back to the ferry we stopped off for some impromptu wine tasting, it was free. The ferry ride back to the city was lovely, it was still twilight and the sea was an inky blacky blue, so beautiful. I loved looking out of the ferry door from the warmth, with the wind rushing past. As we approached the Harbour Bridge was lit up - wow. It was pretty breezy and cold out the front trying to take photos!!! The Opera House wasn't really well lit up, just faintly, was kind of eerie.
Caryl and I then had a quick change to get ready to go out to our friend Kara's (who we met whilst in the Red Centre) for the night. We got the CityRail (train service, like the tube but mostly overground) and it felt like we lived in Sydney, going out to a friends with our bottles of wine. Kara met us at the station and it was so exciting to see her! She took us to her 'treehouse' as she calls it. We were expecting an actual treehouse but it's not really. It's a really lovely 1 room home, with everything you need. So cosy. Kara looked after us so well. We started off with breads and drips and olives and sundried tomatoes and wine. Then had Greek Salad (which as I write about this a week later I'm still dreaming of!). It was so lovely, we chatted and ate, we consulted with Kara on our medical ailments (my poorly heels and Caryl’s poorly finger). It got really late before we realised and then we had to run for the train home, we just made it luckily!!! (There were others, would just have meant us having to get back really late). Phew! Mairi and Jorgen were up when we got back, as were the French girls, again. They were messing about doing something. We gave them half an hour (it was half 12 and out of 7 in the room the one French girl that actually lived there was the only one not wanting to sleep) and then had to say something. I wouldn't mind if the other girl had been living there, would just have dealt with it and put my ear plugs in, but as she didn't we were not happy. So I was actually quite brave - I asked when they'd be finished and the French girl living in the room was like 'in 5, no maybe 10, no maybe 15 minutes. We didn’t trust that so suggested that as we'd stayed outside for them last night because we thought they were asleep, they might want to do the same for us. Caryl said it was the most direct/argumentative she's ever seen me and I wasn't even that bad, Jorgen said I sounded nice and very diplomatic! It worked, they went out and we all slept well.
Monday 25th April
We had to get up early for our trip to the Blue Mountains. We got picked up and started off out of the city over the Anzac Bridge. Then another bridge where we got a nice view of Parramatta, where we'd be getting our river cruise from later. We stopped off at the 2000 Sydney Olympic stadium. That was cool. There was a monument outside that had markers showing how far the long and triple jumps were and how high the high jump and pole jumps were. On the journey learned a little bit about Sydney's history, it was where the first settlers landed, bringing with them 2 years worth of supplies. It didn't go well for them, stuff didn't grow etc. They obviously survived though else there wouldn’t be so many other Europeans in Australia today. We learned a bit about the Blue Mountains, which are not mountains at all. They are actually a 'tilted sandstone plateau' and the blue mist is caused by the evaporation from the eucalyptus trees. We also learned where the green and gold from the Australia national team outfits come from, the green leaves and yellow leaves of the Golden Wattle tree. And we learned about bush fires, how they are a natural part of a eucalyptus trees life cycle (fire makes them drop their seeds, which then settle and grow) but also how they can be so dangerous. 178 people died in the most recent Melbourne fires, so tragic. As a result a new fire rating was introduced (you see them on the roadside all across New Zealand and Australia) - Catastrophic.
