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Australia - Sydney
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Day 6 - back in Sydney
We awoke to a sauna-like bedroom that saw us head straight for the showers and take ages to get ready as it was far too warm to contemplate putting any clothes on. When we finally did make ourselves decent the first task was to collar the hostel staff to replace the mattress; lots of springs were broken and sticking through...on Verdi's side! While we were at it we got them to nab us a table and chair for the room as well as yet again it had NOTHING but a bed in it.
Room in order, we headed out to the supermarket (Woolworths) to get the food shopping in and buy some supplies for New Years Eve (picnic blanket and cool bag) as we will have to get a spot really early (midday-ish) and stay there ALL day AND night!
By the time we had sorted the room and done the shopping our initial plans; going to Olympic village and Featherdale Wildlife Park had been scuppered, so we decided to jump on a bus down to the Harbour instead. Having previously done the Bridge walk, we had a free pass to the 'Pylon lookout' which is only about 30 metres lower than the top of the bridge. This afforded us some pretty good views over the harbour which this time we COULD take photo's of (PICS).
The Pylon lookout would normally cost about $8 (3 GBP) per adult which is strongly recommended if your heart or wallet can't take the heights and costs of the bridge walk. Again it is a bit of a trek to the top; there is an initial 150 or so steps up to the walkway that leads to the bottom of the pylon tower and then another 200 steps up to the top of it. Including the return journey, that makes 700 steps as opposed to the 1400+ of the bridge walk - easier but not a breeze.
After the Pylon lookout we strolled back up George street enviously eyeing up all the shops' Christmas sales reminding us of how we have spent many a post Christmas shopping outing.
ANOTHER cold shower later in a vain attempt to cool down before bed, we closed our eyes and hoped for the best.
Day 7
We had decided to re-attempt our visit to the Olympic village and Featherdale Wildlife Park so tried to make an early start which was immediately hampered by the ridiculously muggy atmosphere making the smallest task a chore and an effort. We got even further behind schedule as we bumped into Aaron and Lisa (couple previously spoke to) over breakfast and chatted about Australia and our travels for an hour.
Leaving a bit later than planned we made our way to Circular Quay to catch the Rivercat ferry over to Olympic Park at Homebush Bay. There was a long queue for ferry tickets and then the journey over, although refreshingly breezy, took a lot longer than we anticipated (50 mins) to top it off we then had to wait for a bus into the actual Olympic village. By the time we got to the visitor centre for a map, the onward trip to Featherdale Wildlife Park looked unlikely.
Our first stop in the village was the 17th floor of the Novotel hotel where you can look out over the entire site. If you're staying at the hotel it is free to go up but if you're a visitor is costs 1.60 GBP per person - as it turns out this is quite an expensive way to get a couple of photographs (PICS).
After the Novotel we strolled through the pillars that are dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of volunteers from the games (PIC), including an Andrew Bishop (PIC) but funnily enough not a Verdi Taylor. Right next to the pillars is a mushroom shaped dome that has 12 plasma screens mounted at the top, on entering and waving your arms around, the screens come alive with footage from the 2000 games - the first reel being of Cathy Freeman (the first Aboriginal gold medal winner).
Alongside the dome and pillars is the Telstra stadium, the main stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies and track and field events. Unfortunately the only way into and around the stadium is on a guided tour which costs about 12 GBP per person - needless to say we moved on.
A short stroll down Olympic Boulevard and we came across the Olympic torch, now cleverly converted into a water feature (PIC) which plenty of people took advantage of, in order to cool down from the clammy conditions. Surrounding the bottom of the torch are the names of all the medal winners of both the Olympics and Paralympics of Sydney 2000 (PICS).
We eventually found the names of a few British achievers (PIC).
