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Published: April 2nd 2011
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Cousins
Brent, Cath, Amanda & David Sydney
We decided to catch the train between Melbourne and Sydney as it was a lot cheaper than flying and, by this stage, we were used to long long days on trains and buses. Australian trains seemed like luxury in comparison to those in South East Asia, with no change of a squat toilet insight (although squatting on a moving train is quite an experience!).
We were up and ready by 6.30am the next morning and Grant kindly gave us a lift to the train station near his place so we could get to the central train station in town. From there we had a good 10 hours of travel ahead of us. Armed with a trashy women's magazine (Cath), books, cards, and plenty of food we whittled away the time until we arrived at the Campbelltown station, the stop before Sydney central. From there we were picked up by Cath's cousin Amanda and her husband David, who we had arranged to stay with for the first three nights in Sydney. Cath hadn't seen her cousins in many years, since before she left to go to the UK and when they moved over to Australia, so there was plenty
Brent & his new BFF
Amanda & David's new puppy lapped up the attention to catch up on and one very young excitable puppy who enjoyed all of the extra attention.
After our rushed last day of sightseeing in Melbourne, we decided to get the sightseeing overwith first off this time, before catching up with our friends in Syndey. Cath's cousins had recently moved into a house they bought off plan right on the edge of the city in a place called the Ponds. It's in a lovely newly developed area with well designed public transport, so we were able to get a bus to the train station and then a train right into the centre of the city. Once there, we headed over to the famous Opera House. All was going well until we decided to take the first photo of the day and the battery in Cath's cameradied! Schoolboy error!
We didn't want the day to go unrecorded, so we tried searching for another battery but they were quite expensive so we decided to head back to the Opera house the next day and instead to head in the other direction to the Queen Victoria Building, an upmarket shopping area which is famous for it's lovely old architectual style, including
Brent & Me
With some big bridge thing in the way a large clock which sits in the middle of the building. After walking through we had a pit stop at a cafe in the department store David Jones which Amanda said served up the most amazing hot chocolate. Cath selected a dark hot chocolate while Brent went for white hot chocolate. We were given creamest saucer of what looked like pure melted chocolate. It was so rich you felt a bit sick about three quarters of the way through it, but thoroughly worth it, at least chocoholic Cath thought so!
The next day we headed back into town, battery charged, to complete oursightseeing. We went for a walk first around Darling Harbour, one of Sydney's most popular recreation spots. We then walked up "The Rocks" area in the city for some good shots of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. After that it was back around to the Opera House again before we jumped on a ferry over to Manly. In Manly we met up with Brent's friend Liz and her husband for a lovely dinner with in a pub near the waterfront.
The next day we said goodbye to Amanda and David and caught the train up to Hornsby
Opera House
Very pretty where we had arranged to spend two nights with Brent's friends Tim and Chonnie and their two-year-old son Riley. Chonnie made an * incredibly* tasty homemade pizza for dinner and we settled in for some drinks and a good catchup before calling it a
night (some sooner than others!) The next morning, and with the men a little hungover, we headed out to the beach and a point which gave us a lovely view around the west side of the city. That night we headed out to the local Returned Services League (RSA in NZ) for dinner and a few drinks with Tim & Chonnie, Chonnie's sister Briony and her boyfriend. Then it was once again time to pack up and say our goodbyes.
Port Macquarie
We had booked our train tickets in advance for our next stop, Port Macquarie, which sits about halfway in between Sydney and Brisbane. Here we were staying for a couple of nights with Brent's friends Lockie and Emily. Our first day in Port MacQuarie we went for a picnic at a beach just a short drive away, until the wind kicked up too much and we and to abandon blanket. We topped
Arty pic
For Art's sake off the day with a great BBQ and sat outside all night enjoying the lovely mild weather and a few refreshments..
The next day we all up bright and early. Brent went out with Lochie on his boat to have some "man time" and do a spot of fishing, while Em and Cath went for a 12km walk right
around the shoreline of Port Macquarie. Then we made ourselves a packed lunch and got a lift with Lochie down to the train station to head on to Brisbane. Unfortunately at that time the train wasn't running all the way to Brisbane itself. Instead you go on a train to a small town called Casino and then boarded a bus to take us the rest of the way. We arrived in Brisbane at around 10.30pm and were met by Brent's sister Simone, who we would spend the next week with.
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