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Published: March 31st 2007
Sydney has been our home for all of three months now, and as much as we love it, it is definitely time to move on. Trying to condense three months into a manageable page of writing may prove difficult, so forgive me for the length of time that I know that it will take you to read this. I would go and get a cup of tea if I were you. Now, if you’re sitting comfortably, then I shall begin…
We arrived at Sydney airport at stupid o’clock in the morning on January 1st, and spent our least hung-over New Year’s Day ever at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. The following day, we moved to a hostel on Collaroy beach, where we stayed for one week until we found our new home on Abercrombie Street. We moved into the tiniest room possible for two adults and started to get to know our strange housemates. After a week or so of living there we decided we had gotten to know most of them well enough for our liking, and would be happy if they now all moved out. The loud, smelly Achmeds were top of our
hit list, who constantly had their loud and smelly friends staying with them; there was also Yana who sang loudly to herself at every opportunity, kept her old hair in an envelope and ruined Johnny Cash forever for me; Yuri and Nao seemed nice enough, but with their beginner English and with our Japanese and Korean just not as good as it once was, conversation was a bit limited. As it turned out, they did actually all move out and we had shiny, new people who moved in. Two French friends, Julie and Julien moved into our old room (after we had taken over the Achmeds’ much larger room, with balcony no less), and a couple of English girls, Becky and Natalie moved in downstairs. We got to know them really well, and enjoyed many nights at the pub, nights in front of the TV, and weekends away with them.
After the first month of traveling in Asia without an income, we discovered our bank balances were rapidly shrinking and decided it was high time to get jobs. At home it had never been much of a problem for either of us to find employment, but for
some reason it took us a month to settle down and get jobs in Sydney. Perhaps it is the glut of travelers that pour into the city on what seems to be a daily basis, or maybe Sydney employers just did not like the look of us, but we were getting decidedly worried by the end of January when we were still jobless. Luckily, soon Franny scored a job setting up the uber-posh restaurant Summit during the days, with the occasional nightshift running drinks, and I found my way in and out of six (yes, count them, six) jobs to keep us in rent (beer) money. Most of my jobs were either absolutely mind-numbing or just plain morally corrupt, but I did enjoy the last job, where I sold adult nappies and kept my inner 8-year-old in hysterics.
With our weekdays successfully taken up with the joy of work, our weekends were free to do the touristy bit. They were well planned out by Franny so we managed to do quite a lot. Sydney is famous for its beaches and we visited a fair few of them. The first week we stayed in Collaroy in a hostel
that was approximately 20 feet from the beach, but somehow, with all the house hunting and job hunting, we never actually spent any time there. Our first proper beach visit was to Palm Beach, where we indulged in some hopeful star-stalking in the ‘Summer Bay’ of our much loved Home and Away. Unfortunately we did not see anyone famous and our efforts got rained out and we had to go home. We visited the famous Bondi Beach, where people go to be seen, and the similar Coogee Beach, which also had posers a-plenty, although it was difficult to see them through the sandstorm caused by high winds. We had been told we had to visit Manly Beach as it was the ‘jewel in Sydney’s beachly crown’. The weather was not with us on this trip either, and we got rained out about an hour after getting there. The situation was saved, however, by a trip to the pub that had live music and free shots of Strongbow.
Another exciting day out took us to Taronga Zoo. We took the ferry and got some amazing photos of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge on the way out.
At the zoo we got to meet some kangaroos, koalas, porcupines, and duck-billed platypuses, amongst many other things. Franny was sad she did not get to hug a koala so we are on a mission to find one in the bush that she can hug instead.
Sydney's events calendar was very busy during our stay. Chinese New Year was a big occasion, and the Year of the Pig was celebrated with parades and fireworks. Mardi Gras was also fairly huge, with pink Aussie flags, feather boas and tiaras everywhere. I had not realised that Sydney is the world’s second biggest gay capital outside San Francisco, but it was hard to miss during the February festival. The Harbor Bridge celebrated its 75th year, and made world news as thousands of people walked across it in green hats on its birthday. The harbor also saw the arrival of the QEII and the QMII at the same time. Apparently it is one of the few ports in the world that can hold both ships at once. There was a parade for St Paddy’s, which in true Irish fashion, was held a full week prior to St Paddy’s Day. We did
all go out for St Patrick’s on the proper day and wore the appropriate green and drank and appropriate amount of alcohol though. Australia Day was another holiday that was really just an excuse for a drink, and we spent it in Hyde Park (drinking) and at Darling Harbor, watching the fireworks (and drinking).
