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Published: September 14th 2009
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For once I arrived in a new country at a sensible hour so once I had passed through immigration and collected my bags I ventured onto the train to take me into the centre whereby I then walked (only around the corner!) to my hostel.
Having checked in and chatted to a couple of the girls in my room I headed out onto the streets of Sydney. I soon found myself down at Circular Quay and looking across at the Opera House and if I turned around I could see the Harbour Bridge. As it was evening by now it was all looking pretty lit up hence the numerous photos!
Monday morning and I had a mission in my head and that was when could I reasonably leave Australia. Ok so I hadn't given Oz a chance but I needed to escape. Australia was never high up on my hit list of countries to visit however as my flight from New Zealand to Asia had to stop in Sydney I decided I would stay and visit Sydney and Melbourne and the surrounding areas for a couple of weeks. However after investigation I found that a hire car was not
practical on the basis that they wanted the same amount of money for 1 week as I had paid for 4 weeks in New Zealand. I looked into travelling by bus however that also was going to cost and I really wasn't interested at being dictated to as to where we would and wouldn't stop. On top of this I found myself craving to get back into the true backpacker country. I found it all too weird as everyone in New Zealand Australia were either on a working holiday or travelling around with their suitcases, hairdryers and straighteners in tow and look at me as if I have three heads when I say I have been around South America and now am doing the rest of the world.
I felt like I was going mad when talking to different people. An example conversation with a girl in my dorm was that she asked how long I had been in Australia so I said a few hours as I had just come in from New Zealand so she asked me how that was (fair enough) however she then asked me if I had seen any koalas of kangaroos since I
have been in Australia! When I said no she acted surprised and said they are meant to be all over!!!! WHAT THE........ Another girl in my dorm was from England and was a BioChemist and told me that she misses Science so much she can't wait to get back home and she had only been away 3 weeks and returned home that week!!!! Granted I have no patience but I really couldn't cope. So after various phone calls to the airline and home my flight was booked. Unfortunately I had to leave earlier than I had wanted but all the flights were full.
Anyway Monday was spent deciding what I wanted to do and then going off and exploring Sydney. I found myself wandering through the main shopping streets, The Rocks and once again at the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. After touring around here I found my self in the botanical gardens where I had a long wander around and soon tired myself out after 6 hours of walking with little time sitting and relaxing.
Tuesday morning I was up and out early as I had booked a tour to the Blue Mountains. So we got
collected and our first stop was at the Featherdale Wildlife Sanctuary where you could get up close and personal with a lot of Australias wildlife. Thereafter we had a quick boomerang demonstration by our coach driver and some of us had a quick go with mixed success. After a buffet lunch we headed to another park. I opted to walk down to the rainforest boardwalk and then catch the train back up whereas the rest of the coach all got the train down and cable car back up - I needed to stretch my legs and try to regain some sanity! The Blue Mountains earn that name as they are covered by eucalyptus trees which give of a type of gas which creates a blue haze over the mountains. The blue haze was very apparent in the late afternoon and it can be just seen in my photos. On our return to Sydney we drove through th Olympic village and jumped onto a cruise boat that took us back to the docks.
Wednesday I had a bit of a chilled and relaxed day. I wandered around down through the shops and visited the cathedral and found myself back in
the botanical gardens where I lay in the sun writing my postcards with a view over to the harbour bridge and opera house. I then read my Malaysia Lonely Planet deciding what I was going to do and where I was going to go with my extra 10 days before meeting up with Mum and Dad in Kuala Lumpur.
That night I jumped on to my first night bus since South America and I was bound for Melbourne.....
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Elizabeth
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Carbon footprint
Sydney certainly aren't too bothered about global warming are they? Look at how bright it is!