Australia Week 1: Auckland -> Sydney
Trip Start
Jan 22, 2006
1
14
18
Trip End
Aug 17, 2006
Sydney,
Australia
Friday, May 5, 2006
Me again! Still desperately behind so I'm going to try and catch up as much as possible over the next day or so. I can't believe I haven't even started writing about Australia yet and we've been here over a month already. A big slap on the wrist is necessary I think!
My last entry left us in Auckland very unwillingly waving goodbye to New Zealand. We wisely decided to leave all our packing to the last minute and, after a late night online, the alarm going off at 7am was definitely not appreciated. I had no idea how we were going to fit all the things we'd stored in Auckland back into the backpacks that we'd re-filled with more junk we'd over the past five weeks but somehow we managed to shoehorn it all in. We even had 20 minutes to spare which I used for a very welcome power-nap to top up the 5 hours from the night before.
We checked out of our hostel and said goodbye to Auckland which we liked despite most people thinking it was a hell hole. Just to make sure we weren't too sorry to leave, New Zealand did its best to be grey and miserable and pour down with rain as we huddled under the bus shelter
01: First glimpse of the Sydney Opera House
. We mournefully turned down the taxi and shuttles offering good deals to the airport while we waited half an hour for the bus we'd already paid $26 for. It eventually arrived and we piled on, greeted by a cheerful driver chuckling that we looked like drowned rats. We also saw the humour in this. Or not.We drove round most of Auckland picking people up so it took an hour to do a 20 minute journey. About 10 minutes into the journey I suddenly felt rather ill and went white as a sheet prompting Dan to move to another seat. The journey to the airport felt like forever and I even had my sick bags (which I'd "borrowed" from the whale watching boat in Kaikoura) prepared for action. This seemed to do the trick of keeping everyone from sitting next to me despite the bus being packed - must remember this trick for the future. Finally we made it to the airport and checked in. Passport control etc was pretty uneventful and we made it through to the other side pretty quickly where we had to settle with a Burger King for breakfast in lieu of any other choice.
We boarded the plane shortly after and found it to be really empty - probably the emptiest plane I've been on at only 1/3 full - and I regretted not being cheeky enough to ask for a free upgrade! Take off was smooth and at 15,000 feet I couldn't help but have a look out the window to remind myself of the view. I'm so thrilled that I got the guts to do a skydive. Although I thought I'd never do it again, I'm already reconsidering and even dreaming about it occasionally.
The flight was great and Qantas very impressive
02: An Aboriginee welcome
. We couldn't watch the film as the screen was too far away so instead we had a palava trying to simulataneously start the Ricky Gervais podcasts we'd downloaded onto our iPods. Was worth it though as the giggling made the flight pass quickly. The food was nice and I took advantage of the free booze. I remember laughing at the podcast, sipping on my sparkling wine, feeling excited about going to Sydney and suddenly realising what a lucky bitch I am. Yes I do get pretty homesick occasionally but it's all worth it for moments like these.After 3 hours we made it to Sydney and piled into the airport. We managed to get through customs, immigration and get our luggage all within 20 minutes of landing which must be some kind of record, narrowly beating the 2 hours it takes in London. We bought a weekly train/bus/ferry ticket and got the train to Central Station. We walked 5 minutes through a small park to our hostel which wasn't far at all (thank God) but it was absolutely back breaking with all our stuff crammed into our bags. Perhaps that kitchen sink was an indulgence after all.
First impressions of the hostel were good and we checked into our room which was fairly decent with a TV and video and a tiny en suite bathroom - luxury for any backpacker. It's pretty clean and not too noisy so we were happy. The only problem came when we turned the lights on and found ourselves in a disco with our very own strobe. I walked down to reception and told the bloke that I thought the bulb needed replacing to which he replied, "Thanks for letting me know." I wasn't quite sure what that meant or whether he was actually going to do something about it but I said, rather absurdly, that he was welcome and left him to it
03: Spot the tourist
. Turns out it didn't mean anything and the strobe stayed for the night.We had a lie in until 9am (!) and tried out our en suite bathroom which is quite nice despite the odd shower doors that don't quite shut together. I attempted to try to make myself look decent and eventually accepted that my hairdryer needed to be laid to rest after Dan had melted it drying his trainers after Abel Tasman. We then consulted our Lonely Planet guide and decided to head to an area called The Rocks for a relatively easy day to start off the week. On the way out I mentioned the lightbulb at reception again and got a slightly more encouraging response compared to the night before!
We walked back to Central and got a train to Circular Quay. It only took a few minutes and it felt pretty exciting to step out to the sight of the Harbour Bridge and a glimpse of the Opera House, particularly as apart from the short anonymous walk between Central and our hostel we hadn't actually seen anything of Australia. We took the first of the inevitable hundred photos of the famous landmarks and then stepped out into the city streets.