When Franny and I saw the line-up for the music festival Good Vibrations, we knew we had to go. On our limited funds, we managed to buy tickets on ebay, and we hit Centennial Park on a boiling Saturday to watch DJ Yoda, Nightmares on Wax, Jurassic 5, The Beastie Boys and a special appearance by Snoop Dogg. We were in hip-hop heaven. We bought hats and stubby holders, and drank many, many cans of Bacardi and Coke. We did our make-up in the middle of a field, moshed like idiots in the Roots tent, and took a ridiculous number of photos of us looking like drunken idiots. I have to say though, it was one of the best experiences of our travels so far.
We took two weekend trips away from the city, the first one being an excursion
Good Vibrations
Hanging out by the toiletsto Hunter Valley with Becky and Natalie. We hired a car and drove up the freeway in proper girlie road trip-style, with the sun shining, music blaring, windows down and singing at the tops of our voices. Becky was our designated driver due to the fact that she was the only one of us over 25 for the rental agreement, and also since she had recently had root canal treatment so was not up to drinking too much. We checked into our hostel and then went out to find the wineries. The search did not take long, as there are apparently hundreds of vineyards in the area. We spent the day sampling wines, cheeses, chutneys, chocolates and olives (and no Mum, I still do not like olives - they are definitely an adult sophisticated taste). When the cellar doors closed, we took our purchases back to the hostel to continue the sampling. Later on that night, we also sampled the valley nightlife and went to the local for some eye-opening karaoke, at which, Franny was well received with her version of the classic, Black Velvet.
Our second weekend trip was to the Blue Mountains with Becky, Natalie
and Julie, and this time we took our newly purchased car - an aged white Ford Falcon named Bastard Bob. We left Sydney in pure sunshine and arrived, two hours later in the mountains in Baltic conditions. We had not felt such cold since leaving the UK in December, and I for one, was not happy, although it seemed to please Franny for some odd reason. Nevertheless, we donned our layers and ponchos and headed out in the rain to see the Three Sisters at Echo Point. The views were amazing, and the weather cleared briefly so we managed to take some good pictures. The next day we got up early and went to Scenic World, where we took trips on the cable cars and the steepest railway in the world. Becky, who is not that fond of heights, was not at all happy as we swung across gorges in the cable car, hundreds of feet in the air. Later, we went further west on some of the windiest roads I have ever driven on, to the Jenolan caves for some more hillside tramping and picture taking.
When we leave Sydney, I am sure I will be
sad to see it go. It is the first place so far that I think I could actually live in. There is a certain laid-back atmosphere, where beach-bum meets the Big City. During rush hour you are just as likely to see a surfer dude as you are to see a suit. The sunshine makes the daily commute not quite as horrible, and people are generally really nice. If you like your food, then Sydney is the place to be. Hospitality is big business and is taken very seriously. There is an Irish pub on every second corner and a restaurant on every other corner. The roads are hazardous, the exhausts are loud, and you really do not want to cross the street when the lights are about to turn green as the cars will not stop for you. The views over the Harbor are spectacular, especially at night, and I will never forget sitting in the open air Opera Bar, sipping Riesling and looking out at the Bridge. We were never short of anything to do, and I think we could have done so much more, if only we had had the money. Saying that, we will be back
in September when we fly to New Zealand, and hopefully then we will do the Bridge climb and a tour of the Opera House. So off we go up the East Coast, with new addition to our party - Julie. With Bastard Bob filled to the gunwales, we are going to seek out the sun again and get back to nature in a tent.
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kerryn
non-member comment
oh dear!
hey smelly - very good blog though i am not impresed that there is no mention of my name or 96 - did that place not mean anything 2 u! that is all, ok bye! kxxx