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We arrived at Sydney airport and were greeted by Luke and Luisa, two Sydneysiders we met on the coach journey to Cuzco in Peru. We had kept in touch with them and they were kind enough to offer us a room for the 8 or 9 days we would be in Sydney. It was great to catch up with them after so long, and it also gave us the chance to see Sydney from a locals point of view.
We were immediately whisked back to Lukes house (where he lives with 5 uni friends) and treated to our first Aussie Barbie which lived up to its preceding reputation. We spent that night with a few beers catching up as we hadn't seen then in a good few months. The nest morning we went to North Head, a set of impressive cliffs around 400ft high. While the girls took pictures Luke had a more challenging morning set up for me! We were to climb down the rock face (no ropes) and get a few kms down the coast where we would climb back up. It was a beautiful day with spectacular views and we got to the bottom fairly easily. We then had to traverse some rocks near the waters edge, which was where we came unstuck. As we were crossing we got hit by two huge waves that swept us off our feet, Luke luckily landing on sand whereas I found the sharp rocks below. I cut my hands, arms, legs and bum around 300 times (just like paper cuts) due to the force of the waves. I surfaced in agony and then had to climb back up the cliffs to find the girls!! It took a couple of weeks to heal and I still have several scars on my hands, but at least I didn't turn down a challenge from an Aussie!! That afternoon we went to Palm Beach which is also known as Summer Bay from Home and Away which was a lovely beach to forget the mornings drama on! That evening we went to Liz's house for dinner (one of Ali's friends from home who has moved to Sydney), and had a fun nightwith her and her flatmates.
The next morning we headed into the CBD to check out Sydney. We went to Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, The Opera House and then sat in the Botanical Gardens discussing our plans for the east coast with Vicky, a friend from Torquay who was to travel up with us. That night we had our second Aussie barbie with the guys and their housemates whichturned into a much bigger night than was planned but was lots and lots of fun!!
We awoke the next day to incessant rain. This would be the story for the rest of Sydney and a few places to come as well. We spent the next few days catching up on washing, internet and luckily for us, Twiggy bought guitar hero (with the drums) so we killed a lot of time on that. One morning we went to a huge indoor market named Paddy's with everything you could wish to buy, ever and another we headed to the shopping district of Chatswood for a wander around.
One night Vicky, Liz, Ali and I went to a pub called the Great Northern where for $12 you get all you can eat salad bar and a slab of uncooked meat of your choice. You then proceed to the huge barbecues and cook the steak however you like it. It was such a great idea I'm thinking of bringing it home! I also managed to hook up with friend of mine I used to teach who is head of cricket at Sydney University and had a beer which was nice.
Saturday morning we were up at 5.30am to go to the bush and have breakfast with Lukes dad and partner. We drove for a couple of hours and arrived at a huge wooden house in the middle of nowhere. On the drive through the bush we saw a dead wombat, kangaroos and wallabies. We had a slap up champagne breakfast on the veranda and watched the wallabies and horses in the paddock.
Sunday we were up early again as we were off to Taronga Zoo courtesy of Helen and Liz as a going away present (thank you again guys). We had an awesome day and the zoo is absolutely huge with some spectacular views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Whilst there we were treated to a seal show which was pretty cool and saw the penguins from an underwater observatory. We then headed to Manly which was beautiful (if crowded) and had a famous local burger on the beach as the the sun was setting. To finish the day, and the week off, we headed to Pancakes on the Rocks, one of Luisa's favourite places where we had a huge stack of pancakes with chocolate, cream and all sorts of wicked things on.
We had a great time in Sydney even though the weather really wasn't up to much. Luke and Luisa were absolutely amazing and we cannot thank them enough.
So Monday morning 9am it was time to collect the next chapter of our Australian Adventure.............THE CAMPERVAN!!
To be continued...
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