It was time for lunch, so we walked along the opposite side of the harbour to the Opera House to find a restaurant that didn't require you to remortgage your house. We sat down at an outside table overlooking the Opera House and soaked up the view. Eventually we were served and ordered some great food and a jug of proper Ozzy beer (when in Rome..!)
04: The ol' Coat Hanger
. We watched an old fellow try to order some food and after asking the waitress to read the menu to him he eventually decided on spaghetti bolognase. About 15 minutes later it was brought out to him and he looked very confused before exclaiming at the waitress that when he'd ordered it, "never in a million years would I have guessed that's what would come out!" I'm not sure whether it was the spaghetti or the bolognase that was the most surprising. Nevertheless he got to order something else but sadly we didn't stay long enough to see what other shocks were in store.After lunch we took a walk around The Rocks and under the Harbour Bridge through Argyle Cut. We climbed up a hill and sat in a park for a while overlooking some of the city. After dodging some crazy people wrapped in blankets (?), Dan persuaded me to go to the nearby free Observatory. It was ok but quite dull with a hell of a lot of exhibits of old telescopes. Would have been fun to look out through the main telescope to see Venus but you had to pay and we were too stingy!
We took the train back to the hostel and got back to our room to find a round tubular bulb leaning against the window. We probably would have tried to change it ourselves but the ceiling was too high so I went down to reception. I told the amused staff what we'd found and they decided it must have been the weird guy on in the afternoon who apparently has a reputation for doing odd things. They came up and finally changed it for us, impressing me with what a tall man, a bed and some good gymnastic skills can achieve if he has enough opportunity
05: People climbing the Harbour Bridge
. That sentence frankly makes it sound much more exciting than it really was, but I was glad to get our light bulb changed all the same.After Dan's day of leadership where we got to look at some telescopes, we both agreed that I would be in charge of the guidebook from then on. We took the train back to Circular Quay and set about finding somewhere for lunch. We ended up back in The Rocks and found a pub called Fortune Of War that claims, along with about 20 others, to be the oldest pub in Sydney having been established in 1828. I'm not sure who can claim the accolade but the woman behind the bar certainly looked like she may have been there since the beginning.
Dan and I both asked for the chicken curry but I made the mistake of asking for mash instead of the rice which I can't eat. She ranted about how the meals are pre-dished (probably not something to publicise?) and the chef couldn't/wouldn't change the menu. I said that was fine and that I had only asked because I was allergic to rice. A slight (ok, complete) lie, I grant you, but it was worth it to see her backtrack as her opinion of me changed from awkward customer to unfortunate victim. Turns out the chef could change the menu after all and I had my rather odd combination of chicken madras with mash. I could only eat about 1/4 of it but managed to force the rest down Dan's neck in fear of being shot in the back on the way out.
We walked back through Sydney Harbour and watched some of the street performers including some Aboriginees playing didgeridoos and a guy playing steel drums with a crazy old man dancing around him
06: Luna Park
. We thought at first they were part of the same (somewhat random) act but it seems the steel drum player was as freaked out by him as we were. Gotta love Sydney.We decided to put our plans for the day on hold and visit the Sydney branch of Trailfinders. We needed to find out how we could apply for our visas for Kenya and Tanzania as we couldn't get them before we left as they're only valid for 3 months from application. The guy was quite helpful to begin with and told us that for $80 they offer a visa service and would do all the work for us. We were quite pleased as it would be easier than having to go to the embassies which we'd have to do as we couldn't send our passports off as we needed photo ID for our internal flights in Australi. When the guy went off to get the paperwork he was then informed by his manager (who didn't have the courtesy or nerve to say this to us himself) that they only offer the visa service to customers who booked something through that particular branch as it was, and I quote, "too much hassle"! Needless to say they saw the sharp end of my tongue that day but we still had to settle (for the time being) with them telling us where the embassies were, one of which was an 8 hour drive in the opposite direction. I was absolutely fuming that they considered it "too much hassle" to offer us this service - which we had to pay quite a bit of money for! - when we had spent over $13,500 with their company over the last few months. I saved Dan the embarassment of a public brawl and instead sent my opinions to our poor travel agent in London
07: The Sky Tower in Darling Harbour
. There's nothing I love more than a good complaint! We celebrated later that night with a meal in Spanishtown where we had some lovely tapas and some even lovelier Sangria.The weather was beautiful the next day so we didn't waste much time before heading out into the sunshine. We got a train back to Circular Quay to continue our plans from the day before and got on a ferry to Darling Harbour. We sailed past the Opera House and under the Harbour Bridge which meant we took several hundred more pictures no doubt identical to the ones we already have. We stopped briefly at an old 1950s style fairground called Luna Park and watched some of the high speed boats do 360s under the Harbour Bridge.