Just behind the torch was a small yet innovative play area with funky looking swings and roundabouts. Obviously designed with us in mind we thought it our duty to give them a go. With Verdi playing guinea pig, Andrew encouraged her to rotate faster and faster...until his turn, when after only a couple of rotations he turned a lovely shade of pale and jumped off. Loving the 'dizzy feel' Verdi carried on on all the swings / roundabouts several times each. It was only after about 6 goes on one particularly fast rotating seat that she relented before it was too late.
From the play area we spotted a skate park so ventured over to have a look. It was overrun with teenage BMX riders showing off their skills and tricks on half-pipes and ramps. Some of whom were really quite impressive so we stood and watched in awe for a while before just watching them made us tired.
Realising that the trip to Featherdale was going to have to wait until another day we made our way to the train station to get back to Central - the train supposed to be markedly quicker than the ferry and bus. The train WOULD have been a lot quicker had the driver not completely ignored the station and shot right through leaving us to wait around for another 20 minutes for the next train. A guard from another train who was also stranded by the 'shoot through' invited us to sit and wait in her cabin, where she proceeded to enlighten us with the ins and outs of her job and the amount of fatalities that happen every week on the lines. Apparently most people wouldn't travel if they knew half of what went on....reassuring!
We eventually made it back to central and meandered through the park back up to the hostel; stopping briefly to take a photo of an old guy engulfed with the birds he was feeding (PIC).
With firm determination to get to Featherdale the following day we aimed for an early night.
Day 8
Determined to get to Featherdale Wildlife Park we got up at 8:30, kept our heads down at breakfast and set off at 9:30. What we hadn't realized was how long it would actually take to get there - 10 mins walk to Central, a 30 min wait for the next train, the train then took 45 mins before a 15 min wait for the next bus which in turn took about 10 mins. We finally got into the park at nearly 11:30!
The park itself was really well set out with plenty of space for all the animals, and a lot of emphasis on giving them free reign to walk about outside of their closures.
The first area we entered had a number of bird cages but the main attraction was the Wallabies which were allowed to wander out of their enclosure and visitors could stroke them. Unfortunately these particular Wallabies had different ideas and stayed firmly entrenched at the back of their shady pen. After numerous attempts to coax at least one of them out for a close up (PIC), we gave up and moved on to the Cassowary's nearby. Now they were some freaky looking birds and massive as well (PIC). There was no petting those creatures though as they are actually fairly dangerous.
The following area was the one we (and we're sure everyone else who visits) had been waiting for; Koalas. They were SO cute (PICS) even though they were all in the middle of a siesta...which isn't unusual as they sleep 18 - 20 hours a day! It's alright for some. They all looked completely drugged up, just slumped over the branches (PICS). Even the two that had been taken out of their enclosure for the public to pet and have photo's taken with (PICS) were fast asleep and had apparently been like that since 9 am.
Collected in the trees in the middle of the Koala section were a number of birds, including a few Kookaburra's, one of which perched itself on a little girls arm. It didn't look nearly so playful when Andrew tried to encourage it onto his arm so we left it alone and just took a photo instead (PIC). Kookaburras are renowned for sounding like they are laughing at you when they talk which is well reflected in the photo as it looks like the little bugger is laughing at us (PIC)!
Around the corner from the Koalas was a large open Kangaroo enclosure where you could pay to take in small ice cream cone of feed (grass!) which people had obviously been doing all morning as the place was covered in discarded, half eaten ice-cream cones and most of the Kangaroos weren't interested in any more food (PICS). The majority of them were more interested in lounging around and keeping cool in the early afternoon sun rather than entertaining us.
We gradually made our way around all the other enclosures taking in; Lizards and an Iguana, a very sleepy Wombat, a shy Tasmanian Devil, some flustered penguins, flying foxes and ghost bats, a rather unusual Albino peacock, a couple of excitable Dingo's and a curious Emu (PICS).
There are lots of other Kangaroos and Wallabies scattered throughout the rest of the park, including a few Albino Wallabies which wouldn't have been safe in the wild as they would have been spotted too easily by its prey (PICS).
