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Published: December 8th 2005
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Just an update to let you know what we got up to in Oz. I'm fully aware that it was about 2 and a half months ago, thank you - those of you already poised at the keyboard to point this out may save your wit and stating the obvious for those people who really need it - but we've had a few, shall we say 'difficulties' - to save many hideous recounts - getting photos onto the site.
Anyway, Rach and Rach flew out of ChCh on the 15th Sept on the next leg of our journey - having been in one place for so long it was a bit weird to be on the move - a bit like leaving home all over again. Jen stayed in NZ for the week and did some exploring of her own in the Norht Island before flying to meet us in Bangkok.
Anyway, way back in the day, when we were young and naive and booking our tickets, we had originally planned to spend 6 weeks in Australia and so arranged to fly in to Sydney and out of Brisbane and spend the time in between getting from one place
to the other. See? It was perfect and inspired at the time. However, staying longer in NZ pushed all our timings way, way out and with less than a week to do the whole country we were really pushing our luck; Australia is a BIG place. People always tell you that and I nod and smile: "uh-huh? Really big you say? Wow." but I never truly appreciated it until we were there. It takes 2 hours to go, like, a centimetre on the map. Some serious condensing was required.
Sydney
We arrived in Sydney on Thursday night and checked out the local area - we stayed in a place called Glebe which is a bit out of the city proper but a lovely area nevertheless. Full of trendy cafes and bars and...no, that's about it. Food and alcohol on your doorstep. Excellent.
Day one was very touristyingly spent walking about in the city where we saw most of the important sites - you know, the ones that people look at you as if you are metally subnormal if you return reporting that you went all that way and didn't see - fire, flood and acts of God not withstanding. The fish market was very fun and not too smelly. There were some well wierd fishies in there which I didn't even know existed (did you know that you can get blue crabs? Blue?) and we had a good look at all the different slimy things they had going on. Rather pathetically, we both wimped out of trying the oysters - I'm all for new experiences while I'm away but, really, there are limits. I didn't realise that I had never actually seen one close up before and when I was granted the opportunity I knew there was no way I was putting one in my mouth.
Checked out Circular Quay, Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge which are, helpfully, all next to each other and took a stroll through the Botanical Gardens before heading to Chinatown for hand-made noodles. Yum. Window shopped in Paddy's Market - a giant undercover warehouse type set-up with hundreds of stalls selling most things you could need and quite a lot of stuff that I doubt anyone, anywhere, ever needs - and amused ourselves by trying on silly hats and glasses.
The next day we took a little train trip to the nearby (by Ozzie standards) Blue Mountains - so called because they are covered in Eucalyptus trees and the oil given off creates a blue haze. They were well worth the journey - the viewpoint overlooking the valley gives you a sense of the sheer enormity of the mountians themselves. We looked out over the Three Sisters - massive monoliths that according to legend were three beautiful giantess sisters who were forbidden to marry three princes from another tribe. Or something. Anyway, when the two tribes went to war over the issue the tribal witch doctor turned the girls to stone, intending to change them back when the fighting was over. But - couldn't you just have guessed it - the doctor was killed (ironically, I think, by one of the princes themselves) and no one has been able to retore the sisters since.
Took a walk down the Grand Staircase - about 900 step cut into the rockface - into the valley and around the base of the Sisters. The climb down was a little nerve-wracking as the steps aren't exactly even, or deep in some places, but the views was staggering. To get back out of the valley we had to take a 'Skytrain' which is basically a train on a 51-degree slope. You get a pretty good view from there too.
That night we went out for a few drinks and a bit of dancing in the city centre whcih was very, very fun. Sadly, some of us were feeling a little fragile the next day (our heads from the night before and legs from the bloody Staircase) so it was a very chilled out Sunday where nothing much was done.
Monday we spent at Manly Beach - an apparently nicer alternative to Bondi, although it was a bit of a shame that we couldn't make it there too - and in the evening we went to see an excellent version of Measure for Measure at none other than the Opera House itself. We decided on Shakespeare over the bone fide opera because we thought we'd have a slightly higher chance of actually understanding what was going on. Which we did - it was really very well done. We met up with a friend we originally met in Fiji who quite randomly ended up staying in the hostel next door from us, and took a night ferry around the harbour to take in the Opera House and the Bridge all lit up. Beautiful.
Brisbane
Having only one day to spend in Brisbane after all we spent it in style - at Australia 'Home of The Crocodile Hunter' Zoo. Run by that really-quite-annoying-but-a-bit-of-a-hero-in-his-own-special-way guy from the TV it specialises in crocs, obviously, and various other native and endangered animals - tigers, kangaroos, tortoises, wombats, snakes, elephants etc. It. Was. Brilliant. Steve Irwin himself was there that day and did one of the noon shows with a big crocodile called Monty. He was on good form, in and out of the water, running around and poking the enormous man-eater to the exhillaration of the audience. Pure entertainment. There was also a bird show where parrots and hawks and things flew around the stadium - Rach B got some feathers in her eye from one that flew a bit too close, and a tiger-training exhibition. All very cool - a very good use of the day I think.
That was pretty much it for now - the next day was spent flying to Singapore and then up to Bangkok which is another blog altogether. I think it's safe to say that we both liked Australia a lot and it's definitely on the list for future travels. It was a shame we had such little time there but what can you do? There's always next year...
Lots of love, Rach, Rach and Jen x x x
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