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Published: January 6th 2017
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Days 75 to 80 of 165
It's good to be back in Sydney, and surprisingly we found ourselves revisiting some of the places we had done the first time around.
Although we were still in the van, and so at a campsite 10km from town (rather than a town centre hotel or hostel) it was only a 10 minute walk to the train to the city centre so no particular problem - but we were interested to think how things might pan out in getting back after the fireworks the next day.
New Years Eve - almost the whole timing of the Oz part of the trip had been to coincide with Sydney's NYE celebrations.
We were in the city centre by mid-morning and already some of the key vantage points looked rather crammed. That said it is all very well organised with volunteers, info desks and signage, pedestrian marshalling etc etc. As the day progressed the signs showed the various vantage points as 'full' , mostly earlier than the time anticipated.
We, however, had a paid entry ticket to 'A Lawn With A View'. One of several ticketed areas within the Botanical Gardens
this gave us a place in a grassed area with the Opera House to our immediate right and The Bridge dead ahead, plus a boxed picnic meal.
However even these places have good and worse spots, so there was the inevitable queue for a few hours before they opened the gate and a run down to the lawn! We did, however, get a prime front row spot.
The picnic was really good - oh that the Xmas cruise meal had had as much put into it. The menu, in individual picnic boxes for 950 people! , was
Pre-entree - Piccalilli vegetable and green tomato pickle, crackers
Entree - Feta, roasted pepper, red onion and rosemary marmalade galette
Main - Smoked Baharat spiced chicken, black quinoa and dried incaberry salad with elderflower dressing
Dessert - Apple and blueberry crumble tartlet with citrus curd
Supper - Local brie, cheddar and crisp fruit breads, and on vine muscatels
Mineral water, and a tea/coffee station - proper espresso too, not instant.
And there was plenty of food in the picnic too. No one was going home hungry!
The midnight NY fireworks are as you
might expect just a part of it. There was an aerial acrobatic display, illuminated ship parade and in fact a second firework display. Ostensibly 'for the children' this is at 9pm, and in itself quite spectacular though shorter and with minimal on-bridge fireworks.
But the main event, the Sydney NYE fireworks more than lived up to its billing. It is one thing to see highlights on the news but quite another to be in amongst it. And, with both of us having wanted to get to this event for, well, as long as we can remember, in a way it was a bit moving too.
The journey back was great. Even the nearest station had us going in without much crowding or fuss, and the 1500 or so extra services were whisking people out of the city in double-quick time. We were back at the van in little over an hour after we left The Lawn. Call that pretty good going!
New Years was spent at Manly Beach, with Paul getting in a spot of body boarding on this prime surfing beach.
We took the hop-on/hop-off bus tour the next day, hopping off the 2nd time
around to go to the Australian Museum, and in particular their special arachnid exhibition. We know some of you -Fran, take note - will welcome the warning that the later photos contain images from that exhibition. The place was full of kids, but the exhibition was very detailed. They even had twice daily venom milking demonstrations.
Also fitted in a visit to the Sea Life centre. Not usually our thing but it gave us a chance to see a dugong, a sort of sea cow/elephant. In fact it turned out to be very good, and made us somewhat nostalgic for the Great Barrier Reef.
Penultimate full day in Oz, where has the time gone? A revisit out to Bondi, and some more body boarding for Paul. But the surf was very messy indeed and getting a decent run in was nigh on impossible.
Back to town, Anzac Memorial - very deco - State Library and a gander at some important documents including Captain Blighs' log book, and the Opera House Bar for dinner overlooking the harbour and bridge.
Final full day morning spent cleaning and returning the van, with 15437 more kms on it than when
we started. Back into the city lodgings, then a final walk to centre. This time we also ferried to Darling Harbour so got to finally go under the bridge.
A final fish meal - Paul had deep fried snapper which came exactly as described - see photo, and we finished the evening with a coffee back at the Victoria Arcade, so practically back to where we had met our Sydney Greeter, Lynne, back in October.
Day 80 and we flew to Wellington via a 4 hour stopover in Auckland.
Kia Ora from New Zealand
Written in an hostel room in Wellington, looking out over the harbour and hillside beyond in weather that feels like a crisp, coolish english summer day.
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