In the middle of the park is the reptile house which held the worlds most poisonous spider; Male Funnel web, and the worlds most poisonous snake; Inland Taipan. It also held a couple of other native Australian native spiders such as the red back and Huntsman. Some of the other animals in there included; Monitor lizard, bearded dragon, freshwater and saltwater crocs, Geckos and Skinks (PICS).
Once out of the reptile house we had covered the entire wildlife park and decided to pay one last visit to the Koalas to see if any were awake and willing to pose for a few pictures. We got lucky with one little guy who managed to stay awake for all of about 10 minutes (long enough to get LOTS of photo's!) (PICS).
Pleased with our bounty of cute photo's of Koalas we made our way out of the park, passing a keeper with a tiny baby Wallaby in a rucksack (SO cute!) and then back to the bus stop where we saw a strange looking tree looking right back at us (PIC).
On the way back to the train station we decided to jump off a stop early and go into Black Town shopping centre in hunt of Krispy Kreme Donuts (we had seen a woman leaving there with a box on our way to the park!). The shopping centre was actually really large and had a 'Big W' (part of the Woolworths chain) where we decided to stock up on things ready for New Years, namely; collapsible chairs, parasol and a blanket. All of which were a bargain at about 4 GBP each.
Krispy Kreme's safely in hand we headed for the train back to Central. Just outside Central is Belmore Park which we decided to cut through to head back to the hostel. No sooner had we entered the park than we noticed a few bats flying around above us....which then turned into about 30 or 40. The locals carried on walking through the park as we stood gawping and taking photos of the bats (PICS).
Back at the hostel we planned for our trip to the blue mountains the following day and tried for an early night; 11:45.
Day 9
We could have done with getting an even earlier night; we were up at 5:30am! Showered and packed we left the hostel in plenty of time to catch the 7:25 train we had read about. On arriving at the station Andrew grabbed a coffee to have with the remaining donuts, as breakfast while Verdi queued for the tickets. It was at this point that we realised that the train that we needed actually left at 7:18!
The tickets we got turned out to be a bargain, as the daily bus ticket around the Blue Mountains normally costs $30 (12 GBP) and the return train journey should have cost another $23 (9.20 GBP) but the city explorer pass that we bought incorporates both tickets and came in at $38 (15.20 GBP).
Katoomba (the central location and main stop off for the Blue Mountains) was a two hour train journey away. The journey actually flew by as we relaxed and chatted over our coffee and donuts and enjoyed the striking views over the beginning of the mountains and canyons.
We caught the very first bus (at 9:30am) to the drop off for Katoomba cascades (PICS), unfortunately we found the cascades in a rather sorry state due to the recent spell of dry weather - a theme that was to continue throughout the day.
From the cascades we trekked to various viewpoints around the area which offered panoramic views of the Blue Mountains (PICS) and our first glimpse of the three sisters (PICS).
The Three Sisters are a collection of rocky outcrops which, aboriginal legend has it, are three beautiful sisters who were turned to stone by the tribes witch doctor to prevent them from being captured by invaders. The witch doctor was then killed in battle before he was able to turn them back (PIC).
Our next stop was to gain a view of Katoomba falls (or 'Katoomba trickles' as we nicknamed them that day!) we could imagine that it would be a spectacular view in a wetter season (PIC).
We then made our way to Scenic world which holds; the Scenic railway (Funicular railway created on the track used by the old coal mining carts and is the steepest in the world), which takes you to the bottom of the forest and onto the Scenic walkway, the Scenic cableway (cable car back up from the forest) and finally the Scenic Skyway which takes you across the canyon and has a glass bottomed floor (PICS).
At the base of the scenic railway we decided to take a different turning to most other people and walked to the base of Katoomba falls, which enabled us to get some different views of the falls.
