2 days in Kings Cross

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With the South American part of our trip over with, we headed to Santiago airport late on the 24th for our 11pm flight to Sydney.

The 18 hrs flight (including a brief stopover in Auckland) went quick enough with a little help from our friends alcohol and tamazepan and we arrived at Sydney just past seven in the morning. After fighting through the border control who fastidiously pick up aubergine smugglers, day in day out, we jumped in a taxi bound for Kings Cross. Now our destination was a hostel on Victoria St, but once we saw the place and the rude welcome we got from the guy when we got there, we decided on splashing out and getting a room at the local Holiday Inn which was well received after the dodgy lodgings we stayed in in South America.

A quick phone call later and we managed to hook up with a good old friend of ours, Tony, who surprisingly enough, was sober and willing to give us a grand tour of Sydney. A further surprise was Tony arranging for another old friend, Andy, to personally chauffeur us around the city for the day (if your reading this guys, thanks again for the memories) which was great as we managed to see the harbor in all its glory and still manage to fit in late afternoon drinks and a super 14 rugby match later that evening! But not before having the opportunity to walk the botanical gardens area and witness the giant golden orb spiders all over the place (which, with Em having arachnophobia was great fun) and the flying foxes. Now, flying foxes are actually just large bats which have quite strangely, made Sydney their city of choice. One incident which I will never forgot, occurred just as we were leaving the gardens - a large bat with a 1 metre wingspan swooped out of the trees, and as if in slow motion, gently banked to the left and straightened up over the path and headed straight towards Tony, Emma and I. And what do the brave 3 do? Cower and cover our heads of course! The bat itself flew over me, and in doing so, also managed to urinate on my hands (which were at the time, covering my head) and gradually bank back upwards into the trees it came from. Great fun. The upshot of that match of the NSW Waratahs v the Natal Sharks was a poor display of rugby by the South Africans (i was so pissed off I could of run onto the field and flying nutted Frans Steyn in the face) and a 27 - 10 scoreline to the hosts, although they were gracious enough in victory for me to still enjoy what was left of the night. With jet lag setting in at a rapid pace, Emma, I and Tony (who we smuggled up to our room for a few more drinks) passed out. The next morning, Tony and I went to grab McDonald's for breakfast managed to get the usual mcmuffin deal and an offer of "SEX!" from the local street ho's, although no offers of crystal meth from the dope fiends unfortunately.

With breakfast over, we took a tour of the China Town and rode on the Monorail, just because. Then we headed over to Darling Harbor, meeting Andy and for more drinks and to take in the sights. I can honestly say that out of all the cities I have been to in my time, which isn't actually that many, but anyway, Sydney is without a doubt the prettiest city I have been to. Its easily got everything you could want and more, but at the risk of sounding like a tour operator, rather look at the pictures than read my boring blog!

Off to Brisbane, Coolum and the Sunshine Coast, we left Sydney early the next morning, picked up the rental and drove off to see Jay and Hel - more to come...

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