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Published: October 11th 2005
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Once again, it’s been ages since we’ve typed up an entry. We arrived in Australia on 29th July, a cold Friday morning. Coming out of Sydney airport was a shock to the system, no sunshine, wintertime in fact. We spent the first 2 weeks living in a hostel in the centre of town, nice place but we were glad to be leaving after 2 weeks. Sleeping in a 6 person dorm not knowing who you were going to wake up with in your room the next morning became a bit cumbersome. We met some nice people there though who we’ve been out with a few times since leaving the hostel.
We did the usual sights around town, first stop Sydney Harbour and the Opera House… Sampled some of the many restaurants and bars scattered around the Harbour, quite pricey though! It’s strange seeing the sights in real life that we know so well from pictures and TV, the Harbour is just as impressive in real life though, we’ve been to the Opera Bar a few evening’s for drinks after work which is very relaxing.
As funds had run low our main priorities were finding work (boring) and somewhere to
live. We submitted our CV’s with numerous agencies and visited apartments in different parts of town. Seen some awful places for the money they wanted but found an excellent modern apartment in Bondi sharing with one really friendly Aussie guy who owns the place, perfect. Laura found a job first, working at an investment bank in the CBD, I had a week on my own as I hadn’t found a job yet. One of the days I visited Manly, it’s a short boat crossing from Sydney Harbour. It was a seaside town with a lovely beach and lots of English (or Poms as we’re known out here) settle there. We definitely chose the best place to stay though- it’s a nice residential area, about a 15 minute walk to the station and the same in the opposite direction to the beach. We certainly landed on our feet in Bondi.
An old friend from back home who now lives out here invited us along to watch an Aussie Rules football game at the Telstra Stadium (the main Olympic stadium from the 2002 Olympics). On the train in you could see the Olympic village that had been built, very impressive. We
had corporate seats at the stadium which was also a bonus; it didn’t take long to work out the rules of the game either. It turned out to be a demolition of the Brisbane Lions by the Sydney Swans, 124-40, can’t say I’ve seen a score line like that before ! Apparently the Lions were tipped to beat the Swans too ! Then after the game they let the crowd onto the pitch for a massive kick around with mini soft balls that had been provided. Some kids had brought on their full size AFL balls though, so you had to watch out for them as you don’t want one hitting you unexpected, you can imagine how likely that is with about 5000 people all kicking balls around on one pitch. Luckily we escaped unscathed. Then onto the pub to have a few celebratory beers, this is the team I’ll follow while I am here. Funny moment when walking into the pub though, Laura and Paul noticed the head security guard was the guy who played Blake in Home & Away years ago, silly but we found it highly amusing.
We’ve also been to the Blue Mountains with a
The crowd goes wild...
.. at the AFL game, even after so many goals ! couple of friends from New Zealand and hired a car for the day. Actually finding the Blue Mountains was an adventure in itself, well I say finding the Blue Mountains, lets just say we seen more of Sydney’s surrounding areas than originally planned that day.
We eventually arrived at the Blue Mountains. There are a few different ways that you can look around- by different types of trains and cable cars or by foot. Laura freaked out on the train that literally goes down the edge of one of the mountains, can’t blame her though for someone who isn’t too fond of heights it’s not the best place to be! It was pretty spectacular being able to explore these huge mountains and take in the stunning scenery. The area has a blue mist surrounding it which is produced from the Eucalyptus trees below. It certainly was a change from the city and we welcomed the change in surroundings. Was amazing to see all of the wild cockatoos in their natural habitat, rather than caged up as you would normally see them. The cable car ride was quite amusing in that about 80 Korean tourists piled into it and were
Martin with Paul & Loz..
.. who invited us along to share their corporate seats at the AFL game physically trying to push us away from the windows so they could take in our view, suffice to say they didn’t succeed, then they started filming us ! Our Kiwi friend introduced himself, but they ignored him and just kept filming…
Apart from that we have been sampling the local night spots- checking out the bars etc in places such as Kings Cross, Paddington, Bondi, Darling Harbour to name a few. Had a few ‘barbies’ as you do, haven’t seen anyone throwing on any Shrimp yet…
Oh, also visited the local A&E… Laura had a ‘small’ accident with a bread knife, won’t go into details as it was a bit messy. Great service at the hospital though and top marks to the taxi driver that raced us there.
Weekend just gone was a bank holiday here, 3 days off work, bliss. Unlike the UK bank holiday’s the weather turned out for the best. All 3 days were pure sunshine and no clouds, 33 degrees. Bondi was heaving as everyone seemed to head to the beach. On Sunday our flatmate invited us out for a day on his parent’s boat, which we of course we accepted… He picked
Shark !
..at the Aquarium of course us up from Rose Bay early on Sunday morning with a few more of his friends and we sailed up through the heart of Sydney Harbour to the Fish Markets to pick up some much needed food. The beers were flowing straight away and we had a few close calls with some huge ferries passing us on the way. At one point we had one either side of us, managed to ride out the waves, just… We moored for some fishing and relaxation then headed of to Watson’s Bay so we could catch the Rugby League final in the pub. On the way I almost fell off the boat as I was sitting on the front going under the Harbour Bridge and didn’t see a huge wave coming, very close call! The end of the day is all a bit of a blur, I remember the Rugby being on for what seemed like just a minute, getting involved in an arm wrestling competition, not being able to walk properly in my flip flops anymore.. then sleep….
We are currently both working and have been for about 6 weeks. Its nice to have a base for a bit and have
some regularity to our day, but we are also looking forward to picking up our backpacks again in a few months time and checking out some of the sights in Oz and then venturing further a field to New Zealand. That’s a while away yet though, in the meantime we’re enjoying living in Bondi...
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DAD
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You Lucky People!
Hi Lauze, Hi Martin! Well, I finally got round to checking up on you. Seems great in Oz. I am printing off some of the pictures to show Connor and Shannon what their big sis has been up to. Talk soon, Love Dad xxx