Walking back towards the railway we headed for the Scenic walkway through the forest, and opted for the longest loop - approx 2 miles but a 45 minute walk as it is quite steep in parts and has many things to stop and look at en route such as the old coal mine, miners hut and an abundance of Eucalyptus and Turpentine trees, (some of which were still showing the scars from recent bush fires) including one very special wild Koala (PICS).
With the forest walk completed we caught the cableway (packed & very hot!) back to Scenic world to jump on the next open top 'London' tour bus (included in the day pass) that took a whirlwind 25 minute tour around the Jamison valley (PICS), again this was packed and VERY hot on the top deck.
Back at the Scenic centre we jumped on the next Scenic Skyway; which is a brief cable car ride across the valley to a drop off near Echo point. The cable car has a glass bottom which they reveal once you're over the valley (PIC). At the other side we walked around to the first viewpoint passing a sign with something scurrying over it, on closer inspection it was a bloody big spider - a Huntsman. It ran around the back so we popped our heads round to see and were met with about 30 of them (PIC)!!
Continuing on towards Echo point and the Three Sisters we passed some colourful layers in the rock (PIC) and multiple opportunities for good panoramic shots of the Blue Mountains (PICS). As we neared Echo point the Three Sisters loomed closer and closer into view (PICS). What we hadn't bargained for was quite how long the walk from the Skyway drop off to Echo point was going to be and how hot! We ran out of water at the very beginning and were gasping by the time we got to the main viewing platform at Echo point - so much so that we had to rush to the shop to buy some drinks, completely bypassing the spectacular view and main attraction of the Blue Mountains; the Three Sisters.
Thirst quenched, view appreciated and photo's taken we decided to catch the next bus to Leura cascades instead of making the walk down the giant stairway (to the bottom of one of the sisters) as 1) we were knackered, 2) we had been advised that it's not a great view as you are too close to get any good pictures and 3) it was getting pretty late.
Getting off the bus near the cascades we strolled down to where a group of people were gathered assuming that the water they were looking at, photographing and paddling in must be the cascades (again more of a trickle with the dry weather!). Unable to get any decent photo's due to the crowd, we decided to wander a bit further downstream. Five minutes later we happened upon the real Leura cascades! (PICS) which were much more impressive even at this particularly dry time.
Out of time before the last bus, we had to miss Gordon falls and head back up to the bus stop. A photographer we had been chatting to at the cascades had advised us that the vantage point at Gordon falls was at the very top of the waterfall so you don't actually get close enough to the edge to take any good pictures of the water.
At the bus stop we had a five minute wait before the last bus limped in to the stop with a full load and a flat tyre! (PIC) After much banter with the driver a couple of rescue buses showed up and ferried us all to the train station at Leura. It was obviously a popular time to head home (with the tour buses finishing) as the platform was packed, unfortunately so was the train when it arrived, which meant there was standing room only. Five minutes into the 2 hour journey home, standing turned into sitting (PIC). Despite the crammed and uncomfortable conditions, Andrew some how still managed to sleep!
Finally back at the hostel we still had our work cut out for us with having to do some laundry, shopping for New Years Eve and dinner before collapsing thankfully into bed at 1:00am.
Day 10 - New Years Eve
Early entry to our vantage point for the New Years Eve celebrations (Mrs Macquaries Point - part of the Botanical Gardens) meant that we were up at 7:15 to cook and prepare the picnic, get all our things together and catch a cab over there for 10:30. It was going to be a long day.
Mrs Macquaries point is the most popular vantage point for New Years as it offers amazing views out over the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. They cram 25,000 people in there! It was free to get in and you could take your own food and drinks but alcohol could only be bought on site.
It was a long walk from the entrance point to where we finally decided to set up camp (PIC). En route we had to go through security to check the bags but luckily we were there early enough to not have to queue for very long. There were already a couple of thousand people spread sporadically around the park by the time we got there, with clusters of people in areas where there were unobstructed views.
We were pretty happy with our spot; brilliant views of both the Opera House and Harbour Bridge (PIC) and plenty of room around us, with the path in front of us we figured no one else would set up camp right in front of us as the tarmac was practically melting!
