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Published: October 26th 2012
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After Jane's Oscar winning performance and exchanging the campervan for one that actually started, we headed off for a campsite which the still trembling Jucy staff had recommended. They redeemed themselves slightly as the campsite was quite cheap, with excellent facilities and only ten minutes on the train to the CBD. As you can imagine finding a campsite in a major city such as Sydney is rarely cheap and not centrally located.
We jumped on the train and soon arrived at Circular Quays, with a view of the habour bridge to our left and the Opera House to our right. We went for a walk around the harbour, lined with trendy bars and expensive restaurants to try and find somewhere nice to sit and have a drink and something to eat. As we've mentioned in previous blogs, Oz is expensive especially for eating out, and for the next hour we found ourselves longingly staring through restaurant windows (especially the Guylian chocolate restaurant) drooling over delightful looking cakes. I'm sure we must have looked like that dirty looking kid Charlie in the film Santa Claus the movie when he is staring through the window at the Christmas dinner being served; or
better still Charlie Bucket (why are they always called Charlie?!) when all he can do is just watch the other kids feasting on the Wonka delights in the candy man shop. We eventually walked off towards the Opera House with the song running through my head...."who can make the sunrise, cover it with goo...". Luckily as it hit 5 o'clock the happy hour offers started and we enjoyed a lovely glass of wine whilst watching the sunset. We spent the rest of the evening walking around The Rocks, one of the oldest parts of the city and went for a pint in the oldest pub, probably about as old as the Hayride in Bev.
The next day we got up early so we could head back to circular quays and catch the ferry to Manly. Wow, what a commute to work that must be everyday, sure beats getting stuck in traffic on Bev Road. The thirty minute ferry journey was lovely and as an added bonus we saw two pods of dolphins along the way. Manly was great and you can definetely see why it appeals; a lovely surf beach, nice shops and restaurants and upmarket dwellings where every
balcony was decorated with a surf board and wet suit drying in the sun. After lunch we headed back to the city to explore. We strolled through Hyde Park where there was an excellent photography exhibition called Art in the Park. After getting warmed up in the park for a bit of culture we headed to the NSW Art Gallery to admire to works on display there. From here we walked to Mrs Macquaries Point where there is an excellent view of the Opera House and the bridge. We walked back towards the CBD through the Royal Botantical Gardens which has an incredibly varied display of flowers and fauna for a park so close to the city. By this time we were getting hungry so we decided to walk (we never spend money on transport if we can walk) halfway across the city to an area of Sydney called Surry Hills. It was a great place with loads of bars and restaurants where people were meeting after work for scooners and snags. To top off a great day we splashed out and had a pizza and a glass of wine!
On our last day in Sydney we headed to
Paddington Market because we had read that it was an excellent market with loads if vintage stalls. It was rather disappointing to say the least, as there were only about ten stalls and everything was vastly overpriced. I think people just put vintage on things these days and the price doubles! It's a bit like organic veg; first we had normal priced veg, then because of the wars we had to makes things last longer so they covered them in 'stuff' to this and increased the price, then they decided that normal veg is of course better for us, stopped putting all the 'stuff' on it, called in organic veg(normal veg) and doubled the price again! Anyway, the charity shop across the road was much better and we picked up the best of Aerosmith for a quid.
That afternoon we headed for Bondi Beach and we were there in no time. As it was a Saturday the beach was packed and there were loads of people out to catch some waves. Not to show anyone up, we left our board in the van and decided to do the Sculture by the Sea walk instead. This is a great art exhibition
which snakes it's way around the coastal headland from Bondi to Coogee Beach. It was only on for the few days we were in Sydney and was a great walk admiring all the artwork clinging to the end of the cliffs or positioned out on the rocks with the waves crashing behind. Even though Bondi was busy, with it's proximity to the city you can definetely see why it appeals to the masses, you could be finished in the office at 4 and then surfing at 4:10. We enjoyed our time in Sydney and as far as cities go it is a beautiful place.
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