On the way into the Blue Mountains we saw a new type of gum tree (which are eucalyptus trees) - a Ribbon Gum (looks like ribbon is being unwrapped from it!). The whole area was very autumnal, with the leaves changing colour. We arrived at a lookout point that gave us our first view of the Blue Mountains - it was pretty nice, you could definitely see the blue haze (as did my camera, it picked it up all of the time, makes everything look unclear). The view was out over a valley with cliffs in the background and temperate (as opposed to tropical) rainforest at the bottom. We could see a glimpse of the Three Sisters (the famous rock formation) from there. There is an aboriginal Dreamtime story about them…..There were 3 sisters in a local tribe, a rival tribe wanted to steal them for wives. One of the elders in the 3 sister’s tribe thwarted the plan and turned the sisters into stone so they couldn't be taken. He turned himself into a liar bird. The geologist’s theory is that gradual erosion is causing the rocks to crack and fall away. After we'd gone to a lookout point for a view of Wentworth Falls (not much water, as our guide said it is the driest continent on Earth) we stopped for lunch in a lovely little town called Leura, it was so quaint, Caryl said it reminded her of New England. We then headed out to the cable car station for a cable car ride down into the rainforest. We were at the front and it was quite scary, it was so steep and it seemed to drop at one point like a rollercoaster ride. In the rainforest it was cold and dark, not like the tropical rainforests we had been in. I was interested to see a Fig Tree growing out of a Coachwood tree, bit different to how I've seen them strangle other trees in the tropical rainforests in Queensland and the Amazon (them Fig Trees get everywhere!). We had a nice walk through the forest then went back up the cliff in the world’s steepest cliff railway and it was STEEP! And not very comfortable (think it could have been called the worlds most uncomfortable railway). We were in cages (I guess in case we fell out of our seats) and had to sit tilted right back. We went up pretty quick which was a relief, could not have sat like that for long. We headed out of the Blue Mountains back through Leura and stopped off at somewhere to see an Aboriginal stone carving of a kangaroo. We also saw an example of where lava had come out over the sandstone, amazing to think your looking at something thousands if not millions of years old. The Aboriginal carving looked very childlike, but impressive considering when it was done and what tools would have been available. The Kadumba tribe used to live in that region, but there are no living relatives now. We also stopped off at a clearing where we were supposed to see lots of wildlife, but nothing was there. I didn't mind as had seen kangaroos and that in the wild. We did see white Cockatoos which are BIG birds and a Kookaburra. We then went for a river cruise back to the city, we were a bit late due to traffic on the roads (it was a national holiday, after Anzac Day, they have holidays in Australia for things like that, even the Queens birthday) so it was dark. It was nice waiting for the boat though, a really pretty sunset and again the water looked inky black. It was quite a funny journey; Mairi, Jorgen and Caryl were on good form, some of the pictures are a bit dodgy though. We drove back into the harbour in the dark, I decided video was the best way to capture it, hope I can upload them at some point.
We went back to the hostel and helped Caryl get packed to leave the next day (I was pretending it wasn't happening!). Then went out for a final drink, to Darling Harbour. Darling Harbour is very nice, reminded me of the area in Oxford by the Malmaison, except this was around a nice harbour and was much bigger. It was quiet though (guess everyone had had enough after the holiday weekend!). We saw a few huge bats that got a bit close for comfort (Mairi was freaked as it was the first time she'd seen them) then back to hostel as Caz had to be up early. I slept well considering Caryl was leaving in the morning 😞 The French girl was already asleep.
Tuesday 27th April
So, up early to say bye to Caryl, she had to leave a 7am. It felt odd, didn't get to say everything I wanted to. I felt sad, we've had such a great time and I'm going to miss her. I can't write too much else about it else I'll get upset!!! I couldn't get back to sleep after she left, it suddenly hit me I was on my own for the next 5 months. OMG!!! (I've got more used to it now, a week later, I still miss her loads of course but think it'll be good for me). Mairi and Jorgen were great, REALLY looked after me and got me ready to face the world on my own. Once we got up that day we got ready and moved to our new hostel which was a bit out of the city centre, still only a 10 minute train ride away. It was in an area called Stanmore, a lovely hostel called Cambridge House, would definitely recommend it. The area reminded me of London (the bits Heather and I used to go mystery shopping around!). I lost my ticket on the train there, very annoying as it cost $20 and was due to last me the day (I fell out with the new Sydney transport system this day, it's a bit ridiculous, you have to buy a ticket before riding on most buses which is ok until everyone you try and buy a ticket from has sold out, or they sell you a ticket that’s not valid, I got on one bus where the driver said there wasn't a bus for the route I'd bought, luckily a nice bus driver let me on his bus so I didn't have to pay again). So from then onwards we decided Jorgen should look after my ticket