Unfortunately about an hour in we were also melting and had to retreat under the parasol (PIC) for some much needed shade. The park and all the 'space' around us was filling up rapidly as a couple put their blanket and bags down next to us. Within seconds we recognised a Welsh accent and that was enough to get the conversation going. As it turns out Ryan & Jen are from South Wales as well - Ryan is originally from Porthcawl and Jen West London but they work and live in Cardiff.
Given that we were going to have to spend 13 hours in the park before midnight, we had taken; books to read, a puzzle book and plans for a long sleep but none of them were touched as we continued to chat with Ryan and Jen and then their friend Steve (who joined us soon after) late into the night. We hit it off straight away as we seemed to have a lot in common including a similar traveling ethos.
The organisers of the New Year celebrations had arranged for something to happen on the hour every hour from 1pm leading up to the children's fireworks at 9pm including; firing of the cannon, an aerial plane display, sky art, sky divers, an Aboriginal display and parade of sailing boats (PICS).
We continued to take photos of our view as the light faded casting new shades and shadows on the Opera House and Bridge.
Another friend of Ryan & Jen; Liz joined us later in the evening, bringing more food supplies, even though the ones we brought had barely been touched - so much for getting up at 7:15 to cook! All we wanted were more ice lollies.
At about 8:15pm we decided we couldn't put off the inevitable any longer, and had to brave the portaloos! Given that there are about; 25 vantage points around the Harbour for New Year, 25,000 people in our section alone, 5 sets of toilets in our section with about 20 portaloos at each (each with long queues), the last thing we were expecting was to bump into anyone we knew. Low and behold at the precise time we decided to make the intrepid journey to one particular queue at one particular set of toilets at the other end of the park from our seat, so did Aaron and Lisa; the couple we had chatted with several times at our hostel.
The half an hour wait for the toilet went a lot quicker as we stood, chatted and caught up with a slightly worse for wear Aaron and Lisa, and amused ourselves by taking it in turns to rock one another's portaloo! At 8:50 we said our goodbyes as they were leaving for Bali on New Years Day and all raced back to our crowded seats just in time for the 9pm children's fireworks (PIC/VIDEO).
We thought the path in front of our seats had been packed at 9pm, but nothing prepared us for the barrage of people that filled the area and tried to push past from about 11pm onwards - it was manic and took all our patience and effort to guard our now 'standing room only' plot!
Thankfully at 11:50 the area reached saturation point and no one else was able to get through so we could finally gather on the rug, relax and light our sparklers (all big children at heart) (PIC).
You could feel the anticipation and excitement mount as midnight approached. The crowd then went crazy as the fireworks exploded into action at 12pm (PICS). The show was absolutely spectacular and the long day and slight crush towards the end were all worth the effort come those 15 minutes of fun and celebration.
After lots of laughter, hugs and 'Happy New Year's' we started an ever increasing circle to sing Auld Lang Syne.
We had already decided earlier in the day to wait around a bit and let all the other mad fools head for the exits straight after the fireworks, which proved to be a wise move. As the crowd dissipated and we gathered our things Jen returned her wine bottles to get her $5 per bottle back. On her return we all hit upon the idea of gathering the wine bottles strewn about the floor that other revelers had left behind and take them back to the bar; Andrew and Verdi made $35 (14 GBP) - not bad for 5 minutes work!
Wallets replenished, we made our way (with several thousand other people) out of the gardens - the crowds were reminiscent of kicking out time at a premiership football match! We had forgotten quite how long the walk in had been, the walk out was made even longer by our tired feet, slightly sun burnt shoulders and the pace set by the crowd.
We said our goodbyes to Ryan, Steve and Jen as they hopped on a bus back to their home in Randwick (suburb of Sydney) not before arranging to spend the following day together at Coogee beach.
