101 things to do when you're Ali

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I wake at 3 am, the room is shaking, there's an odd creaking and moaning and some loud banging, where am I? Oh my god it's an earthquake, i'm on the 11th floor I've had it, what do I do, hold on nothings falling around my ears, nobody else is moving. What's going on? 
It's the wind, which is back with a vengeance, our windows are open and it's howling in. It's so strong the building is shaking, panic over. It carries on all night, dropping just long enough for you to fall asleep in the calm, quiet lull. 
I sleep late and have to rush to meet my check out time. Outside looks like a small hurricane, things are blowing down the street, it's raining in that blown by the wind horizontal way and people are huddled against it. I don't want to go out in that, well actually I don't have anything left to do, I was only going to look for souveners and I can do that at the airport. So I stay in the hostel for two hours drinking my tea, reading my book and watching the very diverse people in my hostel. 
A group of school children in matching uniforms are herded together, bags and all, an elderly couple are looking at a guide book as they eat bread and jam, a young American traveller is talking on skype and a middle aged Dutch guy is debating the merits of the film tour bus in broken English with two japanese girls. The world is going on around me and I just sit here calmly with my twinnings and watch. It's great! 
But then it's off to the airport, my bag is labelled and I wave good bye to it. I won't see it again till Tokyo. Now I just have to wait, the plane is delayed because of the wind but it doesn't bother me I'm going somewhere new. 
I eventually make it to Sydney I've got 5 hours before my next flight and I was going to stay in the airport but now I'm here I can't miss the chance to  see a bit of the city. Well the opera house and bridge obviously, I mean where else do you go? 
I walk out of the station and the bridge is there, large and iron, filling the horizon with burnished metal, to the right I can just make out the opera house but it is dwarfed by it's touristic brother bridge, but still imposing as it sits on it promontory, out into Sydney harbour. 
I walk along the front to the iconic building, it's not as pristine as all the pictures but its instantly recognizable design is amazing to see. I go into the botanical gardens glancing at the joggers and families enjoying this urban open space, but honesty my eye is constantly dragged back towards those 2 well known structures that I've only seen in pictures before. 
I walk back and stand directly beneath this edifice, humbled by the fact I am here, me, sitting on the steps of Sydney opera house. It takes a few minutes for all this to truly sink in. 
Next I'm going to walk across the bridge if I can work out how to get up there. A short uphill walk later and I'm striding out onto a four lanes road, the path is seperate but with a huge wire fence topped with barbed wire, not quite the romantic atmosphere I was expecting. The man made excellence of the bridge is overwhelming the tall stone pillars green grey in the dying light contrast with the orange brown of the metal, huge bolts are a sign of strength and the uprights curve across the span above me in perfect geometry. 
 As I get to the centre the sun is setting, one of those things to do before you die ticked off, sunset over the Sydney opera house from the harbour bridge, I stand and watch as the sky turns from blue to yellow and orange, then golds and reds and finally pinks and purples, there are no words, just standing, watching. 
As I travel back I'm filled with a warm glow, I'm leaving the antipodean part of the world, it's been good, I've met some great people and seen some amazing things but now it's time to see what Asia has to offer   

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