Back to Sydney

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The tranzalpine trip was slow but scenic, winding through gorges as we cut across the middle of the country. We arrived in Christchurch in early evening, checked into possibly the largest hostel in the world and headed out in search of food. Being the last night in New Zealand we opted to spend all our money on a huge dinner to save having to change our money up at the airport. Unfortunately, due to our very tight schedule we barely had time to experience Christchurch as the very next day we had to get to the airport to fly to Sydney. Here we had just one full day before meeting back up with the parents and flying home.

The heat hit us as we arrived as despite it now being well into Autumn Sydney was still basking in heats of almost 30 degrees. Lovely. As with Christchurch we decided to do our very best to spend all of our remaining funds in our last few days so went out for a huge chinese meal before meeting with Angela for drinks. She brought along two Swiss guys she's met travelling. Even at this late stage it was always good to meet new people although their english was very limited. By the end of the night i had just about managed to work out that they live on a mountain in Switzerland as carpenters.

The next morning was our last full day so we booked the Sydney Bridge Climb. This is definitely a great way to use your money up as it cost almost $200! I love Australia but it was proved to me once again that this place is ridiculously over the top with health and safety, which for me ruins the experience somewhat. To get up the bridge we had to pass a breathalyser test (fucking ridiculous) followed by almost an hour of safety measures and a dummy run of how to climb stairs! All we were doing was walking - not climbing, walking - up a metal structure attached at all times to the railings. Once up there the view was great and it was worth doing but we were soon back in the building being instructed how to wash our hands and undress from our suits. Absolutely crazy. A few days before i climbed a glacier with no paperwork to fill in, just a gentle be careful and have fun. Still, rant over it was good fun and left us hungry and thirsty for beer. We met in the evening with Ines once again who had now moved from Melbourne to Sydney for a few days. She initially brought along 3 other German friends and before long we'd aquired even more people and although i don't remember much am sure we had a great night out.

Now it is Friday, we leave for the airport in a few minutes having spent the morning in the cinema watching 'The Boat that Rocked' (not a bad little film) to pass some time.

Time to go home.

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Comments

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Pete you missed out on the Casinos in melbourne and sydney (Star Casino in sydney I believe). Always good fun and a way to spend money.