We then continued our walk all the way back to our hostel (about 3 miles from our vantage point!), emptied our bags, showered, scrubbed our grubby feet (PIC) and fell into bed at 3:30am.
A couple of quick hints & tips if you're ever in Sydney for New Year;
1) Don't bother queuing up for the 'alcohol wristband' as the queue was never less than an hour and you don't even need it.
2) They didn't check our bags properly so we easily could have taken some of our own alcohol.
3) The best places to sit are right at the tip of Macquaries point (with no trees in the way!). Ideally either up on the embankment so you don't get hoards of people pushing past you on the path come 11:50 OR in front of the path so the madness / crush is going on behind you.
4) Do as we did and come 12:15 gather as many empty wine bottles as you can and take them back to the bar to get your $5 per bottle. They limited it to 4 bottles per person but there was no limit on how many times you could go back! It closes at 12:45.
The whole thing was really well organised and resulted in a friendly and safe atmosphere with no sign of trouble. We're sure this was partly, if not wholly, due to the ban on 'bring your own' alcohol - it meant there were huge queues (min 1 hr wait) at the bars to get a maximum of 4 drinks at any one time.
Brilliant time had by all.
Day 11 - New Years Day
Late night meant a slightly later morning - 10:15. As discussed with Jen and Ryan we texted them for directions and then caught the bus to Coogee beach. It was a stifling hot day - even the walk to the bus stop had us dripping with sweat! As it turned out it was actually the hottest day that Sydney had had in twenty years - 45c!!!
Ryan, Jen & Steve met us at Coogee and then gave us a lift round to Clovelly beach for a quick spot of snorkeling - it's a smaller family oriented beach with small surf. Mairead and James (friends of Ryan & Jen's) met us at Clovelly as well before we all headed back to Coogee to catch the waves...which were immense.
After a small amount of body surfing, a larger amount of biting the sand and just generally being battered by the waves for an hour and a half, we decided to relax on the beach for a while before heading back to Ryan and Jen's for a BBQ (PIC).
It was really good to spend some time in a proper home with; a nice living room and garden to relax in and a kitchen all to ourselves to prepare food in. After we had all showered we left Ryan in charge of the BBQ (a seasoned chef after working at 'Sydney Gourmet Burger' for a while!) and relaxed with a drink or two.
We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the strong wind (VERY strong at times!) that had picked up and chatting about all our various adventures (PIC).
Ryan kindly gave a us a lift all the way back into town and dropped us right outside our hostel - we could get used to being spoilt like that; personal chauffer, chef and trip advisors!
After arranging to meet Ryan, Jen & Steve again in the next few days we headed into the hostel to extend our stay by 3 nights (which we managed to wangle free of charge!) and then made our way to bed at 1:30.
Day 12
We attempted a lie in but the plan was foiled by the ridiculous temperature of the room - we HAD to get up, showered and out.
The heat dictated that we did everything at a leisurely pace - got ready, had breakfast and spent some time on the internet before strolling down to the Botanic gardens for a look around.
En route to the gardens we passed a fountain (PICS) we recognised from New Years (walked past on the way back!) and then decided to take a brief detour to the convict museum...well just the intro rooms as we didn't want to pay to go in! Then another pit stop at A&E...to cut a long story very short; over a week previously Andrew accidentally stepped on the back of Verdi's flipflop as she carried on walking - the top of her foot had been swollen and painful ever since. On the walk to the gardens Verdi's foot was increasingly painful until excruciating shooting pains up her shin were enough to send her limping into A&E....but not painful enough to hang around for 4 hours for an x-ray and a $95 bill!! We left pretty sharpish after a bit of reassurance from the triage nurse that it probably wasn't broken.
At the Botanic gardens we first came across a tropical green house but decided we would probably see it all naturally at a later date, so opted not to pay the entrance fee. Instead we made our way around the many paths and routes in the gardens and came across hundreds of bats flying above us and resting in all the surrounding trees (PICS).
