January 24th – Welcome To A Land Down Under
Early flight again – why do we do this to ourselves?? We were up at 3 and praying that our luggage allowance would not be over the 60kg allowed by the cheap airline. With the tent, sleeping bags and a chair we came in at 59. We were all so pleased with ourselves which seems so silly but being very strict with your packing has become a way of life. It’s amazing what little you actually need. A lot of our stuff is still for those just in case moments and I will never compromise on medicines etc but our clothes are now minimal as you jus don’t wear everything you carry. I have been asked what I could not do without and what has been useful…..I would have to say that our £1 Tesco aluminium bowls that we also use as plates have been a God send, our microfibre towels (but make sure you get ones that have some “napp” or fluff on them like normal towels as the flat/smooth ones just stick to you when wet), and although a heavier item – the laptop. We have used it to communicate, to do work on, store and work on photos, watch DVDs in the tent when it’s been raining and to organise. Yes it’s a pain with the leads etc but I am so glad I bought it with us.
We landed in Sydney at 7.30 and went straight to the info bureau at the airport. I had not booked accommodation as I couldn’t really tell which were the party hostels and which were more family orientated. If you are expecting the info to be as excellent as the ones in NZ forget it. I asked and was pointed to the advertising board and told to phone each one. Welcome to Oz mate! Luckily the second one we phoned sounded really helpful and had a room for all 3 of us so we got in a taxi (which I was ripped off) and headed into the city. Fist impressions? Busy – there are 4 million people in Sydney alone – the total population of NZ. It’s a young city and there were lots of homeless too. No views of anything famous yet but all of us were excited just to be here so we dropped our bags in our room and went straight out again.
I love the feeling of being in a new place. Did we have any clue where we were going and what we wanted to do beforehand – absolutely not. We just walked until we found a station – luckily Central station is about 5 mins away, bought a day pass and headed towards the Opera House. The transport links here are great – there are trains, trams, buses, metros, ferries and a monorail to choose from. We found a double decker train and headed to Circular Quay to take in a ferry ride round the harbour (free with the day pass). Getting off the train we all saw it – the famous bridge and the opera house, it was pretty obvious to everyone on the train we were first timers and tourists.
The ferry took us out to Tauronga Zoo but we didn’t want ot go there so went straight back again. The views are amazing of both the bridge and the Opera House as you go by and I can’t quite believe we are really here. The sun was shining, the temperature had risen by about 10 degrees and here we were walking around to the Opera House eating amazing ice cream. The Opera House itself is a surprising creamy colour, it looks more golden close up. You can’t beat it’s iconic status though and I had to go up and touch it. The kids are used to it by now although they still think I am a bit mad. They will understand when they are older.
You can walk around the botanical gardens (next to the Opera House) for a couple of kms, the road is right next to the harbour with views of the bridge and the Opera House. It was lunchtime by now and we were all surprised by the number of joggers out – there were loads. We think people go out during their lunch hours to jog but it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The testosterone level increased no end and many were keeping an eye out to see who was watching before putting on that extra sprint. There were people running up stairs, jumping up stairs, power walking, stretching, running, jogging – it was quite a sight.
We had a rest in the gardens (meandering can be very tiring you know) under a tree after giving it a hug. The signs in the garden say please walk on the grass, talk to the flowers and hug the trees so of course we had to. It was sitting down that I noticed strange pod like shapes hanging all over another nearby tree. OMG I think they were fruit bats – about a foot long and they kept stretching their wings out and screeching to each other. How strange as it was bright sunshine out and there were loads of them – we really are in a country far far away!
The Sky Tower beckoned to us so up in the lift and round the tower to check out the cityscape. Sydney just seems to go on for miles and miles. I was also surprised by the cliffs that are so close to the city – I don’t know why but I didn’t expect any. The tower also has an Oztrek attraction, a simulator ride and quick introduction to all things Oz which the kids enjoyed and it was fun walking through the caves there. We saw the monorail from the tower and it goes over a bridge to Darling Harbour so we decided one more thing before going back to the hostel and crashing, well we had been up since 1am local time. We found a supermarket on the way home but were too tired to cook so found a really friendly Turkish pizza place next door to the hostel, ate and found bed. I was asleep before 9.
Tags: Australia, Travel
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