sydney, the first installment!

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hey hey from sydney!!! well, i finally made it to sydney, my second to last stop before i head back to sunny ol' blighty! hehe! i have 10 days here then it's on to melbourne for about a week before i fly home! bet you're all uber excited at the prospect of seeing me so soon 😊 hehe. can't believe that i'm actually talking about coming home, tis all so soon!

righty, anyhoo, got about 2 more weeks, many more way super fun things shall be done in that time!!!!

got up bright and early and was accosted by a scottish lady in the bathroom who said that i looked far too glamourous for 8.00am. ummm, ok.... had my brekkie and said goodbye to sharna (really really this time! like i said, she actually got a job!!). had a total panic that my bus wasn't going to turn up and i was going to miss my flight to sydney, however, panic was unnecessary as the bus was on time and the flight was delayed 😊 hehe. ballina airport (near byron bay) is teeny tiny! like, even smaller than alice springs airport was! eep!! and the plane was only a 30 seater! the flight was only 1 and a half hours and i dind't get travel sick, yay me!!!! when we stepped off the plane, oh my god, it was freezing! turns out it was actually like 20 degrees, but seriously, after spending a week in byron where it was 35 degrees almost every day it felt like the middle of winter! hehe. had to dig out clothes that i haven't seen since melbourne!!!

caught a brief glimpse of the harbour bridge as we were on our way to the hostel - had a 'moment', you know, when just kinda think, oh yeah, i'm on the other side of the world... :D

randomly bumped into claire from magnetic island and marriot from airlie beach on my hunt for starbucks 😊 its so so strange bumping into people you know in this huge country!!! more importantly though, found starbucks, not 2 minutes from the hostel 😊 😊 😊 yay!! (seriously people, you should be used to this by now!!) and ooohh! it stays open till midnight 😊 it did however take me a good few hours (i was trying to update my travel diary) to realise that the reason i was the only white person in this particular starbucks (i'm so so serious) was because it was in the middle of china town. duh! blonde moment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

went out for something to eat and ended up going for dinner with an irish blokie called michael that i met at the traffic lights! tis an experience this travelling lark! it's not as dodgy as it sounds, was totally platonic, he got to australia the day before, neither of us fancied eating on our own, i shared my travelling wisdom with him over sushi and then we went out own seperate ways 😊 lol.

i woke up the next morning with what i thought was really bad hayfever. however, it got progressively worse as the day went on and anti-histamine (?!spelling?!) didn't help in the slightest. not good :s

i discovered that i am sharing a room with a strange strange freaky starey lady called emma who asked me the moment i woke up if i wanted to spend the day with her. um, no. i did of course put it much nicer than that when i answered. seriously, i'm not being judgemental. the other girl in my room said exactly the same about her. and that evening emma went to a fetish and swingers club dressed as a schoolgirl. complete with studded spanking paddle. *shudder* you have to understand that she's um. a larger lady. so yeah. not that i had issues with that. anyways!! each to their own! i was just glad that she didn't ask me to go clubbing with her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i think i may have cried.

so yes, where was i? my first day in sydney! 😊 i went to the anzac war memorial in hyde park and walked through hyde park. was very pretty 😊 and there is an outdoor art show going on at the moment which was kind of novel - big photos set up along the pathway all the way through the park. after that i walked through another park called the domain and then the sydney botanic gardens. they were really really nice 😊 so beautiful! and there were some gorgeous water features too, little ponds and lakes. at one point, there was a set of trees where flying foxes (huge bats) hung out (bad joke, lol.) and they were just flying around screeching, it was fantastic!!!! i was stading under a tree watching them, listening to my ipod in my own little world when all of a sudden i got the fright of my life! huge big spider fell on my shoulder!! oh my god, did i scream!!!! managed to get it off, only to discover five minutes later that it was still on my jeans!!! eep! moral of the story, don't stand under trees. ever.

the botanic gardens actually go right up to the harbour and from there you can get your picture perfect opera house/harbour bridge photos 😊 it was a proper 'pinch me' moment. really amazing. was kind of hard to take it all in that i was actually in sydney looking at the sydney opera house ya know? the opera house isn't actually as big as you think it is going to be which was a bit weird. but it was a totally amazing moment. ah, and the opera house is cream. not white. (apparently if it was white the sun would cause too much glare...) and tiled. so there ya go!

i did a guided tour of the opera house, which is huge inside. there are actually lots of little theatres and music halls etc etc, so they have about 5 or 6 events going on there every night. after that i wandered around the harbour for a bit, totally totally surreal. couldn't actually believe that i was there. the harbour is brill, loads and loads of uber posh restaurants and cocktails bars, tis luverly.

that evening me and sarah (yes yes, same sarah as before) met up and went to the night-time asian noodle market in hyde park. was fab - tis currently good food month in sydney so there are lots of events going on involving food. obviously 😊 hyde park is all lit up with little fairy lights at night, was so beautiful. then they have lots of different food stalls set up and you just go and buy your food and sit around on the grass. it was packed, but nice packed and there was music and everything. just sat around for a while chatting and catching up, then we headed off and went to the cinema.

oh my god, the next day i woke up and felt sooooooooo ill. 😞 yes, that's right people, i had somehow, god only knows how, managed to catch flu 😞 (yes, that's real live proper flu. not this "man flu" rubbish, hehe) however, being a woman, a decided not to wallow and actually had a nice day, yay! this nice day obviously involved a hell of a lot of starbucks. much like any other day i guess 😊

walked around sydney, managed to somehow wangle a free makeover in myers which made me happy 😊 also went down to an area of sydney called "the rocks" - tis the place where the english convicts first settled. very pretty little house and shops. the architecture is beautiful, very victorian english i guess. but its dead touristy there, all australiana shops (ie, boomerangs, cuddly koalas etc etc!).

