Sydney
Trip Start
Jan 2003
1
122
200
Trip End
Dec 2003
Sydney,
Australia
Thursday, August 28, 2003
My mum's arrived in Sydney. Weird! But in a nice way obviously. With both my mum and the friends we've met it's never sunk in that we've been with them on the other side of the world to which we've known them. It seems so surreal and for five months of the year we hadn't seen anyone we had previously known and then in Australia, virtually all our time has been spent in the company of English friends and we've met precious few new people. Obviously my mum arriving has dominated today's proceedings but half a year's events have now been just about caught up on (I'm sure there will be story-telling aplenty to come) and we can get started on enjoying Sydney.
While my mum joining us has been an effortless transition, our move into what constitutes luxury accommodation (in anybody's eyes, not just ours) has taken some getting used to
City from hotel room
. The porters at the hotel gave our backpacks a quizzical look and had it not been for the fact they were making the hotel look dirty, I don't think they would have picked them up and the doormen were somewhat disbelieveing when we strolled in with a reservation. This all pales into insignificance though when you take into consideration that whilst lying on our bed we have a perfect view of both the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. If I ever win the lottery I know what I'd be choosing for the rest of my life.Day 197 - 198 - Sydney
We're tourists! And we're proud! We've walked down practically every shopping street in Sydney, been on a boat tour of the harbour, visited Taronga Zoo, watched the surfers at Manly and eaten by the Opera House and in Darling Harbour. And my conclusion is that Sydney is a very easy to live in city. The boat cruise while being one of the most touristy things we've done all year is so popular for a good reason. It offers the best vistas of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and city and is what has to be the most relaxing way to travel around - when the waters are calm anyway! Taronga Zoo falls short of its strong recommendations although again, the views it offers are spectacular and I'll never forget the thought we all shared abot wishing that bloody zebra and giraffe would get out the way so we could take a picture of the city of Sydney.
The cost of dining out in Sydney seems to correlate with the desirability of the location rather than the quality of cuisine. Meals with views of the harbour, while being perfectly edible, seem to command double the price tag of most others. I'm not suggesting that Sydney is unique in this way but it doesn't prevent it from being frustrating.
