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Ben & Sara's Trip
Hey everyone, this is our penultimate entry on the old journal so you can all breathe a sigh of relief!!
Since our last entry we have made it from Canberra all the way to Hong Kong so not too bad really!!
We headed from Canberra to Sydney with the sister of one of Scotty's mates from Oz who had very kindly offered to put us up in Sydney for our last few nights. She picked us up from Jason's house in the early hours of Monday morning as she was due in work in Sydney at 7.30am! Before heading to work she dropped us off at her flat where we were lucky enough to go back to sleep unlike Renee! When we woke up we decided to head over to the Olympic Park to have a look around. We wandered across and did a tour which wasn't the best but we still got some pretty good views of the park and all the stadiums. It's a pretty impressive set up they have. We had to be back at the flat for 4.30pm to let Renee in so we just chilled out that night.
The next day we were up at 6am so we could get the train out to the Blue Mountains that Sara had been banging on about! It took us a couple of hours to get there but when we did it wasn't too bad except for the weather which has been plaguing us ever since I said it had been great so far back in New Zealand!! Still we did a trolley tour of the area and got some pretty good views of the mountains and the Three Sisters which was good, then it was a 2 hour train ride back to the flat for the night.
Before we knew it we were into our final day in Australia which we decided to spend in Bondi Beach. After getting the train and bus across there the heavens opened which was nice!! There was a 10 minute gap in the clouds which allowed us to run onto the beach for a few photo's but aside from that it wasn't the best!! We then got the bus into Sydney and due to the weather we headed to Sydney Aquarium which was pretty awesome! We got some cool photo's of the sharks and tropical fish. That evening we headed to Circular Quay for dinner in the picture perfect Wolfie's Grill. We had the bridge to our left and the Opera House to our front and we toasted a fantastic time spent in Sydney. I also tried Kangaroo and Crocodile!!
The next morning we left the flat for the last time and got the train to the airport. Our flight to Hong Kong was on time and we even got moved to the extra leg room seats by the doors, not quite as good as ben and Gill's free upgrade to Business Class but still not bad!! The flight was smooth and we arrived in Hong Kong on time. The first thing we noticed when we got off was the heat, it was 10pm but still 32 degrees! We then got a transfer out to our hotel which was very posh and we were upgraded to a harbour view room!!
Friday morning we spent recovering from the flight and then ventured out into the heat to go up to the Peak, a hill overlooking Hoing Kong Island. We got the tram up there for some amazing views and we also went to madame Tussauds for a few hours which was funny. We then got the tram back down and met a lad from Runcorn who seemed to have the answer to our accomodation problems for the rest of the week. We went with him to the hotel he was staying in to see if they had vacancies which they did. The only off putting thing was the cockroaches and the fact it was called the "Bin Man Hotel". Fortunately for us that night mum had got my internet password for the credit card and we realised there was still some credit so we got online and booked into the Eaton Hotel in Kowloon which is a 3.5 star hotel with roof pool!! Very posh for us and we felt well out of place when we turned up in shorts and t shirt in the posh lobby!!
The following day we booked into the Eaton and chilled out in our 18th story room and spent most of the afternoon in the roof top swimming pool which was good. That evening we walked down to Kowloon Harbour and walked around a few shops before having some food at TGI Friday's for that authentic Chinese dining experience!!
Sunday we got up late and went for a walk around the markets of Kowloon, startong with the jade market and moving up to the Ladies Market in the evening. We bought a couple of things but most of the wares are tat really so we stayed clear, plus we haven't really got the cash to be buying things!! Still it was a very pleasant evening and we just headed back to air conditioned comfort to relax in the evening!!
Yesterday we did ur second major sight seeing thing in Hong Kong we took the ferry across to Lantau Island to see the Po Lin Monastry and the Big Buddha. The ride across was quite nice and then we got a bus up to the monastry through the water buffalo lined streets of Lantau Island. Once at the monastry we walked around a village they have built a part of a ttourist attraction that is soon to open and then we walked into the monastry. The buildings and the interiors are absolutely fantastic, like nothing I have ever seen and it was an absolutely gorgeous place to spend the afternoon. We also went to the wisdome path which is a collection of wooden plinths reciting the prayer to the buddha which overlooks it. We then walked up the stairs to the buddha, well I tried to run and made it up 3 flights before having an asthma attack!! The view from the top and the actual size of the statue are both amazing and well worth the knackering walk up!! We then headed back to Kowloon for a look around the night markets.
Today we are just chilling out in the hotel as we are planning on going to Ocean Park tomorrow for Sara's birthday (she's 23- well old!) and then on Thursday we just have to kill time until about 6pm when we go to the airport to head home!! We're both really excited about seeing everyone so will no doubt speak to you all soon.
Take Care
Ben and Sara xx
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