eeeee, i found THE best shop. ever. tis called "cupcakes on pitt". and if you ever go to sydney you have to go there. they sell the best cupcakes ever (i will be able to verify properly after i get back frorm new york and have been to magnolia's... can't wait rozi!!). they have oodles of different flavours like white chocolate, tiramisu, honeycomb, etc etc etc. i could go on and on!! and they have soooo much frosting on them! so yeah, cupcakes on pitt. remember that name people.

the next day i woke up feeling drunk. which was strange because i haven't actually had alcohol in quite a while. was very dizzy and standing up was a bit of a chore. yes, that's right, the flu was still there and about ten times worse. gr. gave in and went to the pharmacy who gave me wonderful wonderful drugs. much appreciated. although they didn't understand what lemsip was. hm. language barriers.

spent most of the morning in starbucks nursing my "hangover" with green tea and coffee. wonderful wonderful starbucks. they didn't even mind when i took my shoes off and curled up on the sofa feeling sorry for myself. i should think not, the amount of money i spend in there!!!hehe. what a sight!!

i don't like feeling ill and not being at home!!!!!

i went to paddy's market which was huge, although not on a par with the queen vic market in melbourne. wasn't great, very very touristy, although that seems to more or less go without saying with most of the markets i've been to so far!!

went up the sydney tower which was quite cool, although a little bit of an anti climax after rialto tower in melbourne. the view was very similar i guess. except there was an opera house. and a harbour bridge. i can't recall whether i said this already but an awful lot of sydney is water. its all little bays and islands and land surrounded by river. i guess that was kinda cool. after that, i went up to the rocks market which was really lovely, all foody stuff and bits and pieces. it was kind of dusky too by the time i got up there so i was all wrapped up and it was dead cosy 😊

i decided to stop in at the museum of contemporary art on the way back to the hostel in order to use their *ahem* facilities and check out the gift shop. it was then that i discovered that it was actually free to get in to the museum. so i decided that i would actually give it a go. now, those of you who actually know me will know that me and modern art don't really get along too well. ie, i am very much of the opinion that its a load of rubbish and i could do better 😊 but yay, it was brilliant!! yes, some of it took the mick quite hilariously but there was an awful lot of pop art stylee stuff of which i am a fan. so i had fun 😊 go me with the art appreciation, hehe!!

very exciting, the next morning crazy emma left, only to be replaced with crazy irish lady, who was actually very sweet. but not all there i don't think. it must be something about that bed.

yes yes, still feeling waaaay yucky. but i went to sydney fish market. was very excited as i totally love seafood. getting there involved tram usage and i didn't get lost! wooo!! (although in sydney they call it light rail, this may have been why i had no problems with it 😊 tis all in my head, obviously!!)

twas ok, tres interesting, although not as good as all the guidebooks make out. brilliant for cheap seafood and lunch though - had lobster mornay (which the evil evil seagulls tried to steal), how posh am i!! 😊 way super yummy, i recommend it. awww, but i spent a lot of my time wandering around the market feeling r'eally sad for the poor crabs and lobsters and other fishies that were being sold alive 😞 😞 😞 had to leave in the end, as i couldn't afford to buy them all and then set the free.very emotional i'm sure you'll agree.

had another very successful tram ride and went to check out darling harbour which is lovely! very busy, lots of shops and restaurants and coffee shops, playgrounds, amusement arcade etc etc etc!!!!! there was a fire show going on which was good fun - the guuy was crazy and ginger and had a beard 😊 really fun and lively atmosphere down there.

after my darling harbour outing i headed back to starbucks where i was enjoying coffee refreshment when a crazy tramp came in and started a fight with some security guards at which point i managed to get caught in the middle of it all and end up being hit on the arm. nearly fell off my chair 😞 the security men did come back a little later (yes, i was in there a while. you sound surprised 😊) and apologised. so yeah, that was the little bit of excitment!!!! was obviously very shaken by my "near-death" experience and had to have more coffee to calm my nerves 😊

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Photos

yup, you got it!
helloooooo from sydney!

cheeeeeeeeeese!!!!!
up close and personal with the opera house :)

ooooh, arty!
the opera house... not white! and tiled! who knew!

sydney town hall
tres pretty :)

view from sydney tower
can you spot the harbour bridge and the opera house?

sydney harbour (port jackson)
from the sydney tower

some sort of water feature thingy at darling harbour
just cos i thought it was cool :)

crazy fire man
at darling harbour

Comments

[Justein]

Taronga Zoo
Hey Linds! Glad your having such a fab time. You've seen some great places and love the pictures that you've taken! As your in Sydney now and thats the only place in Oz I went thought Id let you know about the Taronga Zoo. You can take a ferry there from the Circular Quay. We had a fab day there, if you havent been to the Zoo in a while its especially special and kinda weird to see giraffes with the backdrop of the city and skyscrapers. Also make sure you see the birdshow if you go that was great! Also If you're gonna pop into Melbourne on the way back dont know if you did it on the way in but you just gotta see Ramsey Street for old times sake surely! Look forward to catching up on your oh so excellent adventures on your return keep enjoying! Take Care Justein x