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Published: December 29th 2008
We were more than a bit sad to be leaving New Zealand, especially when the weather had just turned into gorgeous sunshine, but after a good flight we landed in sunny Sydney and were immediately happy that we would no longer need all the alpaca jumpers we'd been lugging around with us for months!
As a 30th birthday present to us both Sophie's family had booked us into a posh hotel for 3 nights which was such luxury after 2 months in the campervan and to make it even better we both got the surprise of our lives when we arrived at the hotel and none other than Sophie's sister was sitting in reception waiting for us to arrive! It was just so exciting to see her and Sophie immediately tried to catch up on 6 months of travelling all within the first 5 minutes of seeing her with Dale sitting back listening to the endless chatting while we all had drinks in the hotel bar.
Eleanor was only in Sydney for a week (crazy girl!), staying in our hotel for 3 nights then with her friend for the rest meaning only had a few days to see as
much as we could whilst whe was with us. What Eleanor didn't fully appreciate is that Sophie & Dale's normal mode of transport is by foot and we are quite used to walking countless miles each day to get the most out of where we are, she on the other hand has not been in training to do this for the last 6 months so by the end of the fist days sighseeing she was pretty much on her knees!
We managed to fit in all the normal tourist attractions in our few days together... sunbathing on Bondi, the Sydney Aquarium, The Opera House and the Harbour, the Sydney Tower and even squeezed in visiting the majority of shops that Sydney has to offer in between! Dale was not so keen but as it was Sophie's birthday week he kept the smile on his face as he was dragged from shop to shop!!
Having done the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb when she was here last Sophie was not over enthuastic to do it again because it really wasn't the highlight she had hoped for, so we all decided to get the same fabulous views (and only pay a
tiny fraction of the price) and climb the Pylon Lookout Tower that supports the bridge. From the top terrace you have 360 degree views of the harbour and also the bonus of being able to take photos which you can't do on the climb! You also get to see a great film of the making of the bridge which was quite an awesome feat in those days.
Sophie's 30th birthday was truly memorable for a number of reasons... Eleanor was over... She was in Sydney... The Sun shone all day and she got to see that world famous sight of the harbour in all its glory along with 2 of her favourite people in the world. Having been to Sydney before Sophie was confident that both Dale and Eleanor would love it as much as she did on her first visit and she wasn't wrong as they both stood opened mouthed when they first got to see that world famous view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, both totally unforgettable. The evening was filled with drinks in the Opera Bar where Sophie's friend Hunmi (a Sydney local) also joined us to celebrate in style!
After a fabulous
few days with Eleanor, it was time for us to head over to Manly and stay with Hunmi and Dan on the other side of the harbour. It was so nice being out the busy city and experiencing Sydney from a completely different perspective. Her apartment is in a fantastic location with a beach right outside the back door so we spent one evening searching for all sea living things but there were no manta rays to be found that day :o( ! In the evenings Hunmi took us to some great places we would never have been able to experience on our own, namely art gallery openings where not only do you get to check out the cool artwork on display but you also get to drink the free wine and beer handed our as you arrive.. great job H!
Hunmi also took us to live out Dale's life long fantasy(!!) of seeing the famous Summer Bay beach. Off the 3 of us went on a tour of the beautiful Northern beaches from Manly up to Palm Beach, the correct name for the Home & Away set. This beach really is gorgeous but as with most TV &
film sets, not at all as we had pictured in our minds. They certainly don't have the bluebottle jellyfish on the beach in the TV show!!! We wished we had a few more days with Hunmi so we could have explored this area a bit more but we were due to leave the following day so had to head back to the city centre ready for our flight to Alice Springs the following day. We were due to leave Sydney a day before Eleanor so we met her in the city for our final teary goodbyes before heading off to prepare for our adventure to the Red Centre....
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James and Kim
non-member comment
Sydney
Hey Guys, We have been following your blog, as you set off a similar time to us and noticed that you are friends with Donna and Neil too.....isn't this travel blog lark good! We have been living in Sydney for about 4 months now, staying on the beach in Manly and are loving every second...Sydney is such good fun. I like the comment about the BlueBottles - they are scary as! and sting like a mo'fo!! :O) We leave sydney around may time to continue up the east coast for a few weeks.....can you reccommend any hidden secrets to visit. James and Kim