and Mairi had a chat with me about why I might be losing things.......have remembered that and am very careful now, hope I don't lose anything important! Once we were settled we got the train back into town and headed for Kings Cross to visit Tribal Travel so Mairi & Jorgen could organise their East Coast trip and I could look at some options for the West Coast. We got off the train and had a nice walk through Hyde Park, was a bit nicer that the area of Hyde Park closer to the city centre. There were some big flower displays, think they were all Marigolds (Mum - I took pictures for you). After Tribal Travel, where we met with Gaz, who was "the best at his job, like a plumber with personality" (Jorgen can do the best impression, he was a nice guy, very knowledgeable, have booked some stuff with him, not very quick at getting back with the confirmations though, he’d best do soon), we headed back to Bondi. Where I introduced Mairi and Jorgen to Bondi Fresh and we ate salad on the beach (they agreed it was great salad). The beach itself was much quieter than when Caryl and I visited on Saturday but the surf was busier. We sat and watched the surfers, it was fascinating. Some were VERY good, some were not so good but they were trying. It was about 4ish and people were turning up on their bikes with their surfboards, quickly changing then running down to the surf. They were straight in. One young lad (must have come straight from school) was really really good. And a father & son turned up. It must be so cool to have something like that on your doorstep. We then got the bus back to town and went to The Rocks, which is the area of the city where the first settlers settled. It's been re-developed and is now very smart, it reminded me of Oxford (expect with an added bonus of views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House). It was nice walking down the main street with the Harbour Bridge through a gap in the distance, and you could sometimes see the Opera House at the end of streets to the right. We got some good views and ok pictures of the bridge and Opera House at night and decided we'd go back there in the daytime to get some proper tourist pictures. We stopped off at a lovely old English style pub and had a glass of wine, the pub was like the Jericho Tavern in Oxford, dark and cosy. We then got back on the train and went in search of Scruffy Murphy’s, which I had to visit in honour of Maff and Dave. We walked up George St (one of the main streets in Sydney) along the side of Chinatown, past the Wake Up hostel where Maff & Dave stayed and then found Scruffy Murphy’s. It smelled awful (when I text Maff saying "guess who's in Scruffy Murphy’s with a Magners?" he replied with something like "how is my favourite place smelling?!) but it was nice, a bit sentimental (I miss you Maffy!!). We had a nice pub dinner then went back to hostel where we had a very nice sleep.
Wednesday 28th April
We were woken up early by the bin men, I wondered why they were collecting on a weekend and then remembered I was on holibobs and it was a weekday. We had a leisurely breakfast at the hostel (for included breakfast it was really nice) and then headed back into town on the train (with Jorgen looking after my new day pass). We had a bit of a mishap when we had to change trains because Mairi's Havainas broke so badly that she couldn't use them (they have lasted over 3 months, quite impressive really considering Mairi had been wearing them everyday, I expect mine to break soon, I've never really got the fuss about Havainas before, thinking they were just a name but now I don't think I could ever use any other flip-flops, they are so comfy) and we had to go in search of some new ones. You'd think it was easy to find flip flops (or thongs as the Aussies call them) in Australia but no, it wasn't. In the end we did find them and headed back out to Kings Cross so Mairi & Jorgen could pick up their Tribal Travel tickets, then got the train back to Circular Quay for some proper sightseeing. We went back to our lookout point and got some really lovely pictures of us in front of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House (Mairi is great at taking pictures of me, thank you 😊 ). It was a perfect day for it. We saw a fish restaurant on the harbour that was doing a lunch deal - $30 for Antipasti a main course and a glass of wine - so decided to have that (you've got to have a nice dinner at Sydney Harbour, haven't you!). It was really nice. I think we got one of the best tables, in my line of sight I had Jorgen to my left, Mairi in front of me with the Harbour Bridge behind her and the Opera House to my right. It was really really nice. We then made our way round to the Opera House - it wasn't what I expected. It's actually 3 completely separate domes, it looks like one whole building in most photos, I can see why they take the photos from there as the other view isn't quite as impressive. It was big though, we walked all the way round, it's very clever. We decided not to do the tour as it was quite expensive and I decided that if I ever went back I'd actually want to go and see the Opera there, so would see inside then. We then headed for the Botanical Gardens which were very tranquil. It was quiet but you could hear the hum of the city in the background, was nice, sounded like it does in Central Park in New York. It was also very pretty but also nice to have the city buildings looming above the trees. There were some impressive trees, one that had just fallen over, it's still alive. We were having a lovely time and then we saw the bats (and the spiders, but they paled in comparison to the bats!).
