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I'm afraid it's going to be a long one...7 action-packed days in Sydney to report on, beginning below!
Our last Greyhound journey from Byron Bay to Sydney turned out to be our worst yet, as the bus was really full and I had a rather odd chap next to me, who decided not to sleep all night, instead eating fizzy sweets and speaking to himself quite loudly. I wasn't happy! It was a relief to get off and find out how amazing our Sydney Harbour hostel actually was - it's brand spanking new and very clean, and we've got a dorm with its own ensuite. The real winner, however, is the view from the rooftop terrace over the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the harbour itself, with all the skyscrapers behind. It's very impressive. We met up with Luke and Sammy, my brother and his girlfriend, who are going to be with us whilst we're here. The rest of the day was spent wandering The Rocks area of the city, taking in the sights and views of the district. We walked over the Harbour Bridge itself, resembling a steel coathanger, and went down to the Opera House, obviously getting lots of photos. The Botanic Gardens were impressive too, although Sammy was pretty worried by the birds and huge fruit bats flying and squawking overhead. Last Tuesday was definitely a real day of stunning views.
Wednesday, however, turned into a slight disaster! Our first port of call for the day was Bondi Beach, but what we didn't take into account was the weather. When we arrived it was very overcast, but within half an hour it had decided to rain. We quickly made a dash for the bus and headed back to Circular Quay (near our hostel), my perfectly planned itinerary for the day in tatters! The weather also cheered up by the afternoon, and remained perfect for the rest of our time in Australia, warm and sunny. For the rest of the day we visited the Museum of Contemporary Arts, went for tea in the beautiful Queen Victoria Building, (complete with stained-glass windows, posh boutique shops and tiled floors), and then walked and walked and walked and walked. We went from Darling Harbour all the way across the Anzac Bridge (this had amazing views back over the city and skyscrapers) into the suburb of Balmain. We went all this way to go for a drink in the pub, but when we got there we were asked for I.D., and some of us didn't have any with us, so we had to leave! We were really annoyed with how our day had turned out, though we still managed some fun things.
Thursday was somewhat better. We got a ferry out of Circular Quay to the Taronga Zoo, with our first mission of the day to see as many native Australian marsupials as possible. I finally got a glimpse of a duck-billed platypus which I'd been looking forward since arriving, and we also perused over kangaroos, echidnas and wombats. Sammy and Luke paid for a photo of the five of us with a koala, so we got to spend some time with two koalas just to ourselves. Jo, of course, became immediately besotted once again. Strolling around, we saw plenty of other animals, both native and not. Our favourites were probably the emus, chimpanzees, gorillas, penguins and meerkats. The zoo also had great views back towards the city centre over the harbour, none more so than by the giraffe enclosure. You'll see from the pictures! That evening we had an 'Aussie BBQ' on the roof of the hostel, chomping down on sausages, burgers and a bit of kangaroo whilst admiring our surroundings.
Friday took us out of the city for the first time, as we made a two and a half hour journey up to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Even though it was a pleasant, sunny day without a cloud in the sky, you could really feel the chill factor coming up to altitude. I spent most of the day with my jumper on, although I did wear my shorts! We invested in a day ticket for the Blue Mountains Explorer Bus and met Jimmy, a rather eccentric and very talkative bus driver. Throughout the day we visited the Katoomba Cascades, the Leura Cascades and the Tarpeian Rock, and of course, stopped by the impressive Three Sisters. These three rocks jut out from the cliff face, forming three peaks around the same size and space apart, whilst below them the cliff falls away into a green carpeted forest below. We even managed to squeeze in two walks, past amazing scenery, one for an hour and a half, and the other for half an hour. It was late by the time we got back, and as we all felt exhausted, we decided to head out to eat, going out to the twinkling and busy Darling Harbour to eat.
A ferry to Manly is apparently mandatory when you visit Sydney, and this was our day trip for Saturday. It was a pleasantly scenic ride with yachts and ships bobbing across the bay, beautiful views back to the Bridge and Opera House, and stunning properties lining the water on all sides. We found Manly to be very picturesque and relaxed, despite it being one of the last sunny weekends before winter kicked in. We went on a short walk on the harbour side of the suburb, with small saltwater swimming pools popping up intermittently, a good alternative to swimming with the sharks in the ocean! This, however, didn't deter Luke, Joe and I from hiring a board and paddling out into the shallows a bit later, on the main Manly Beach. We taught Luke what to do and he managed to get the hang of it after a few attempts. We were by the beach, so of course, we had to have fish and chips for lunch! An icecream was also mandatory on such a sunny day. We spent more of the afternoon at the beach, but as the sun began to wane, it felt increasingly cold, and we called it a day at around 4:30.
Luke and Sammy's last full day in Sydney was another day of sun, sea and sand. We spent the day beach hopping along the eastern coast of the city, stopping in at Coogee Beach first. The weather was definitely on our side today, a sunny 23 degrees, perfect for sunbathing and light walking. Coogee was a really pleasant beach, fairly large and with an absolutely pounding break right on the shoreline. Luke, Joe and I decided to tackle some waves: the first one that I tried to swim against bowled me straight over! Rounding Gordons Bay, we arrived next at the slightly disappointing Clovelly Beach, good for snorkelling, but with concrete slabs bordering two of its sides. We swam here and ate our lunch on a grassy verge overlooking the water. Clovelly to Bronte Beach proved a fairly meaty walk, through Burrows Park, which jutted out towards the sea and was full of large boulders, and alongside Waverley Cemetery, a sombre spot brimming with headstones gazing out upon the ocean. Bronte was packed, with huge waves keeping the local surf fraternity happy. We didn't stay here long before heading to Tamarama Beach around the corner, possibly mine and Jo's favourite of the day. By now the shadows had begun to lengthen, but we relaxed on the fine white sand whilst watching numerous games of volleyball. Yesterday evening we went out to celebrate Luke's 21st rather belatedly, heading to a Chinese restaurant. The food wasn't great, but we had a good time all together. That evening we stayed up late, the only people in a bar, to watch Leicester lose 1-0 to Cardiff in the Championship play-off semi-final first leg. Hopefully we'll sort it out by Thursday morning, and win the away one!
This morning we waved goodbye to Luke and Sammy and then set about waiting a flight ourselves. We went up the Sydney Tower, a golden coloured orb that blossoms at the top of a very thin skyscraper. Going up the elevator sent our ears popping, but the viewing platform gave us a last glimpse of the great views over Sydney which we've become so accustomed to during the last week. We had fun snapping photos, pointing out the places we had visited over the past six days, and looking down at the tiny people and vehicles below from a quarter of a kilometre up in the sky. We've spent the rest of the day so far hanging around at the hostel, waiting to get picked up by our shuttle to the airport at 3:30 this afternoon. We're flying at 7:30 in the evening, and are due to get in to Christchurch, New Zealand at 12:30 in the morning, New Zealand time, tomorrow.
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