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Hello my chums. I think it's high time I got round to describing my lovely little holiday in Sydney. Having said that, the last 7 months have been one huge holiday. At the end of my last entry I was a mere few days away from leaving lovely lovely Brisbane. I had a very nice birthday, also my last day at Telstra and my last day in Brisbane (so, clearly an emotional day). Didn't get any sleep that night so arrived in Sydney absolutely shattered to great sister Kara and aunt and uncles Joan and Bobby. Luckily Kara was jet-lagged so it was a nice gentle introduction to Sydney life. Mmmmm, twas nice to have a nice comfy bed at Joan and Bobby's. So, after that it was a whirlwind of everything touristy that Sydney has to offer. I'd only been here for about 5 days with Nick and OC so there was still plenty to be seen and done. First few days were taken up with the obligatory sightseeing of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, wandering round the botanic gardens, taking the ferry as far as it would take us (I do like a nice ferry ride out in the sunshine), and going to Bondi. And we went to Manly aquarium, which was very nice, but not as good as Sydney aquarium, which was excellent. Too many schoolkids, but bless them, they're just as interested in fish as the rest of us I suppose. Next up on the tourist trail were the Chinese Gardens of Friendship, a gift from the Chinese to the good people of Sydney. And they were very nice, a little piece of Chinese tranquility in the middle of Sydney. Oooooh, and then next up was the Opera House tour, which I guess could have ended up being a bit dull but was actually very interesting and informative, led by a man who was clearly Mr Bean's brother. Kara then decided to take in a performance, but clearly I would have found this far too boring so I went off and explored Sydney by myself (and didn't get lost! I'd never have predicted that). Next! Next was the Tower, which I'd been up before but was more than happy to go up again because you can see everything interesting in Sydney from up there. And that's quite a lot. And it has the highest working postbox in the southern hemisphere. It's facts like that which make the admission price seem like peanuts. The tower is probably the something-ist in the southern hemisphere too, I can't remember. And we also took a leisurely drive up to Palm Beach stopping off at some very pretty places along the way. It was at this point that brother Craig arrived in Sydney to reunite the (not quite) long-lost Lyttle siblings at last. So, Kara went to the opera on his first night and me and Craig did some drinking, such is the natural order of things. What touristy thing did I do next? Why, it was Taronga Zoo, probably the best zoo in the world (well, definitely the southern hemisphere). Great views, loads of cool animals, nice and big, not too busy and the weather was great. Couldn't ask for much more. I did very much enjoy the giraffes. Sadly, there were no elephants, but they annoyingly arrived a couple of days later. No matter, you can see elephants anywhere (but giraffes are special). Yes, the zoo was a definite highlight. The next leg of the whirlwind tourist trail was the Blue Mountains. Had been there before, but they're great. And this time I did the Skyride or whatever it's called, which takes you right across the top of some big valley. And also a very steep train/cable car thing which is the steepest something in the world, apparently. And it was indeed very steep, I can't imagine many things that are steeper than that. And it was at roughly this point that we must bid a fond farewell to Kara, who had to save her husband and go back to her children. She'll be back... So, this leaves just the Lyttle boys and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the pace slackened somewhat and the orders of the day were more drinking and more sleeping. Coincidentally, two of my favourite things! I still consider it a touristy thing to check out some of Sydney's finest drinking places though. And we managed to check out a fair few. There was still plenty of time to climb the Harbour Bridge though, which was an unforgettable experience. Weather wasn't perfect but the views were still brilliant and the whole thing was pretty amazing. Think I'll have to do it again at some point, but at night. And amongst all this touristy stuff, there was lots of opportunity to catch up with the faaaaaaamily with their lovely spas (thanks Lee-anne) and cooking (thanks Joan and Lee-anne and Brad and Pamela and Frank) and offering me drinks (thanks everyone). And so then Craig bade Sydney a reluctant farewell, leaving me as the only sibling left in Sydney. But that only lasted a few hours until I got my flight back to Brisbane, where I sit today. It's nice to be back, I'm sure you all know that I'm quite keen on Brisbane. Living in a hostel and with no job at the moment, but hopefully all that will change in the next couple of days. I'm sure nothing will ever beat Telstra mind you, great job and great people. You know who you are...
So, that's all for now, Sydney was brilliant and a nice little break (not that I really needed a break from anything, but you know). Time to try and scrape some money together before the Christmas shenanigans. Bye from me.
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