The first we saw of them (we had known they were in the gardens but forget whilst we were actually there) was when one flew over, I got a good batman picture! And then we saw them, LOADS of them, there must have been thousands all hanging upside down from so many trees. From a distance they actually looked like big buds, if you didn't know you could have been forgiven for thinking they were part of the tree. It was freaky, and we found them a bit disgusting but fascinated at the same time. If you zoom in on some of the pictures you can see their faces (they are fruit bats, reddish in colour, known as flying foxes locally). We sat and watched whilst they gradually woke up, stretching their wings, sometimes fighting or climbing up and down the tree branches, making their funny squeaking noise. Occasionally one would fly off and we waited for nearly an hour trying to get good pictures and video. They also smell funny when they start moving about, like going off fruit. In the end I got some video of them waking up and then 2 seconds of one flying. We were satisfied so started walking out of the gardens. We turned back at one point to see a beautiful full moon and as we were taking pictures we realised we could see flocks of bats (again must have been thousands) flying in the distance under the moon. It was pretty impressive, got some video. Then we could see they were flying around the harbour, past the Opera House (if we'd been where we were earlier in the day we'd have got a great view) and over the Harbour Bridge - it was something. As we were walking through the city we could see them in the sky at the end of every street. I found it quite moving. The world is such an amazing place, full of interesting things and surprises.
Mairi's feet were hurting so we got a taxi to Darling Harbour. The taxi ride was interesting. The taxi driver asked us which way to go and told us he'd only been in the job for 1 day!!! He tried to put Darling Harbour in his Sat Nav but it wasn't there, all a bit uncomfortable, he was so sweet and all dressed smart with his gloves on. And he was playing this really stirring music, when you looked out the window to watch the people on the street it was like you were in a film, the music was like the soundtrack. When we were in traffic a car going in the opposite direction reversed back and asked the taxi driver for directions (I already had the whole inappropriate giggling thing going on, it was too much for me!) but then it turned out the bloke was the taxi drivers driving instructor (I'm guessing he's only just passed his driving test too. Bless him). We eventually made it and had a lovely dinner at Darling Harbour. It was much busier than the other night. We went to a really nice Italian restaurant and had wine and pasta/pizza. There was a beautiful view of the city from behind the other side of the harbour. We then went back to the hostel, I rang Gem for her birthday and we had a lovely chat for an hour. Then I packed and we watched some TV. That was exciting as LOST came on. Jorgen has never watched it, Mairi and I had both watched the first 2 and a bit seasons. We were watching the current season and were so confused but were hooked! We knew we shouldn't be watching it until we'd caught up with what we’d missed but couldn't help it. I ended up having to text Vicky to find out what was going on! Bless her, within 4 texts we were up to date, but still no real idea of what's going on! In the end we turned it off and went to sleep.
Thursday 29th April - Sydney to Canberra
I was up at 7 to get ready for my bus to Canberra. I packed and then said bye to Mairi and Jorgen, am so thankful to them for looking after me! I know I will see them again, can’t wait to visit Norway! To be continued………..
I really liked Sydney. I know a lot of people say it’s such like any other city but think it’s got it’s own character, some really nice areas like Bondi and Manly (and of course the bats!). I also noticed lots of English type things like the style their road signs are in. Bit of a random thing to notice!!
Lots of love till text time Xx
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Lindsay
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I'm hooked!!!
Rach, I love your blogs...... Have just read the last 3 entries as I'd fallen behind over the last couple of weeks and just had to keep reading on until I was back up to speed!! Sounds like you are having a wonderful time, look after yourself, stay safe... can't wait for the next entry x x x