Advertisement
Published: October 17th 2007
Edit Blog Post
What are the chances that we would decide to rock on up to Sydney in the worst possible week of the last ten years. Seriously, our timing could not have been more disastrous if we tried. After Byron we did our last stretch of driving, staying overnight in a place called Forster (nothing to report there) and we set off early the next morning to get Madge back in Sydney before our 3pm deadline. Only problem was, the APEC conference was getting under way, and APEC is seems, stand for SHUTDOWN Bush style. Actually it stands for Asia Pacific Really Important Something Or Other, but all it meant to us was that a certain American President was in town for a few days, so Sydney was effectively closed. Lovely. Just what you need when you're hoping to do a spot of sightseeing. First thing first was delivering Madge, which was all a bit Challenge Anneka to be honest. We made it into the city in plenty of time, but we had two problems; finding accomodation, and finding the car rental place. We had been hoping to stay in the WakeUp hostel, and through some stroke of luck it pretty much popped
up at the side of one of the first streets we drove up. Nice one. Claud legged it inside, checked out the price (which is ridiculous by the way, considering we're staying in a hostel and not the Hilton), we dumped our considerable backpacks with Spud, and me and Sibs set off in search of the Autobarn. And we thought we were doing so well, until we took one little turn and ended up in a tunnel that went all the way under the city and brought us back out at the airport. This, and with only an hour left to get Madge back. THE PRESSURE of it all. Anyway, long story short, we managed to find our way back, and eventually found the Autobarn, which was tucked down an alleyway off a little side street. Well done Team Ireland.
The first thing we were all forced to accept when we settled ourselves in Sydney is that it was bloody cold. Flip flops? No gonna cut it mate. So what's a girl to do but do a spot of shopping! Actually, the shopping wasn't really as pleasurable as it should have been, because it was out of necessity, when everyone
knows that clothes shopping should always be out of desire, or at the very least, necessity borne out of desire. Anyway, we all stocked up on some feet-encasing shoes, long sleeved tops and a few cardies. This was not part of the Australia plan!
The day after our shopping trip was a Friday, but it was a bank holiday because of the whole APEC thingie, so there really was nothing to do for the day; the whole CBD and Harbour area was completely shut off behind a huge steel fence that has been specially constructed for the event. All because of George feckin Bush and his probably valid concern that someone might be tempted to shoot him. Luckily our hostel had a nice big chill out area, so we spent most of the day watching bad Australian television. On Saturday me and Sib headed out to Bondi for the afternoon, even though the weather wasn't exactly beach friendly! The beach looked pretty miserable under the grey skies, but we had a wander along the strip of shops and stopped off for a glass of wine in a lovely bar, so the afternoon certainly didn't go to waste. While we were
away poor Spud managed to sprain her ankle, so the poor dote has been mainly horizontal ever since (not as kinky as it sounds). On the Saturday night we did have our one Big Night Out In The City; we headed for Double Bay, which we were told was very posh altogether, to a going away party for one of two English blokes we met in the hostel in Byron. It was a fun night, and despite the injured ankle Spud managed to keep dancing til the early hours. As you can imagine, her ankle wasn't too pleased with her afterwards, and as a result as pair of crutches have been drafted in to help the situation.
Me and Sib made it down to Darling Harbour and Circular Key on Monday to see the bridge and the Opera House (Sabrina was duely impressed), and I had a surprisingly impressive pint of Guiness in PJ O'Neills, or is it O'Briens, I can never remember. We had a wander around the Rocks as well, which is the pretty historical quarter. But unfortunately our overall impression of Sydney this time around has been totally marred by the APEC ordeal; there has been no
real buzz around city, in fact it has been pretty much desserted since we got here, so there's been a weird atmosphere, and I definitely don't think we saw the city at its best. Everything was far too subdued for my liking.
We've also been making some major decisions over the last week or so.....it all started when we shared our apartment in Surfer's with two Irish girls, who were full of wisdom on the merits of Melbourne over Sydney. It's a sentiment that we have been hearing repeatedly over the last month or so, and long story short, we've decided to cut our losses and just head to Melbourne for the next six months, rather than split our time between the two cities. We have been warned that it could be pretty difficult to get an apartment or a house in both places, so we certainly don't want to have to go through that palarver more than once if we don't need to. So, the flights are booked - Melbourne here we come!!!!!!!!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.084s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 17; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0425s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
sharleen
non-member comment
claud
hey babes - that ankle looks NASTY!!!! missing yee loads :) 8 weeks left eeeekkkkk