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I didn't want to leave Sydney, so I didn't
Doug Pickles I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise to you when I say that Sydney is well known as one of the most beautiful cities on earth situated on a dramatic natural harbour with a fabulous year-round climate with activities and cuisine to suit every taste. But you do need to come here to see it with your own eyes and truly believe it and, thanks to my host and hostess Rory and Julie-Anne, I have just spent a very memorable five days falling in love with this paradise city.
In true Sydney style, activity has been the order of every day. Day one was a walking tour of the historic Rocks district and a customary visit to a wildlife centre to marvel at the koalas, wallabies and inland taipan - the most venomous snake in the world. Did you know that butterflies have their tastebuds on their feet? Or that 90%!o(MISSING)f the mammals found in Australia can be found no where else in the world? I didn’t.
Day two was spent celebrity spotting. A tour of the stunning northern beaches culminated in a visit to Palm Beach, famed for it’s exclusive properties and as the location
Hanging at the Surf Club
I met the club official\'s grand-daughter. She was nice. for the Aussie soap, “Home and Away.” My luck was truly in as they happened to be filming when we arrived and it wasn’t long before Rory and I were rubbing shoulders with the stars of the show, most notably Alf Stewart’s grand-daughter Martha Mackenzie. Leaving our new friends behind Rory and I headed back to the city and soon had a beer in our hand. And who was at the bar? Our next celebrity friend, Scotland rugby international Dan Parks. He was on ‘entertaining’ form, seemingly more interested in the female clientele rather than talking to us, and, looking around, I couldn’t really blame him. The crowning moment came when he dropped his glass of beer which smashed all over the floor. Rory chipped in “That’s not the first time we’ve seen you drop something Dan.” (That joke may only work for the die-hard Scottish rugby fan.)
The morning of day three was spent mountain biking across bushland, up fire trails and round a dam north of Chatswood. It was ace. It may have officially been the first day of the Australian winter, but with no clouds in the sky and the temperature at a comfortable 20 degrees
A Scotsman in Number 10
He's our Jonny Wilkinson, but only half as good sadly. we happily spent the afternoon lounging in our shorts and swimming in the Pacific. On day four we started by fuelling up at the very impressive Sydney Grower’s Market in Pyrmont, which puts our own farmer’s markets in the shade, before embarking on the 5-mile Spit to Manly walk. En route we couldn’t help jumping in the sea (twice) and stopping at every other turn admire the wonderful views. Manly is one of the many attractive and lively suburbs surrounding the city with it’s own beach and magnificent ferry connection. To confirm this we spent the afternoon enjoying a few glasses of wine at the Manly Food and Wine Festival before boarding a ferry for the leisurely 30 minute trip back across to Sydney. As we traversed the beautiful harbour, I sat imagining a sunny Monday morning and a boat-load of smug commuters taking the same ferry on their way to work, safe in the knowledge that they probably had the best journey to work in the world. The food and wine festival had opened my eyes to some of the more adventurous alternatives on offer, so that evening I took on a goat curry that was later washed down
with almost every Australian beer available.
And now it’s day five and I’m feeling the effects of the goat curry and the raft of beers. To help me system get working again, we played touch rugby this morning (lost), lunched at Watson’s Bay (couldn’t stomach anything) and swam from Bondi beach this afternoon (felt much better.) The power of the surf at Bondi was something else and, as I was dragged down by a succession of large waves, I gained a new respect for surfer dudes who try and ride waves twice as big as the ones I was confronted with.
It’s now 9 hours before I board the plane for Beijing and the start of the Trans-Siberian odyssey. The first two weeks have been relaxing, incident free and easy. Now I’m getting into the business side of the trip and I’m beginning to get excited about the possible adventures that lie ahead, but before all that I need to get some sleep. Night, night.
PS I love it here.
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