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Published: August 9th 2007
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Changing Weather
Couldnt make it's mind up Sydney has turned out to be the perfect antidote to Beijing. We have felt truly relaxed and at home here, although we are a little disappionted that no-one has asked us to pose for a photo with them! I guess its because here we just blend in with the scenery, and we are not complaining! Being our second visit in five months, we immediately got back into the swing of things. On our first evening we headed staight for one of my favourite restaurants in the world, Wolfie's Grill. We had a lovely meal to treat ourselves courtesy of Mastercard, and sat back and admired the view of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge whilst sipping on our drinks. I was particularly glad to have a glass of Australian wine in my hand as I had had a hard time in China. Its all very well if you drink beer, every country in the world has that, but wine...mmmm. Not so good.
We have managed to get into a rather good habit here of sleeping in late and then getting up and making the most of the rest of the day. I have a fear that it will be
Off to Olympic Park
Not the worst journey I ever made for scenery very difficult to get out of! Our second day saw us wandering down to Pitt Street do do some shopping. Unfortunately we hadn't banked on the fact that it was Good Friday and that ALL the shops were closed. We carried on regardless down to Circular Quay and wandered around the Harbour, watched an excellent street performer for a while and then hopped on a ferry round to Darling Harbour. Its only around the corner but it took about an hour to get there!! We milled around for a while and then bought the best fish and chips ever and ate them over looking the waterfront.
On Saturday we checked out of the Travelodge and walked to our next destination, Railway Square YHA. We were somewhat apprehensive about our first foray into hostel accomodation, but I have to say that it has been fantastic. Friendly staff, sofas to sit on and read with a cup of tea bought from the cafe, 24 hour internet access, excellent location etc etc. There are only a couple of downsides. The hostel is situated beside Central Railway Station (as the name suggests) and at 6.30am everyday a large freight train arrives and keeps
Telstra Dome
World Cup winner was over the posts to my right! its engine on for what seems like an hour. Max and myself have now resorted to earplugs, but alas, even these do not keep out the noise. Still it gives us an excuse to sleep until late! The other is a problem with the men's toilets, in that Max plays a game of lottery as to whether or not the cubicle he chooses has skid marks in them or not. At present the odds seem to be 50-50. I cannot comment on this as up until now the girls bathroom has been in a spotless condition. I fear that the problem is more that boys are just not used to using cubicles, and get a bit excited!!
As we are so familair with Sydney now, we decided to spend a couple of days doing our own thing. The first of these involved shopping. We have both started to get fed up with wearing the same clothes and set off on a mission to spend as little as possible but buy something new. Thankfully there was a sale on in Myer (big department store) and we both came back satisfied. The second of our 'do your own thing day' was
Summer Bay
Is that Alf there fishing?? a bit more exciting. Well for Max anyway..I went off to Oxford Street only to find all the shops shut again (Easter Monday) so headed back to central Sydney. Max however made his way by boat to Sydney Olympic Park and had what turned out to be a private guided tour (no-one else was on it!) of the Telstra Stadium where Jonny Wilkinson kicked his winning goal and the Olympic Games were held. He came back home beaming from ear to ear!
Easter Sunday was spent having a picnic in the Botanical Gardens overlooking Sydney Harbour, which was really lovely. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around looking at the surroundings...although we didn't linger too long besides the massive Spiders and Fruit Bats hanging from the trees! And today, our last day in Sydney before moving on to Adelaide, was for me the most exciting of the lot. We jumped on a bus and about one and a half hours later arrived at Palm Beach....otherwise known as Summer Bay (where they film Home and Away for those of you that don't know!) It was just as it looks like on the TV. Actually it was probably nicer.
Smoothie Hunting...
It'll soon be open for drinks! Alf's on duty! They weren't filming, but the beach itself was gorgeous and pretty empty. I walked around with a big grin on my face forcing Max to take photo's of me everywhere, before relenting and playing our favourite game of 'sea ball'. This involved throwing a small red ball that we bought for Ten Baht, or seventeen pence, in Phi Phi to each other. It is usually played in the sea, but the water was far too cold here! We are however creating quite a list of locations in which we have played said game. Maya Bay in Phi Phi (where The Beach was filmed) and now Summer Bay...next stop Ramsay Street in Melbourne and then Hobbiton in New Zealand!! The highlight of our trip to Palm Beach was the seeing the surf club, which had a sign saying Summer Bay Surf Club. Club Official A. Stewart..... ALF!!!!
We fly to Adelaide tomorrow and with some sadness. Sydney has been a home from home. Some may say a bit like being Home and Away (sorry!)
Still Adelaide here we come...if its half as good as Sydney it will be well worth it.
lots of love
Clare (and Max)
Night View
Our last night. Sad to leave, again. xxx
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