Gday Sydney
Trip Start
Jun 29, 2008
1
25
40
Trip End
May 15, 2009
Sydney,
Australia
Monday, September 22, 2008
Today(weds) I spent the day sat on the beach (it's still a little chilly, 18, but nice and sunny) and caught a few rays whilst listening to my ipod (1st time in ages!!) and ate fish and chips...pretty good but no vinegar??. I am trying to arrange a sailing trip in the Whitsundays further north as I head there next Tuesday for a week. i have managed to book a day trip to the Blue Mountains for Friday though. I get to go up to the mountains, go on a train ride and go to a wildlife reserve to pat a kangaroo and see a wombat.
Friday - Managed to get myself onto the ferry from Manly to Circular quay in Sydney harbour to catch my tour bus. Didn't realise that all the tour buses to the Blue Mountains go from the same place so getting on the right bus! Found mine and was disappointed as it was driven by an american rather than a true blue aussie. He'd been living here for 14yrs but it's still not the same. Our first stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park to stroke a Koala and feed a Kangaroo which was real exciting. The journey there was about an hour and we drove over the Harbour bridge. The tour guide was a bit of an arse, throwing questions out when it was quite obvious when that we didn't want to answer. The group was small, only 11 of us and came from S. Africa, USA, UK, Germany and France. We spent an hour at the park which is full of animals, some that had been rescued due to injury or being orphaned and some had been born there. It had ussie mammals, birds, reptiles and insects. The best bit was feeding the kangaroo and wallabies. The Kangaroos were so gentle when taking the food from your hand. They held your hands whilst tich hey ate...so sweet!! It was then onto the Blue Mountains which was a two hour cringy journey. The mountains are called their name due to the haze that you can see surrounding them which looks blue. The views are absolutely beautiful. We went to scenic world which has the steepest railway in the world. It took a cable car ride to get there which was cool. The railway was like something out of Indiana Jones and was a little scary but only lasted about a minute. It was a 10 minute walk back up and then the cable car ride back to meet the bus and our bus driver/tour guide...and woe be tide us if we were late (we had to make sure all our watches had the same time as the bus clock before we left!!). We went to another viewing point to take a few more pictures of a group of rocks called the three sisters which are famous around here. It was then back to the city to go and see the Olympic Park whcih was built for the 2000 Olympics. Got there and it was good to see but a bit boring. Finally we had a ferry ride back to Circular Key past the Opera house which for some of the group was a first time thing but luckily for me I get to see it every time I come across from Manly.
Sat - Vicky and I went across to meet her friend Galle who is french but originally from Laos (SE Asia). We took a look around The Rocks Market, which is small and boutiquey. We then walked around to Daurling harbour which is so nice to walk around and see. It is full of really nice bars and restaurants looking over the water. After lunch we just walked around and went to to the Maly for a few drinks! Manly were playing in a semi final (Rugby League) so the bars were packed. Manly won very convincingly and were up to play Melbourne the following week in the Grand Final. After a few wines it was off to another pub. Vicky has lived here since Feb and didn't realise that the bar we went to had a club upstairs. We had to check it out and it was pretty good even if the carpet was sticky!! We had a chat to a few people who were all non aussies!! where are the australians!! Loads of backpackers!! We got in about 3ish...pretty good night had by all!!
Sunday - We both felt a little worse for wear, my body definitely is definitely not used to drinking wine..so used to beer! We had to get up as we had booked a tour around the Opera House. The ferry ride is not recommended if you are hungover!! The tour was to last about an hour which is good. We had booked the tour because a couple on the Blue Mountain tour recommended it so we had high hopes. The hopes were realised as it was really good and informative and yes it was taken by an australian who was really enthusiastic about his job. The Opera House build was supposed to take three years and cost $1 mill but actually took 16 yrs and $102 mill!!! ts a fantastic building inside and out and everyone should do the tour. We finall felt a bit better so went for a walk around the Botanical Gardens. They are so pretty and we saw two weddings taking place there. Instead of seeing pigeons flying around you see Cockatoos and Fruit Bats. There are 100's of fruit bats roosting in the trees. Lunch was at a small thai restaurant for fried rice..mmmm but so expensive $11 AUS (5 quid) and I'm used to paying between 50p and 1.50 for it in Thailand. It was good though and Vicky and I were the only western faces in their which is always a good sign.