We got off at Darling Harbour and walked along the harbour to Sydney Aquarium. We had a mini comedy-style domestic trying to decide which picture we wanted on the cover of our guidebook and eventually settled on the clownfish version. The aquarium was brilliant and well worth the admission fee which was heavily discounted thanks to our student cards. The fish ranged from the beautiful tropical fish native to the shallow Barrier Reef to the massive ugly grumpy looking fish that live in the depths of the ocean. It made me feel quite nervous about scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef - if I saw some of these fish swimming at me I'd need to pay for a new wetsuit! We walked through the underwater tunnels to see the huge sharks (a few more creatures I'd hope not to come across when diving) and spent some time at the seal sanctuary which we managed to stumble upon just as they were being fed
08: At the entrance to Sydney Aquarium
. We had a great day and Dan was chuffed that we managed to make it through the gift shop without spending any money.The next day was pretty lazy and we just wandered around near our hostel doing some shopping and spending some time online emailing home and finding out about our visas.
After wasting the day away we took advantage of the lovely weather the next morning by grabbing our towels and heading to Bondi for the day. Managed to get on the wrong train going in the opposite direction so had to get off at Sydenham before hopping on the train back to Bondi. We saw a few blokes dressed as monks come out of Hungry Jacks (Burger King to you and me). Not sure if they were genuine monks or just dressed that way as part of the promotion for The Da Vinci Code which is coming out soon. Was quite random anyway but we're quickly getting used to it here!
Bondi Junction was the last stop on the train and we got onto a bus taking us to the famous and beautiful beach. We got off about 100m from the beach and walked along the promenade to get some pictures of the beach and a guy playing frisbee with his dog. We walked down to the beach and looked at some of the spray painted murals, most of which were in memory of those killed in the Bali bombings in 2002 and in particular an Australian girl called Chloe who was only 13. The murals were fantastic but some of them a bit weird - possibly the artist had been enjoying too many 'artistic herbs' when they painted them.
After some lunch by the beach we took a walk along the beach and found a spot to sunbathe for a while
09: Duck billed platypus
. Was getting quite chilly but being English we braved it anyway. The beach had been quite busy when we first arrived (although no where near the nightmare it must be during Summer) but it was getting quite empty now. We still got to see some of the famous "body beautiful" running up and down the beach in very skimpy swimwear but much to both my and Dan's disappointment this activity seemed to be reserved for the over-50-Speedo-loving males. We also watched some volleyball mainly played by young muscular men and I took some photos for, you know, education.The sand was so soft and silky, complete luxury even compared to the sand in Fiji which was hard and full of coral. After playing with it for a while I decided to try and do some sand sculptures. Couldn't think of anything to make so I asked Dan and rather predictably he suggested a car. I did quite a good job but it rapidly turned into a hippo's head. It's a more obvious progression than you might think. Dan's next suggestion was a bum (men are so imaginative) and I went one step further by making a sand woman lying face down. It's not that easy making stuff with dry sand so I was quite impressed with my efforts and insisted on Dan taking several photos and video footage of my masterpiece. There were a few mothers with their babies sat a few feet away who I'm sure must have gone to look at what the hell we were making so much fuss over only to find a random pile of sand with a circle drawn around it.
It was getting dark and cold so we decided to leave
10: No kidding
. I was a bit too tempted by the 1/2 price jug of pimms at happy hour at the beachside bar (no Bayside Diner or Surf Club here sadly) so we walked into the bar and found the barman laughing. Apparently he and the manager had just crushed up a red chili into some ice, mixed it with cranberry juice and gave it to one of the waiters to try saying it was their new cocktail. So mean! We sat outside with our jug of Pimms, checked it for chilis and drank it as we watched the sun go down.The next day was our last in Sydney and we decided to venture back into the town centre. We decided not to rush around the Opera House and save it along with the sky tower for when we return at the end of our Australia trip. Instead we walked through Chinatown and to Market City. We had some lovely food for lunch and then had a look around Paddy's Market before taking a walk past the Entertainment Centre and through a lovely park. After a coffee at Gloria Jeans (a coffee place identical to Starbucks) we walked to Darling Harbour and past the aquarium to the ferry. We took one last journey past Luna Park, under the Harbour Bridge and past the Opera House back to Circular Quay. We had a bit of a walk up to the Opera House and then walked back to toward the hostel to cook dinner for the first time since arriving in Australia!
We made some chicken parmigiana with new potatoes which got complimented by an Italian guy wearing plastic bags on his feet. I'm sure there was good reason for them but I didn't like to ask. The food was yummy and we watched a film which seemed to be about a man who wanted to dress like a woman and whether his wife was now a lesbian. We went back to the room and improved the film selection by watching Flashdance and Footloose on TV. Not too bad (particularly enjoyed seeing a young John Lithgow and Sarah Jessica Parker) but neither had a very good ending. Fell asleep at some ungodly hour in perfect preparation for our first day of driving tomorrow.
You'll all be glad to know that's all for the first week! The bad news is that there's another 4 weeks yet to come.
Hope this finds you all well. Now that university exams are over there's no more excuses for the lack of emails - keep 'em coming in! Love to you all.
Edited to add: Photos have now been added!
