Blogs from Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 5

I emerged from bed at 8am and once dressed...grabbed my street map and embarked on my first Sydney reconnaissance mission which as it turned out, ended up being an epic expedition. Having found St Marys Cathedral pretty easily (my landmark marker), I then wandered slowly through Hyde Park taking in all the fauna and sights and was astounded as to how many joggists were tearing about, especially taking into account how warm it was...86F!!! Mad??? Stark Raving Bonkers if you asked me!!! The Botanical Gardens were really nice too, but, as ever I found something to be worried about...this time, the hundreds of bats dangling upside down in the trees above (Yes, A Return to James's Nightmare!!). Fascinating as they are, I was a little concerned about being crapped on from great heights as I sauntered ... read more

Voici quelques photos prises au hasard dans la ville... ben oui tout est beau ici!!!!!... read more

Its been two weeks back at work since Christmas, and in normality for Sydney in January, the weather is beautiful - the skies are blue, the sun is shining and its only a little bit humid and sticky. Still, I'm hoping that a new year will bring a new outlook on life for most of the city. News reports this week were of 44,000 people having lost their jobs in December. Although the reports have been slightly distorted with temporary christmas staff, this is a huge number of job losses in one short month. Things are certainly tough. Yesterday there was a report in the SHM of a former car salesman who is now selling the Big Issue to pay his bills. Its a terrible fall for some people. On the converse this week was an ... read more

31/12/08 = An Australian New Year Well, after many of our NYE plans being thwarted at the last minute, finally made a conclusive plan yesterday. Decided to still go to Botanical Gardens, but to a different part called Macquaries Point. Apparently supposed to be really busy, brilliant view of fireworks and definitely don't need tickets. With plan in mind, had to get up extra early, have a quick breakfast and shower, then get outfits on. Looked a treat in our silky boxers and capes...although got to admit, I didn't put my cape on until we got there. Walked to meet Hat's friends at St James' station, as they had been year before and were showing us the way. All this was at 10am. Were supposed to be getting supply of alcohol that morning too, but apparently ... read more

It was an emotional moment when we boarded the Greyhound for our last bus trip (and hopefully our last overnight journey), but our sadness was overcome by excitement as this time we were heading for Sydney! The journey went quickly and having had plenty of practice sleeping in cramped, uncomfortable positions on buses we managed to catch some zzz's...well at least i did, Ian favored the on-board entertainment which came in the form of 'Cool Runnings' over sleep! We arrived in Sydney bright and early in the morning, three hours earlier than expected. We weren't quite sure how the driver managed to make up that amount of time, but with a loud "Wake up everyone, wakey wakey, I'm awake so you all should be" announcement over the bus microphone we soon realised he was pretty crazy ... read more