Home and Away
Trip Start
Apr 16, 2009
1
79
124
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Saturday, December 19, 2009
A touch of drama when dropping the campervan off in the Sydney suburbs - we hadn't read the small print on the contract which required us to have it cleaned inside and out. The dust storm that we had driven through near Albury meant that there was to be no chancing it, the thing was dirty as hell. Jie, blissfully unaware of the situation, had been dropped off with luggage at the train station around the corner expecting Ritchie back in a matter of minutes. Little did she know he was now racing around the neighbourhood looking for a carwash. Sure enough the van was too big for the automatic types so a coin-operated soap-and-water power hose was located which did the trick. Ritchie returned around an hour later, soapy and dishevelled, and we headed into downtown Sydney.Our serviced apartment (around £5 more expensive per night than a hostel) was awesome. Oaks Goldsbrough is an old woolstore converted into apartments and overlooking the entertainment district of Darling Harbour, right in the heart of the city.
Sydney is regarded as a great city, and we would have to say rightfully so. It's difficult to pin down exactly why, but the atmosphere is good, the weather was great, there's loads to see and do, and eat and drink, plenty of parks, beaches nearby etc. etc. We enjoyed our stop.
Things we did: listened to christmas carols whilst sweating in the heat outdoors at Darling harbour
saw Avatar on the world's largest IMAX screen
spent a day in Manly on the beach and trekking around
took one million photographs of the Opera House from almost every angle (even got one from the plane)
walked through the amazing botanical gardens marvelling at all the bats hanging upside down in the trees
went to Sydney Wildlife World where we saw a simply enormous croc, and Koala bears. Asleep, as they always are.
