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Aussie Update 4 – Another one, are you impressed?!
Ok so we had planned a weekend break to Sydney several weeks ago, I had even booked off the Saturday morning so that we could have a full weekend and persuaded the receptionists not to book me in anything past 4pm so that we could get away early and beat the traffic. Shockingly it all went to plan and at 3.30pm I managed to get away and off we went down to Sydney. We took a cross-country route down there which was really pretty, beautiful valleys and vin yards and took the same amount of time as the motorway route, result.
So we made it down to Sydney in good time and found our hotel, a guest house in Manly, a suburb of Sydney with (in my opinion) the nicest beaches in Sydney (Bondi reminds me way too much of Scarborough). Our guest house was by the bay beach and a proper old fashioned seaside guest house with real rustic charm. After the long drive we wandered into Manly for refreshment and discovered that we were in finally in a cultured environment – they served wedges of lime in the Corona instead of the bloody stupid lemon they mistakenly give you in Scone! Minor gripe, but so much more yummy! Later we headed out for dinner, and had the most amazing meal. Perfect food, yummy succulent oysters, just brilliant. Then a quick night-cap and bed, for we were to be breath-a-lised in the morning!
Morning and we were leaping out of bed and running for the Manly ferry into Sydney (we still missed it and had to get the cat...). We then made our way to the start of the harbour bridge (or the coat hanger as it is affectionately known by the locals). We checked in and then spent ages being briefed, signing disclaimers, breath-a-lised (we passed, yay) and dressed in romper suits (lovely) and finally harnessed up. We were treating ourselves to one of Sydney's best experiences, The Bridge Climb. Yup, that's right, climbing up the entire outside of the harbour bridge. And it really was worth it. We gradually made our way up this enormous iconic structure, surprisingly easy going, the only slightly scary bit I found was the several flights of ladders, but worth it as the view walking over the arch was truly awesome. Just the most amazing thing ever being high above the bay with the best view of Sydney. The great thing as well was that we had heaps of time up there, our guide was great and in no way rushed us. It was just wicked.
We rewarded ourselves with lunch and then spent a productive afternoon Christmas shopping. Though I still don't feel at all Christmasy in this heat. Then off we headed back to Manly on the ferry. We chilled out at the guest house with a nice bottle of wine, then off we went for dinner and were sorely disappointed. Ali has fish and chips which was totally diabolical and I had a slightly limp pizza. We decided to try to make up for it with after dinner drinks and found a lovely chic bar where we had a yummy bottle of Aussie champagne and chilled out.
Sunday and we got up late and decided to spend the day in Manly. After a little bit of shopping, we went for a wander round to a little cove with a small beach in a nature reserve on Manly where we sunbathed, paddled (me) and swam (Ali, I'm too wimpy about sea nasties). We had lunch by the beach and had the most fantastic fish and chips ever, so so yummy. After more sunbathing we headed back to the car and started the long drive back to Scone sorry to be going home.
We arrived home only to realise that somehow during the car journey home the two people who had been sitting in the car had somehow been transformed into lobsters. Ouch, we are both more than slightly pink and the aftersun has taken up residence in the fridge for our relief.
So only two and a half weeks left of work. My last day is th 29th December. We have booked flights to Wellington, New Zealand on the 30th December, where we will spend some time traveling around both north and south islands before we return to the UK on the 18th January. I really can't wait to have a holiday.
Anyway, bye for now, check out the photos when I get then online.
Love
B.
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