Sydney

18th & 19th January 2010 In preparation for our leaving the Gold Coast, yesterday was spent sorting out our clothes and relaxing in the pool. When we arrived in Australia it quickly became apparent that a lot of our clothes were too warm for the climate so we’ve been lucky enough to leave these at Aunty Mary’s while we continue on our travels round Oz. Bidding a fond farewell to the pool was easy as the temparatures topped 38 degrees, so it was the coolest place to be (at least outside). ...

5th January 2010 We were off to Surfers Paradise today, but our train didn’t leave Sydney until 4pm, so we still had some time to do a bit more sight-seeing before we left. Our first stop was at Central Station where we offloaded our bags ready for the train later. Leaving the station feeling a lot lighter footed, we took the thirty minute walk to Sydney Fish Market. We’d read up a bit about the Fish Market, and knew that they offered a tour, but it only ran a couple of days a week, and we were too late finding out about it before we were leaving for Surfers. We still thought we’d head on over and take a look. On arrival, we found that there were a number of restaurants here, and lots of fishmongers selling an amazing assortment of fish, from salmon, to lobsters, and live crabs. Unfortunately there was no public viewing area of the trading floor that we could find, which was a little dissapointing as it was really what we had walked over to see. Perhaps we’ll have to try to schedule in the tour next time we’re in Sydney. ...

4th January 2010 This morning the weather was looking better, so our trip on the Ferry to Manly was back on. Sydney has a travel ticket which gives you unlimited use of ferries, trains and buses for a day so we bought one of these each from Central Station and set off for Circular Quay on the subway. The ferry terminal is right next door to the train station at Circular Quay, and the ferries to Manly are very frequent, so we didn’t have long to wait before we were on the boat, and being whisked across Sydney Harbour to Manly. It is about half an hour ferry ride to Manly and offers some excellent views of the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Sydney skyline along the way. ...

3rd January 2010 Drizzle heralded the start to today, so we abandoned plans to go to Manly on the ferry and headed for the Opera House via Circular Quay instead. By the time we reached Circular Quay the weather had brightened a bit and some of the street performers were starting to get going, including an Aboriginal guy playing the digeridoo and posing for photos at the same time! ...

2nd January 2010 It was time to say goodbye to the Hilton today and downgrade ourselves back to reality and hostels. The hostel we’re staying at is a little further out of town than the Hilton, but only a couple of stops along on the underground. It is cerainly pretty basic and rough around the edges, but it will do us fine for 3 nights I should think. After checking in and off-loading our bags we walked back into town with the intention of getting to The Rocks in order to catch the Saturday market. Whilst en-route the heavens opened and we had torrential rain for a good 20 minutes! We abandoned our plan of walking to The Rocks, and instead headed back down into the subway to catch the train to Circular Quay. By the time we arrived the rain had eased off a bit, and The Rocks Saturday Market was only a 10 minute walk away. We had a look round the market for a while and then stopped off for a couple of delicious salads in a little cafe before resuming our browsing. ...

1st January 2010 A late start this morning, after not getting to bed until the early hours. Our first stop was a cafe not far from the hotel for a cooked breakfast, then the hunt began to find an internet cafe so we could Skype our friends at Neil and Yvonne’s who were just getting to New Year. It didn’t take long to find a cafe and we managed to get to speak to everyone shortly after it had ticked over to midnight for them. They seemed to be having a great night and it only took 3 attempts to get the Skype call going! It was great to be able to see everyone and have a chat, and especially amusing to see just how drunk they all were - more on that later… ...

30th & 31st December 2009 Yesterday we spent the day travelling, first from our lovely spot at Halfmoon Cottage back to Christchurch where we enjoyed our final Kiwi meal of fish and chips (what else!), then onto the airport to catch the plane to Sydney. We arrived at the Hilton on George Street in Sydney, arguably the best hotel we’ve stayed in so far with its modern room, comfy bed and great view over George Street. After checking in, the priority was to do a bit of a recce in preparation for the New Years Eve fireworks tomorrow so we wandered down to Circular Quay and around the Opera House where preparations for private parties and public areas were in full swing. ...