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Dec 5th 2006
Gday everyone, up early today, climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge today so bit excited! Its gunna take 3.5hrs! (you get breath tested too before so took it easy last night!) Well me and Penny have been doing lots over the past few days, trying to do as much as poss before she leaves Thurs. Took lots of pics for you (and yes theres a couple more of the opera house and bridge, sorry but they are from new angles!) Still loving Sydney! Have met so many people, theres loadsa great people at my hostel from Irish lads to UK lads (1 from Northampton!) and loadsa girls from UK and beyond!! Gettin on well with everyone and have received so many invites for xmas and new year dunno what I'll end up doing!! My friend Stefanie who I met at my hostel in Melbourne has joined me now too and she is moving into an apartment next week not far from me which will be cool! Keep bumping into a guy fromMelbourne too, I barely met him really but I heard him yelling my name at me down the street, dead impressed he remebered my name cos I only spoke to him for 15mins on the morning I left Melbourne! So anyway, here's a rundown of the last few days....
Dec 1st - Me, Penny and Lisa (Austrian girl) thought we would tackle the famous Manly (beach town) to Spit Bridge walk which were told would take a couple of hours and would give us some stunning scenery and views. They weren't wrong about the views, it was amazing in some places but it took us a good 3.5 hrs to do the walk and it wasn't easy!! The walk ranged from gentle ground along the coast to literally clambering up and over sandstone rocks in Sydney Harbour National Park and then rainforest type places! The higher we got though the more amazing views we got! So yeah it was a hard trek and my little legs were feeling the pain but it was well worth doing and we were all so proud of ourselves at then end (as u can see in my pic!) We visited an aborginal rock engraving site in the depths of the national park. Some of them you could make out but others just looked like plain old rocks to me! We also saw lots and lots of lizards on our walk, I was a bit wary of them at first but as long as they had legs and werent snakes that was ok with me and the tiny ones were really cute! At one of the secluded beaches we stopped at on the way there were loadsa little crabs scurrying around too! At the hostel a group of Irish lads and girls were having their last night before they move to Coogee becah so we hit the bar opposite for happy hour - an hour of free vodka and red bulls or as many as you can handle - gem you wouldve loved it!
Dec 2nd - Legs were really feeling it today so didnt wander too far from the hostel! I went into the Cathedral at Hyde Park (more like a garden compared to London Hyde Park!) to have a look inside and was shocked to see a wedding taking place with loadsa tourists just watching! Didnt feel right being there so made a sharp exit! Then I wandered round the huge David Jones department store (one with the xmas window displays) the doormen are dressed in top hat and tails and there's even a grand piano inside! I went up to see Santa's Grotto!! Didnt see Santa tho just all his little elves! Then I started to get a bit sad with my achy legs and thinking of not being home at xmas with friends and family so wandered further into the City. There were loads of street entertainers around and one woman just amazed me as she bended and squeezed herself into a tiny 43cm box!!! I couldnt even clap at the end I was in so much shock, u can see from the pic I took how small it was! Then it started to cloud over so I started heading back to the hostel but it was too late! The heavens opened and we had a massive storm with really heavy rain and hail so I legged it into a doorway! (An Ozzy guy joined me there and nicely told me how it hasnt rained here for months, great!) At night me Penny and Stef went to Darling Harbour for the xmas gala and turning on of the xmas tree lights. It was great and we got a really good view from up on the bridge (great thinking by Penny!) There was a stage set up in the middle of the harbour where Guy Sebastian and the Young Divas sang. I had no idea who they were but apparently Guy was the first Australian Idol winner and the Young Divas came together after being runners up. They were all really good and there were hundreds of people there watching! Then Santa made an appearance to turn on the lights as fireworks went off over the harbour which was pretty cool (nowhere near the scale I hope the new year fireworks will be though!)
Dec 3rd - Today we visited Paddy's Market at Market City (kind've like Victoria Market in Melbourne) that sells everything form clothes to fruit and veg and really cheap too so we wandered round there for a while. Then we set off to the Royal Botanic Gardens which are absolutely huge! We visited Mrs Macquaries chair which gave us a great view of the opera house and bridge (best spot for new years methinx!) Apparently in the 1800s Mrs Macquarie was married to a general and he had a seat carved into the stone for her so she could sit down by the habour whenever she wanted! The gardens are lovely with lots of sections the them. There are some really weird trees there that are huge and twisted and a but eery looking! In one of my pics can u see how branches have actually grown back down into the ground, weird! At night we went out in search of food and walked back down by the gardens where we were amazed with the huge flock of oversized birds above us......until we realised they were actually giant BATS!! There were hundreds of them in and out of the trees and swooping down! It was fascinating to stand and watch but its nearly a full moon here and so it was a bit creepy! We were gunna cut through the gardens to the harbour but decided against it in case they locked them, just as well we turned back cos they literally locked the gates behind us - wouldnt wanna be stuck in there for the night!
Dec 4th - Today we visited Sydney Wildlife World (only opened a few months ago) and Sydney Aquarium. They were both really good, glad we went! Inside they are laid out so well and the sets that the animals were in were great. At Wildlife World I got to see my first koala's, awww they are so cute and look so cuddly! Apparently the reason they dont do much isnt because they're 'drunk' from the eucalyptus but because they get so little nutrition from their diet that they really just have no energy to do antything so they dont bother! We also got to see the scary and humungous Cassowary bird which is the most dangerous bird in the world! From the sixe of it and looking at its claws it was easy to see why! In the Aquarium we obvioulsy saw a lot of fish! There was a walk through part for the sharks and giant stingrays where at one point you were walking through a tunnel surrounded by the water, even the ground we walked on was glas so u could see everything! Saw Nemo and all of his friends too!! Didnt get many pics cos the flash kept reflecting off the glass! On the way back to the hostel we were waiting to cross the road (crossing roads here takes ages!) and who was on the other side waiting to cross, ANT and DEC!!?? How random is that! I dunno if its 'Im a celebrity get me outta here' time back home or if they were just on hols! After the failure to get a pic with the neighbours stars i saw in melbourne I fumbled for my camera but then the little green man came on and I lost them in the crowds crossing the road! Last night was free pizza night at the hostel (they do it every monday) which went down well. Then there was a massive party in the hostel for a birthday celebration, didnt stay up too late or drink too much though, imagine if I got refused my bridge climb today for being over the limit!!!
So thats about it, all up to date!! Its getting hard work this journal but will be great to look back on and is a cool way of keeping you all updated of what Im doing (unless you're all sick of hearing about it by now!)
So off to climb Sydney Harbour Bridge today as the sun beams down on us!
Take Care all
Ang xx
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