Advertisement
Published: January 7th 2008
Sydney
Andy had left his party hat on from ChristmasWe braved a taxi from the airport and to our relief he spoke English and took us straight to our penthouse apartment for the week (thanks again Neil, Lauren and Jamie!) in Bondi Junction. After a quick kip we got the train into the city and wandered round Circular Quay trying to scope out a good spot for New Years Eve, before checking in to climb the Harbour Bridge. We did the new "Discovery Climb" (you can get twice as many people on the bridge that way), climbing up the inner arch before ascending to the very summit. Fortunately the forecasted storms never arrived and apart from the dodgy all-in-ones that we had to wear it was a fantastic experience and we got some fantastic views over the harbour.
The next day we walked down to Bondi Beach wondering if there was anyone under 30 still left in Ireland. Hopeful for a swim we were disappointed to find every square inch of the beach covered in sunbathing bodies. Heading down the coast we stumbled across a small dog friendly cove and watched the locals and their pooches enjoying the surf before getting far too hot (yes we finally had some
Sydney
The Opera House at night. great weather) and heading back.
The following evening we thought we would take advantage of the fantastic weather and go to the cinema. Just down the road from Neil's flat was the outdoor Moonlight Cinema. We watched 'Ratatouille', whilst munching on a picnic, lounging on bean beds, and even dogs were allowed. The next day in our quest for a swim we thought we'd try Manly Beach. After catching the ferry across the bay we arrived to announcements warning us of 'heaps of bluebottles (jellyfish not flies!) being washed ashore' so we did the only sensible thing and bought ice creams instead.
We had planned our whole trip around being in Sydney for New Year so on New Years Eve we got an early start and headed down to the Botanical Gardens where only 22,000 people are allowed to watch the fireworks every year. Evidently our start wasn't quite early enough as we still had to queue for two hours to get in. We grabbed a good shady spot and spent the day eating lots and breaking the world record for how long you can spend queuing for the toilet (45 minutes). When the family fireworks came on
Sydney
The Harbour Bridge at night. at 9pm we realised our spot was in fact quite rubbish as the very inconsiderate people who designed the Botanical Gardens had planted trees everywhere to block everyone's view. By 11pm though we'd stumbled on a much better spot where even Laura could see, albeit next to a group of drunken Brits pretending to be Germans and singing 'There's only one Susan Kennedy'! Come midnight it was all worth it as the bridge, harbour, and even the tops of the skyscrapers erupted with fireworks.
Struggling out of bed on New Years Day we travelled to Narara to visit Laura's friend Emma and her boyfriend Brett again. They took us out on their boat and Brett flung Andy around behind the boat (Andy wasn't complaining) on a gigantic inflatable tube before Max the dog showed him how it was done properly. Andy also tried kneeboarding where he actually managed to get onto his knees a few times before kissing the water. Laura spent the day showing off her wuss skills on the beach but she did get to drive the speed boat back to shore (which was very cool - thanks Brett!). After Andy had regained the strength to drink
Sydney
Laura and Andy got the wrong directions to the Star Trek convention. some of Brett's beer we headed back to Sydney and our final sleep in Australia.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.093s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 60; dbt: 0.0592s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Dan
non-member comment
Ouch
Love the video. What worries me most was how hard Andy was hit to propel his not inconsiderable frame up into the air spinning. Looked like a lot of fun. Glad the weather has got better!