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Published: August 6th 2007
I haven't had a chance to write on this for a while - have been working on my San Francisco article, but wanted to take the chance today before I forget what we've been doing up to this point.
Our last day in Santa Monica was good - a shame we were stuck with our bags again in the boiling temperatures though. We had a last sit on a bench at the pier, and a final look around the shops. (there are also much people-watching to do whilst in LA)
The flight wasn't as bad as I expected. Air NZ are definitely better than BA were when we flew into NYC. We could also choose our own films to watch on the flight to Aukland, and I chose 'Zodiac', 'Notes on a Scandal' and 'Pan's Labyrinth'. All are worth watching! That flight laster 12 and a half hours, and then we changed in Aukland to fly into Sydney for a 3 and a half hour flight. I was fine, and I think this frequent flying is helping my airsickness! Getting into Australia was absolutely fine - I was worried after my US experience, and reading on Helen's blog that
Aaron and the strangely tiled Opera House
she'd had a semi-interview, but he just read my visa form and gestured us through.
The hostel we're staying at in Sydney is called 'The Pink House' and is an old pink-coloured mansion (though decorated much like a student house). It's in Kings Cross, which is the red light district (where we always seem to end up!) but it's just off that area, and is perfectly safe.
We've done lots of walking since arriving here. I can't remember exactly what we've done on each day, but I'll just list most things that we've done so that I don't forget everything. We went to the harbour and saw the Opera House and the bridge. The Opera House is really strange up close, it's tiled and not smooth like it looks on TV. It also looks quite evil from over the bridge, like open mouths. We walked over the bridge - which wasn't nearly as long as the Golden Gate bridge. There were many groups of people walking over the top, which I'd love to do but it costs over $150 each, and it's not really worth that.
Once we were over the bridge we visited Luna Park, which is an old-style fairground from 1935 and still has some of the old rides. You can watch most od them, and hopefully we may go back and go on some things (seeing as we're in Sydney for another 9 days).
Yesterday when we were out walking the whole of the Australian working population seemed to be running. It could have been a conspiracy to make me feel guilty because I can't run when I'm away, but it really looked like fun. I think they might have breaks during the working day to keep fit - and we really should do that in Blighty.
It's absolutely freezing here. I had to invest in a thicker hoodie yesterday, and am already very glad that I did. The severe weather in Newcastle hasn't been affecting us here, but we have been watching it on the news.
From my experiences so far I'm definitely enjoying my time in Australia. Australians understand us much better than Americans do, and most of the people that we've met seem to be really easy-going.
Today we're walking over to 'Darling Harbour', and seeing the famous fish market.
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Janine
non-member comment
Progress
Vicky and Aaron, I've been following your progress around America and now Australia, it's very interesting, enjoying your blogs and photos, glad you are having so much fun. Looking forward to your next blog and photos. Take care. Love Janine