Sydney
Trip Start
Dec 02, 2007
1
25
55
Trip End
Sep 01, 2008
Sydney,
New South Wales,
Australia
Friday, May 2, 2008
The Chinese consulate in Sydney certainly gave us a little taste of what to expect when we reach the country. There was a mass of people there in long queues, and constant high-volume chatter. Unlike most of the people there, our application was accepted first time: regulations have been tightened in advance of the Beijing Olympics, but luckily we had done our homework. Other than a display of mach bravado between a security guard there and an Australian guy who was trying to get to the front of the queue, which resulted in the police being called, it was a fairly uneventful trip!
Our Indian visa application was unfortunately unsuccessful. Displaying a fine eye for irony, the Indians have outsourced their visa application process, so it now takes ten working days for a non-Australian to get a visa. This was not possible with our itinerary, so we are going to try again when we get to Hong Kong in a few weeks. We figure that at least there will be a British Airways office there if things go wrong so we can change our flights...
In addition to the chores we had to complete, we were also in Sydney to see friends and family. As we've both been a couple of times before, we eschewed the usual tourist sites and spent some time with the people we know there.
We spent several days with Kate and Myles, a friend from university and her husband who now live in Western Australia but were holidaying in Sydney. Luckily for us they sorted everything out, and we ended up having a couple of good dinners, a trip to the theatre to see Rock N Roll by Tom Stoppard, and a day trip out to Kangaroo Valley, south west of the city. It was great to catch up, and really nice to have our itinerary planned for a couple of days!
While in Sydney we also caught up with Bryn and Thomas, family from England. Thomas is only 19 months old, but has grown considerably since we last saw him! He was certainly big enough to scare away all the birds in the Botanical Gardens when he ran at them, which seems to be his favourite hobby! Unfortunately my cousin Clare was in Germany for work, so we couldn't catch up.
On our final night in Sydney City, we also went out for a few drinks with the elusive Piers, who moved here from England about 18 months ago. Again, it was really good to catch up and pass on the news from everyone at home.
Our last night in NSW was spent with friends of the Vaughan family, the Sharps. It was really nice to enjoy some home comforts, including a delicious dinner and bacon sarnies the next morning!
