Aussie Land!
Trip Start
Feb 29, 2012
1
9
13
Trip End
Jun 01, 2012
Sydney and Manly, New South Wales, Australia
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
We set off early and had breakfast at Circular Quay and watched the ferries come and go and then hopped on one to Manly, due to it being Easter it was completely packed! We finally found our hostel which was really nice and it turned out although we had booked a dorm we had it all to ourselves. We spent the rest of the day wondering up and down the corso, the main drag of shops and cafe's. In the evening we had fish and chips on the beach, it was good but so windy we nearly lost our suppers, then we went back to the hostel and watched a film.
The next day was designated beach day, we lay on the beach all day desperate to tan, but alas..nothing! We seem destined never to tan. Had supper on a balcony overlooking the beach and Corso.
Awoke the next morning to discover it was a miserable day despite plans of another beach day. So we did the coastal walk to Shelley Beach, it was really nice but I had made the mistake of wearing a dress and if I let go of it at any time the wind made sure I flashed nearly everyone we passed, much to Kate's amusement. We retreated to our hostel to watch another film (not a lot to do in Manly in bad weather) then ventured out in the evening to find a final supper knowing there was a storm coming, we made it to a nice fish restaurant just in time and we watched the storm in the wondow, It was one of the biggest storms I have ever seen, crazy rain and thunder and lightning over and over with barely a pause. Conveniently it stopped as we stepped out of the restaurant so we only had very large puddles to negotiate on the way back.
When we got back to Sydney we checked into Base Hostel, a really nice place and in the city centre. We got a text to say it was a Bondi beach day, so we met Rich at our hostel then got the train then the bus to Bondi to meet Laura and Debbie. Had such a good afternoon in the sun, swimming (where I continued to flash even more people, nature has it in for me) in the crashing waves, reading and catching up. We got a lift back to Sydney with Tom, Debbie and Laura's friend, via Coogee beach. Then we all went out in the evening, somehow ending with a hunt for Macdonalds in the early hours and a game of tennis ball throwing all the way home (I still have no idea why I had a tennis ball) finally we found Macdonalds then bed.
Felt a little delicate when we woke up so we decided to do something that required few brain cells. So we headed for Featherdale animal park with Rich, about an hour from the city. It was so much fun, we could stroke a Koala and the Kangaroo's were roaming around and you could feed them and hug them or spoon them (only me and Kate) and just generally hang out with them. Finally got back to the city on a very busy bus and went to watch Hunger Games at the cinema, loved it!
On Wednesday we had an exploring day, starting with Darling Harbour which is really pretty, we went to an exhibition on Titanic at the Maritime Museum which was really cool then we wondered through the harbour to Paddy's Market, a strange place like an indoor market in China, as it is part of Chinatown then we went and explored Westfield, it is huge. We met Debbie, Charlotte and Rich for a quiet drink on the harbour in the evening but when Charlotte left we went back to our dorm and got accidentally very drunk on our duty free Gin so we headed down to Scary Canary (or Scary Mary, no idea why) do dance it off. I was standing there dancing away when One Direction's Harry conga'd past me, Kate got ridiculously over excited and spent most of the rest of the evening being shoved at by a bouncer as she gawped at Harry and Zayne and took pictures. All in all a very funny and odd evening.
Thursday was a definite tourist day, Debbie, Laura and Rich met us for lunch and we then wondered throught the city down to an area called the Rocks where we had a coffee and amazing patisserie cake and sat and looked over the water at Syndey Opera House, not a bad view at all. After the mandatory tourist photo shoot we headed round the quay to look at the Opera House and then wondered to the Botanic Gardens where we sat and chatted in the last of the sun until the others went home. That night we walked throught the Botanic Gardens to where we were to see our first ever Opera and it was the most incredible night ever. It was a showing of La Traviata but on the most amazing set that was on the water with Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge as a backdrop. The Opera was incredible and there were even fireworks, we were so sad when it finished and we had the long walk back throught the city to our hostel.
Everyone was being boring so Kate and I ventured out alone, we went back to Bondi Beach and began the long coastal walk to Coogee beach, it was such a nice walk with a breeze all the way as it was such a hot day. We walked forever and then gave up before Coogee beach as there was not much sun left and we wanted a swim so we stopped a Clovelly beach which was really nice. We got back and watched the Rum Diary which was soooo good.
Our last day in Sydney had come far too fast but we made it a good one. We hired a car and the girls, Charlotte, Debbie, Laura, Kate and I, made our way out of the city to Palm Beach, better known as Summer Bay! I haven't seen Kate so excited in quite a while.There was not much on the beach to indicate it was the set of Home and Away but there was the surf club sign and the beach rescue buggies have Summer Bay written on the back as well. We sunbathed on the beach all afternoon and then went and had a coffee. We dropped Debbie and Laura back in Balmain where they were staying with Tom and we all went out for a goodbye drink, it was so sad, then Charlotte dropped us back at our hostel and the boring packing began.
We were so sad to leave but South America will be our next adventure so bring it on!!
