Sydney - the first few days in Oz

So I've finally made it to Australia (well been here since friday 15th now...)

On the ferry,

Last night in Bangkok turned out to be real good fun in the end. Started talking to a bloke on the night train (Phil - a fellow English) and he was headed the good ol' Koh San RD way so we decided to share a cab. He was meeting up with a friend (Maffie sp?) who was staying in a hotel just up from Koh San. So I headed in that direction with him. The hotel there was full but I managed to get booked into the next one down the raod. Phil and Maffie then invited me to tag along with them for the day and we went off on adventure round Bangkok via the river, sky train and a bit of walking. Ended up doing a huge loop and felt fully statisfied that we'd been good tourists for the day. In the evening we then headed out to a market Maffie had heard about down on the river. This turned out to be the thai's local market for clothes, knock offs and cheap shoes. Being very restrained I only picked up a few bits and pieces. Also right next to it was a whole street filled with a flower market. This was just bursting with roses as it was Valentine's the next day. I tell you I have never seen so many flowers crammed into one street before.

Approaching Circular Quay.

It also turned out that Maffie was also heading to Australia the next day like me and only half an hour before my flight so we shared a cab to the airport. Overall meeting up with these two lovely people made my stay in Bangkok a lot more enjoyable than when I arrived.

I then embarked on my  nine hour flight to Australia. Which was pretty standard as flights go, although it was awesome to see the sun rising over Sydney as we apprached the airport. At the other end Maffie had waited to say goodbye to me, and I was picked up by John, a friend of my Uncle Chris's who very kindly offered to let me stay with him, his wife Kate and their family.

The Opera House.

So here I am at their house in Balmain, Sydney (which is one bay east of the opera house). I spent my first day sleeping as I've picked up an awlful cold and I can never sleep on planes anyway. Then on my second day I headed off into the city by ferry, going under the famous habour bridge and landing in Circular Quay right next to the Opera House. I did the typical tourist thing and started by walking around it. Then I headed off to the visitor centre to pick up some 'idiot guides'. After that I popped into the contemporary art musuem and wondered about for a bit. It as turning out to be a nice day so I thought I'd walk through the botanical gardens and down to the main Art musuem of Sydney. The problem was that as soon as I lost sight of the water I got horribly lost, but it didn't matter as the gardens were so vast and pretty I enjoyed myself anyway. This did mean that I arrived at the museum at about 4ish giving me less than an hour to quickly dash round it. So I think I'll head back there before I leave and give it a proper go. You haven't done an art gallery properly I think unless you spent most of your time standing in front of the art with that puzzled expression on your face, occasionally making comments like 'mmmmmm I see...'

Looking back at the city.

Then yesterday I went on mission with John out to a little property they own about 3 hours out of Sydney in some mountainous area. It was beautiful; a little wooden house by a creek with a huge meadow, some rocky hill bit and surrounded by huge moutains. They've even said I can go up and stay there for a couple of days if I wish. I may just take them up on that!

Then we detoured slightly on the way back so that I could induldge on my first wine tasting venture. It was good, I even had cheesy nibblets! The desert wine was fabulous and I did have to resist buying a $25 bottle of it... Also this place had some of John's sculptures up, which was really cool. A large crouching cat-like animal carved out of foam and a sitting man with a great expression of contemtplation on his face.

Pretty flower in the Botanical gardens.

And thats what I've been up to recently. Today I took a day off to read the guide book, think about my route and generally suss some stuff out. Before I leave Sydney I'm definitely going to explore the city a bit more and do the climb across the habour bridge!

Another city shot.

John above an aboriginal rock carving.

A weather vane John made.copyright John Clegg

The little house.

Beat up car at the house.

Close up shot.

Dhalia in the garden.

Pretty "goldies" in the garden.

View from their house.

The creek there.

Shot out the window on the way back to Sydney