Back after seven years!
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2006
1
54
118
Trip End
Aug 29, 2007
Sydney,
Australia
Friday, March 9, 2007
First thing I noticed was that William Street had been renovated with big wide footpaths and looked quite presentable. I might add here that when we all lived here last time this was basically red light district, unofficially, and was potentially going to be re-zoned as red light proper. What a change now though, the area is actually posh and trendy! The house on Crown Street, well, they don't rent it to backpackers any more that's for sure, the whole row is posh little businesses. The area is now full of very nice little delis and restaurants; cafe culture abounds. Jenny and I went to Stanley Street which is now end to end restaurants, with the old Lord Robert hotel still there at the end (the scene of many debauched nights in my memory). We had some excellent sushi in Sushi on Stanley before heading up towards my old flat on Darley Street. This area had also improved, though it was kinda cool when I was there (of course). The old haunts were still there, the Green Park Hotel where I spent six weeks playing pool with Speedy who was visiting from Ireland, the Darlo bar, the Indian that served curry with kangaroo in it... Oxford street is still the gay centre, and we realised that we missed the bloody Mardi Gras by days! We could easily have made it if we'd known, instead of spending our time at holiday parks on the Sapphire Coast on the way here.
On the Saturday I headed off across town to Bondi Beach, which took bloody hours! Went through Paddington on the bus and it hasn't changed, still full of cool bars and people watching people being seen by people being there. If you get me. Bondi is still the same except maybe with a couple of extra streets worth of shops and cafes back from the beach. Bondi Junction looks as if it's been totally redeveloped since I was here before. Sydney in general, when viewed from the bus, is an endless sprawl of bars and restaurants in all directions...
We are staying with Jenny's mate Jo and her husband Max and their little four month old Jake in a beautiful house (still under construction!) in Narroweena, which is near the Manly and Dee Why areas. They are fantastic hosts and it's great to see Jake after hearing so much and only seeing the photos in emails! The nearest beach is Curl Curl beach from where Jenny and I walked across to Dee Why, passing all of Charlotte's favourite swimming holes and beaches along the way. There, we discovered something new... the afogato. This is an Italian iced espresso with Italian ice cream in it - divine! Never heard of it before but my god they're good. I'm sure you can get them on Duke Street though...
