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After having blasted our way south from Brisbane to Sydney in two days, we finally entered the northern suburbs of Sydney in the mid-afternoon of the 2nd day. Now, for some reason Australia is like Canada. The main highways in the country extend THROUGH neighbourhoods, freeways become two lane roads with traffic lights and the traffic goes from free-flowing, four lane highways to jammed pretty quickly.
We entered Sydney with the gears grinding, the engine feeling like it was overheating and with Andy at wit's end. There's an electronic tolling system in Sydney, operated by different companies, and with different methods for tolling. Our aim was for the Sydney harbour bridge, to cross into the central business district and then head East to Bondi Beach, as I had read somewhere that parking in that area was free, and the rest of Sydney is insane for parking.
So we're headed down the highway, there are signs telling us that there are no manned toll booths ahead, but there is a toll, and the toll must be paid lest you get a penalty of $150AUD. The toll is collected on the other side of the bridge, there are no exit lanes
on the 8 lane highway, and besides the campervan is NOT stopping. So we head across the bridge, which is wide enough for 8 lanes of traffic and two lanes of trains. It is surprisingly gigantic!
On the other side the cars sort into the type of e-toll passes they have. I picked one that I thought was right, one that I *think* we can apply for afterwards, and just head on through! Not much we can do about it now anyways!
Quickly we're downtown Sydney, looking for the tourist information kiosk but it's not where it was on the map, and we have to pee, and it's Sunday (which apparently is a day of rest still in Australia, so nothing is open downtown).
Eventually we made it over to Bondi and found some potential parking spots a few blocks away from the main beach. It's quiet neighbourhoods with free parking! Woohoo!
That evening we decided to go back into town (we drove) and while we were walking around, we came across a friend that we had met in Phuket, some months before! Matt was at a liquor store, of all places (we had partied pretty
hard in Phuket as well). He was on his way home to chill with friends, so we tagged along.
Later, we went to a bar and got drunk and stumbled back to the van which was parked on a side street downtown, and in the morning, no tickets! Score!
We parked at Bondi beach for the rest of our time in Sydney. We were able to stay two blocks up from the main beach baths, which was nice because we could use the showers and facilities in the morning when we woke up. The busses are easy to catch, cost about $2 a ride, and will take you right downtown in about 30 minutes. I also took the subway to Bondi junction and transferred once, it cost $5 for the subway and bus and takes about 10 minutes!
Our time in Sydney was spent doing the classics: Sydney Opera House, the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Sydney Zoo (Trung 'doesn't care' about animals, so he didn't follow me to that one), Sydney Harbour Bridge, Ferries, and generally wandering around seeing the sights. I was in heaven at Bondi beach, the Icebergs Swimming Club is at the end of
the beach, which has a pool and a SAUNA! It was only like 15 degrees in Sydney, so the Sauna was amazing!!
After a few days of exploring and wandering, we had had enough of Sydney and felt very satisfied that we'd seen some of the most well-known landmarks in the world. I'll let the photos do the talking.
Our next stop: The Blue Mountains!!
xoxo
Andy
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John
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Sydnyriffic!
Oh Andy. I keep expecting to find a picture of you rocking a full beard or something. Glad to hear about how badly you had to pee in Sydney! lol