We spent some more time looking around the lake, Oriental garden and at a couple of families of ducks (PICS) before making our way down to the Opera house. Resting our legs at the Opera house for a while we noticed that the Opera house seemed to disappear in the haze of the mid-afternoon sunlight (PIC).
A brief visit to Pizza Hut later and we were stuffed after having taken advantage of the fantastic 'all you can eat' buffet - much better than the UK's.
We eventually made our way to bed at 1:30.
Day 13
The night had been markedly cooler so we slept well and caught up on that lie in we had planned previously.
We took some time out to catch up with a few administrative tasks including booking ahead our bus trips and accommodation for the next week on the way up the East coast.
At 2:30 we jumped on a bus to the infamous Bondi (PICS) to have a look around and do the walk from Bondi to Coogee which is recommended in all the guides.
Bondi, as was to be expected, was crammed with sunworshippers so we didn't hang around for long. The walk was relatively easy (2km) and picturesque with panoramic views from various lookouts (PICS). Tamarana beach, between Bondi and Bronte, was a much smaller beach than Bondi but quiet and immaculately kept (very popular with Gays apparently). Once we got to Bronte we decided to down togs and go for a dip in the sea. The waves were nowhere near as big as Coogee but the strong undercurrents meant that we had to be equally as careful and it was no relaxing paddle.
Having started the walk so late we had run out of time and daylight by the time we had finished our swim so instead of walking the rest of the way to Coogee we caught a bus from Bronte to Randwick to meet up with Ryan, Jen & Steve at their work; Sydney Gourmet burger. We spent the next few hours chatting about our plans for the rest of Oz and New Zealand while munching on our FREE gourmet burgers - they were great!
With the shop closed and locked up we headed back to Ryan & Jens for some more drinks and chatting.
Stomachs satisfied and Ryan & Jen's 'bible' to New Zealand safely tucked away we headed back to the hostel and bed at 2:30.
Day 14
Again we rose late (10:30) and hopped on a bus down to Circular Quay where we grabbed some local fish and chips, watched some aboriginal street musicians (PIC) and got the ferry to Manly. The weather had finally turned and sat outside on the deck of the ferry we actually got pretty cold and were forced to wrap a sheet (was going to be for the beach!) around us both. We didn't want to go inside as we had been told that half the fun of going to Manly is sitting outside and the view.
Manly and its beach (PICS) were fairly quiet due to the overcast and drizzly weather so we just strolled down the main street to the beach, sat there for a while and then headed back towards the ferry.
Back at the hostel we took a late afternoon power nap before updating the website and then embarking on the one main thing that Andrew wanted to do in Sydney - visit 'Harry's Bar' - a pie van/shop down on Cowper road in Woolloomooloo Bay (PIC) that had been visited and strongly recommended by the food critic and chef Anthony Bourdain....there's a theme emerging in this trip!
Unfortunately, due to the time spent on the internet and lack of an appetite after the fish and chips we didn't start our venture to 'Harry's' until midnight! There were no buses about and we didn't want to spend the money on a taxi so it meant an hours walk to the other end of Sydney at midnight in the drizzling rain to get Andrew a pie!!!
We sat on the harbour and enjoyed a 'floater' - the name for Harry's pies as they smash the top of the pie in and use it a plate by filling the top with mash potato, mushy peas and gravy.
With an early start beckoning for the trip to Newcastle, and the rain getting heavier, we hailed a taxi back to the hostel before packing our bags and making our way to bed at 1:30.
Latest Comments (1)
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Backpacking Joys! (reply)
Jan 13, 2006 03:52 EST by blobbus
You had to come across an Aussie politician some time!!??
Sounds like your travel partner was a barrel of fun - NOT! It just goes to show that even in the land of plenty they have their down and outs! I'm very glad you didn't get any more involved.
Hope to speak to you soon
Be happy, be well and be safe
Mr. & Mrs Blobbus
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