With all of the comings and goings in my dorm room it really is beginning to feel like Big Brother! In a nutshell (and from what I recall) in total there have been 3, 2, 3, 4, 6, 2, 3, and now 4 of us! 2 or 3 of the girls I don't think I even spoke to! But luckily one of the girls has been the same since I got here so we're beginning to get on quite well.
The plan for today's blog is to fill you in on what I've been up to in the last few days and then tell you about some of my observations about Sydney/Australia.
Sunday
In the morning I bought a ticket for the Sydney Explorer open top bus tours.
After a couple of days of surprisingly warm weather, there was a bit of a chill - especially on the top of the bus. Can you believe I had to put a jumper on?! Starting at Central Station, the tour wound it's way round the city, past museums, parks and cottages. Too many places to describe here, much like a city tour of London. There were lovely views and it was good to get a feel of the whole city centre.
At 2:15pm it was time to meet Martyn and Jo, who have been living in Sydney for 5 and a half years. Martyn is the son of friends of my parents and I haven't seen him and his wife for at least 10 years. With thoughts of 'will they recognise me?' I hovered around the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Circular Quay. Members of what looked like the Police band were wandering around playing independently of each other, almost as if they were about to begin a flash mob but their smart, blue uniforms gave it away! I found Martyn and Jo without any problems - they haven't changed one bit! Although Jo has a different haircut!
We climbed up to the observatory and had a fantastic view out over the harbour and surrounding area and then quenched our thirst in what is supposedly the oldest pub in Sydney however there's more than one pub with this claim! Martyn and Jo were incredibly hospitable, refusing to allow me to buy any drinks and during the afternoon I made it through three schoonas of cider.
Monday
Making the most of my tour bus ticket I headed out to Bondi Beach in the morning. Again, another gloriously bright, clear day but there was a chill in the air.
As I wandered along the promenade I couldn't help but grin to myself, reminding myself 'I'm at Bondi Beach!' Feeling a little peckish, I got some chips from Harry's Cafe de Wheels, a famous pie shop in the Sydney area. It felt a little British to be sitting in the seafront eating chips!
Back in the city centre I walked again to the Museum of Conteporary Arts because I'd realised I'd seen the outside of a lot of buildings but none of the insides! There were lots of children as I think they are on holiday and they created a real buzz about the place.
By 7pm I was sound asleep! A combination of exercise and fresh air perhaps but it finally sorted out the jet lag!
Tuesday
After the dip the night before I decided to have a slower day today, sort out a few jobs and generally take it easy. High on the priority list was sorting out my Medicare card. Cutting a long story short, I went to the office in town, waited my turn to be told I had to have an appointment, the earliest was next Monday but I could go to Bondi or North Sydney. I collected my paperwork, took the train to Bondi and waited over 30mins at the office but came away with what I needed!
In the afternoon my creative urges took over and I found myself salivating over wool in the rather magnificent Morris and Sons, set in a Victorian building.
I think I earnt it after my wild goose chase in the morning!
The evening was filled with an unsuccessful trip to Jamie's Italian (I refuse to wait 90 mins when I'm hungry!) and a quiz in the bar.
Wednesday
Understandably, when you move to a new city your field of adventure gradually widens. A week ago I was traipsing up and down the same 2 parallel streets - Pitt Street and George Street. Having seen a lot of central Sydney, I felt ready for an adventure further afield so I hopped on a train to Katoomba. Throughout the journey there were stunning views and after the 2 hour journey I was excited to explore the Blue Mountains. I took an explorer bus up to Scenic World where they have several ways to experience the landscape, some more exhilarating than others but all breathtaking.
Firstly, I took the cableway down lower on the mountains.
Amongst the trees they have built walkways so I took a walk which took around 40mins. They have thoughtfully built the platforms around all of the vegetation and they take you zigzagging further down into the valley and then back up in a loop.
These paths link the cableway to the railway with the steepest incline in the world. For all you fact finders it has: a 310m incline, a 250m drop, and the steepest incline is 52°. If that means nothing to you it's f***ing steep! I literally felt like I was going to fall out of my seat. I'm a big roller coaster ride but this was far worse that anything I've ever been on!
I merrily had my phone in my hand cos I thought it would be a good photo opportunity but I was hanging on for dear life and ended up with 35 photos of the back of the head of the girl in front of me.
Shaking, I needed a calmer view of the surroundings so I took the skyway across the valley. Unfortunatly all of these photos are on my camera, not on my phone but the middle section if the carriage had glass floor which was cool. I'm beginning to perfect this selfie lark to here's one from the look out point.
So that updates you with what I've been up to during the past few days. Now for a few things I've noticed while I've been here. I've highlighted a few words that need explaining or have a different meaning over here.
Also, flats or apartments are called units.
Train - of course you know what a train is but here they all seem to be double deckers like some in France and possibly NYC.
Streets - again like NYC a lot of the streets in the CBD are grid like making it easy to navigate. They also have street numbers on the street signs - handy for when you are looking for somewhere in particular.
Traffic lights - there's a few things that are different about these. For traffic, they go straight from red to green, no amber and for pedestrians, they beep differently according to if the man is red or green.
People - understandably, but still surprisingly when you first arrive, there are a lot of Oriental people here. Here the term is Asian though and anyone from around India (Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc) is called Indian. So many Asians that as well as the standard China Town I've also spotted sign for Thai town and Korea Town.
That's it for my update. I'm slightly in limbo at the moment as I'm waiting for my bank card before I leave Sydney up the east coast. Hopefully I should leave by the weekend for the next chapter of my adventure.
UPDATE: within an hour of posting this I went to the bank to get some money out and my card was there waiting for me! So I have now booked my Greyhound bus ticket to Cairns and a trip from Alice Springs to Melbourne in August. I leave Sydney on Saturday, 1st stop Newcastle!
Like all great travellers I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen. - Benjamin Disraeli
Hey, I remember that tram ride now. Great fun. I hope the hostel-goers are friendly enough to go for a drink with.
ReplyDelete