Australia 2005/06
Trip Start
Jun 28, 2005
1
12
Trip End
Jun 28, 2006
Australia, Australia
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Australia here I come, a dream come true. I arrived in Sydney and it was hot, hotter than the whole time in New Zealand. I got into my shabby hostel and dumped my gear and ran out the door down to the Harbour to see the top two world class structures in Australia, the Opera House and The Sydney Bridge. Well, I wasn't impressed by the dull looking cream colour of the Opera House but the views from the Bridge were fabulous. The harbour was busy with tourists and white-collar workers rushing to catch the ferry to Manly, it had a sort of electric atmosphere.
I slept with one eye open for three nights in one of the worst hostels I have stayed in, my father would of died if he saw the state of the mess and smell of the place! The bricked up window was a luxury and the flickering black and white TV was classic, an item that the Antique Roadshow would of loved to have seen.
I managed to book a day trip to the 'Blue Mountains' to see the Three Sisters and beautiful scenery but when the tour bus pulled away from Sydney city centre at 8.30am the heavens opened and it never stopped raining all day. Our guide tried his best to keep us entertained but there was only so much you can do in this type of weather, alternative option was to walk down to see a flowing waterfall and watch people cannoning down them. I never got to see the Three Sisters or even a view to snap on the camera!
The only highlight of the day was a stop at the pub on the way back, a pint of Tooheys went down well.
I did plenty of walking around Sydney with many of shops, buildings and traffic, it felt like New York. I met up with a travel companion, Loopy Louise from Nottingham and we hung about together for a while.
Time to leave Sydney centre and join friends I met in New Zealand that lived in Cronulla, 1 hour by train from Sydney. An opportunity not to be missed so I packed up and headed to the South Coast of Sydney to met Tom and Robyn. Within minutes I was in heaven, Tom's apartment had beautiful views of the beach and I had luxuries of a double bed, my own huge bathroom and the use of a washing machine! Within days I was treated like one of the family and Tom handed me a key to his luxury apartment, I could stop as long as I like. Cronulla had some racial riots at the time but that didn't stop me from exploring the area and joining Tom for a 7.30am surf most mornings. I began to love Cronulla and it's surroundings and most of all the people, two people in particular - Thank you Tom and Robyn for everything, friends for life.
Christmas was getting nearer and an opportunity of joining a mad bunch of Cockneys in Byron Bay was on the cards, a cheap 1 hour flight up near Surfers Paradise/Brisbane was booked. I was greeted by three very dark looking people, didn't recognise them until they shouted 'H, over here matey'! Angie, Glenn and Alann made me feel welcome and part of the family. It wasn't long before we got into the Christmas spirit, vodka spirit! LOL
The weather was just lovely, too hot to be bothered to do anything......arrrh what a life and a great way to spend Christmas. We planned a festive BBQ on the beach with new comers to our hostel room Lorraine and Anton also from the UK. To our advantage Anton was a trained chef and Lorraine had catering experience, the rest of us did our bit and headed in for a surf and swim near a pod of dolphins!
It was a bit weird spending Christmas day on the beach with sun-cream, shades and a swimming costume!
Good things had to come to an end so I ended up saying our sad farewells to Angie, Glenn, Alann, Anton and Lorraine a few days after boxing day. I flew back to Sydney to spend New Years eve at the Harbour.
The day I have been waiting for a very long time, New Years eve in Sydney. I've always admired Sydney's fireworks and festive activities and here I was, living my dream.
I sat near Mrs Macquaries Chair from 11am, best time to get a good spot to see the fireworks at 9pm and 12am but I was lucky to find a place to settle down for the day, everyone and their dog was setting up tents, blankets and champagne at the ready well before I arrived!
I was joined by Loopy Louise and here Notts friend Nicola, another loopy lass! lol
The hours ticked away slowly and the heat built up throughout the day but entertainment was provided, some from the professionals and other by drunken Aussies behind us who thought of 100 party games with a blow up Kangaroo......the mind boggles! Even I got in with the fun and played a fun game of 'Name That Song', I sang a song (out of tune on purpose....lol) from my iPod and the loopy girls had to guess the song....silly game but it made us laugh and others around us.
Finally, 9pm came and fireworks for the juniors and then 12am and it was time for the grown-ups to have their fun. The atmosphere was electric and buzzing. Countdown began and BANG the huge red love-heart that hung over the Sydney Bridge came into life.....5....4....3....2...1....HAPPY NEW YEAR! The sound of the fireworks was shattering and you felt every loud bang go through your body.....wow! Within 10 minutes it was all over and all that was left behind was the thick smog of smoke from the fireworks and tones of rubbish. I was pleased to witness Sydney's New Year festival, maybe I will never see them again except on the TV back home!
A few days later I booked into the YHA in Bondi Beach for 3 nights, I wanted to see what the fuss was all about with Bondi. I arrived in boiling hot weather conditions, too hot for me to go sun-seeking on the beach where there's no shade. In the evening the beautiful sun-set shone on the beach area of Bondi and I can see why so many people are attracted to it but for me it wasn't as nice as Byron Bay.
Then 7th January 2006 - Doom Day for me but that's another story!
Keep reading, more stories unfolding on the next web page.....Canberra and Melbourne next.
