8th stop Australia part 1

Oceania » Australia
October 27th 2008

Published: October 27th 2008

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PaulandJanet

1 Sydney

Sydney. The city.

Now in Australia & starting our final month. We spent the first week in a hotel in Sydney. It was in a perfect situation, walking distance from Circular Quay, Sydney Opera House, Darling Harbour, the city centre & the Sydney Tower. We had to change the clocks again on the first night there. We begin to forget what the time is back at home & have to check with people when we’re in touch with them. The weather was so unreliable in Sydney. One day it rained & the wind blew hard & another day was the hottest for this time of year for the last 100 years.
The hot day was a chance to chill out on Manly Beach. The water felt so cold but it was good to have a swim & it was in an area netted off to protect from octopus etc. The other days were opportunities for sightseeing & visits to the Wildlife World & the Aquarium.
While in Sydney we treated ourselves to an evening at the Opera House to see/hear ‘Billy Budd’ by Benjamin Britten. It was great just being in there.
Nibby & Matty arrived in Sydney the next week so we

2 Sydney

Sydney Tower, really near to our hotel. Could see it from the window.

met them at the airport & they came to the hotel too. They found it very cold whatever the weather coming from Bali where it was reliably hot. We set off from there the next day in a hire car with Nibby & Matt in the back separated by Matt’s surfboard which just fitted in the car with our luggage in the boot.
We travelled south keeping to the coastal road as far as possible. Scenery is wonderful & the company was very special. We stayed each night in motels, a bit of a change for Nibby & Matt & we spent each day doing something ‘touristy’ such as crazy golf or a visit to the whale museum, then moving on. We never did see Matt use his surfboard. It was extremely cold in the water so without a wetsuit he had an excuse.
One very special outing we shared was a whale watching boat trip from a place called Eden. The whales were very close & very active. It was excellent.
One stop was on Phillip Island where it is so much like the Isle of Wight there is a place called Cowes & another called Newport as well

3 Sydney

View from the tower.

as a pub/hotel called the Isle of Wight. While on the island we spent time in the animal sanctuary where we walked amongst wallabies & kangaroos, many carrying joeys in their pouches. They ate out of our hands & allowed us to stroke them.
While in Melbourne we contacted Janet’s cousin Colin, who lives in Hampshire (England) but was here at the same time as us visiting his daughter. The four of us went out for a meal & to the theatre with Colin & Sue. ‘Wicked’ the stage production was showing so we saw that. We enjoyed it & particularly enjoyed seeing Nibby getting so involved with the background story. She had been in the stage production of the Wizard of Oz while in her middle school so was able to analyse the whole story, re-thinking her pre-conceived ideas of the characters. It’s worth going to see wherever you are.
Travelling towards Melbourne we had looked out for campervans/caravans for Nibby & Matt to buy as their plan is to travel around Australia for the next 3 months. We looked at several & eventually they bought a campervan in Melbourne. Their blog will tell the world how they get