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What a place!
We arrived on an early flight from Melbourne (we seem to have a trend of getting up early for planes trains and buses!) with sleepy eyes we arrived at our hostel intending to get a few hours kip before meeting Bob & Ann (more of my relatives -pip). Unfortunately we couldn't check in until 1pm so we stashed our bags in the platform lockers and arranged to meet the rellies (Aussie term) earlier.
We should probably explain our hostel first... On the recommendation of Georgie, we booked 5 nights at the YHA Railway Square in the heart of Sydney. The hostel is connected to the central train station and was once part of it. Our rooms are old converted railway carriages (see pics) and we have to alight onto the platform to visit the bathroom or go into the station to get to reception... brilliant or what!
Sydney fortunately has a free shuttle bus service (the 555) which runs throughout the day. We hopped on down to Circular Quay which is basically where harbour bridge is and where the many ferries depart from. Here we met Bob & Ann in a cafe where they kindly bought us some much needed brekkie.
Knowing that we'd only just arrived and come straight to see them, they took us on a little tour of some of the city's attractions. We had already seen the Opera House whilst waiting to meet them, so first stop was The Rocks, an old area of Sydney which has become the artistic/cosmopolitan capital of the city. Then it was on to the main attraction, Sydney Harbour Bridge.
We really wanted to do the bridge climb, a popular tourist activity, but being poor backpackers we decided to save this for a future visit as it's about $200. Instead, we walked across the footway and managed to get some nice pictures of the Opera House and harbour as well as learning a few facts about the bridge from the plaques on the wall. I won't bore you with them... oh go on then! It has roughly 6 million rivets, was built with 79% English steel, 21% Aussie and they started building from both sides, meeting perfectly in the middle.
Bob & Ann then took us on a captain cook harbour coffee cruise which included, surprisingly, a cruise around the harbour and a coffee break on the way back. The harbour is absolutely huge! Apparently it is the second largest natural harbour in the world after Rio de Janeiro. Some of the houses surrounding the water's edge are worth an arm and a leg.
Feeling pretty tired, we bid fairwell to the rellies and agreed to meet again in the morning, where they would take us to meet some more Aussie relatives (for Matt, this was getting rather confusing).
Early the next morning, we caught a train to Chatswood, one of the suburbs of Sydney and they picked us up and took us to a golf course near the northern beaches of Sydney where we were promised a sighting of pelicans and to meet Richard and Ande. There were no pelicans but we did meet Richard and Ande. Here we caught up with all the formalities and family news before tucking into a delicious lunch and planning our trip to the Home and Away beach - Palm beach. It was decided that Ande and Richard would take us there while Bob and Ann prepared the evening bbq (we have been spoilt!).
Palm beach was a beautiful spot with Pittswater lake on one side, the beach on the other and a stunning spit with a lighthouse on top in the middle. Unfortunately some dumwit unplugged our camera batteries in the night, so on trying to photograph this idyllic scene, they soon died. So you will have to make do with some internet images! We earnt our dinner by walking the steep track up to the lighthouse and then going for a swim in the warm waters before setting off.
The bbq was lovely, although we did have to change the Rod Stewart CD sneakily. After another long day, we were once again, knackered so Bob & Ann dropped us back at the station where we jumped on a train back into the centre.
Sydney has become synonomous with new years eve over the last few years and we planned to find ourselves a good spot early. We did well too, as the crowds didn't take long to build up. We got a spot right in front on the Opera House overlooking the water and Harbour Bridge. Liv and Chris were travelling from out of town to meet us and were denied entry to meet us as the section was full. By a stroke of luck, Matt had just returned from the loo and bumped into them and managed to copy his arm stamp onto theirs with a little bit of pressure. Whilst this was happening, I nearly got myself thrown out of the section as someone else jumped the barrier and they thought it was me!
The build up to the fireworks was not as mindnumbing as we thought it may be, as we were treated with an acrobatics performance from a plane and supplied tasty treats by the lovely couple we were sat next to. Throughout the evening, large barges were being positioned down the centre of the harbour, stocked full of fireworks. Hundreds of boats were also jostling for positions in the designated spots, all decorated with fantastic lights.
There was a preliminary display at 9pm for the kids, though this was still greater than any fireworks display we'd ever seen on its own. It was enough to whet the appetite and set an electric current buzzing through the thronging crowds in expectation for the midnight display. They didn't disappoint either! At midnight, the harbour bridge came alive with a plethora of different fireworks, echoed down the harbour from the barges in sync with the music being pumped out from the Opera House. Near the end of the display, there were even fireworks going off under the water and on top of the city skyscrapers. We didn't know which way to look! The whole event was totally awe-inspiring. We'll upload a video soon.
Still on a high from the night before, we spent the next day exploring parts of the city on foot. First, we headed to Darling Harbour, an absolutely beautiful spot where we saw the remains of one of the firework barges (see pic). In the evening, I took Matt to experience his first Wagamamas meal. Glad to say he enjoyed it thoroughly.
Today was our last day in Sydney, so we caught the early train to the Blue Mountains, 2 hours south of the city. They are so named for the blue haze which is ever-present, caused by the oil excreted by eucalyptus trees into the air. What a different change of scenery from city to rainforest, no wonder the Aussies wonder where all the trees are in the New Forest. There's probably more here than in the whole of England.
We got a ticket for the hop on hop off bus and used it to experience the world's steepest railway (at 52 degrees incline... aaaahhhhh!!!!), a cable car and some spectacular views and bush walks. We managed to get some good pics of The Three Sisters rock formation, despite the busy public holiday weekend and also did some taxing climbs down the cliffs which we're now feeling the effects of.
And so, our time in Australia has come to an end (weep) and it's on to New Zealand and our spaceship! We cannot wait! Stay tuned blog fans for some magnificent pictures of sheep!
- comments
Ann Reynolds (a rellie) Sounds like you had a great time. Congrats on the Opera House position for firework. You done Good! One question - what is Wagamamas meal ?