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Australia - 3 become 6 and we see the sights of Sydney.

4th October 2007

After the most fantastic time in New Zealand we headed back off to Australia to see the sights of Sydney.  Our plane was very delayed so by the time we arrived in Sydney airport we were almost three hours late meeting our friend Jonny.  He is a good friend from uni and it was great to see him and catch up, before trying desperately to catch up on the night of sleep that we had missed the night before.  That evening Jonny, Kat and I enjoyed a local steak while Jenna went back to the airport to collect her sister Naomi.

5th October - Three become Six.

I was up at the crack of dawn and went to meet my old friend from home Katy from the airport.  I stood in the arrivals section for about one and a half hours and I must admit it was quite an emotional time watching all the families reuniting and couples and best friends together again.  I was close to tears a few times but delighted when I eventually found my own friend. By the time we got back to our hostel it was still only 8am so instead of waking everyone else up we departed for a leisurely breakfast and a good catch up.  I hadn't seen her for years but she is one of those friend who you fall straight back into how you have always been, laughing about old times and reminiscing. The rest of the day was rather uneventful so resulted in Jonny, Katy and I spending most of it in the pub and all of us playing board games that night.  It really did feel strange, but very exciting to be in such a large group, after it being just Kat, Jenna and I for so long.  It was fun to tell our stories and hear what our friends had been up to, especially Jonny who had just done a season in Canada and had been traveling and working in Australia for months previously.

6th October - Sydney Opera house, the harbour pylon and the bridge museum.

Today we spend our first proper day in Sydney and actually saw some of the sights.  The morning was glorious, the sun was shining and for the first time since leaving Australia I had been warm enough to go out in just a t.shirt and shorts .  We made our way to the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.  They were both close to each other.  I was impressed with the bridge, but the opera house was not as white or big as it is portrayed in pictures.  It was grayish in colour and filthy, we couldn't get in side but we posed for photos outside, but  funnily enough it did look clean and white in our pictures.  We had planned to go up the sky tower, but as the afternoon drew on gray clouds came in and apparently a bad storm was coming so we were advised to go up another day.

Instead we decided to visit the bridge museum, 'The Pylon Lookout', We climbed the 200 steps and found ourselves 87 meters above the ground, with an amazing but very windy view of the city, we also checked out the three levels of exhibits where we discovered the history and construction of the bridge, the view was great but to be honest none of us were very impressed with the museum.

That evening  we went to watch the Rugby, Australia were playing England, we were all very excited but being in Sydney we all kept our heads down for a bit, that didn't last long though, after a few beers I must admit we couldn't help getting a bit rowdy, especially when we WON, what a tense game, I am also so glad that none of us got hit, in the pub surrounded by Australians.

 

7th October - The sky tower and a river cruise.

 
I have realised how much longer it takes to get up and out with six of us sharing a room and all having to wait for a shower and make breakfast, so after about two and a half hours we eventually made our way into the city centre and after a little bit of shopping we stopped off at the sky tower.  It was crappy weather, but we still managed to get a pretty good view of the city from the top.

Apparently it is Sydney's tallest free-standing structure, and the second tallest in Australia!  (with the IQ building on the Gold Coast being the tallest). It is also the second tallest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere (after Aucklands sky tower, which I went up); though Sydney Tower's main observation deck is almost 50 metres higher than that of Auckland's Sky Tower. The tower stands 305 metres above the Sydney CBD, it was fun.

Jenna and Naomi then went on a walk up the Harbour bridge, it sounded like it was going to be amazing, it a little scary, but the rest of us needed to save our pennies so decided on the cheaper option of  a boat cruise.  The weather was still pretty cloudy and incredibly windy but we had a lovely time visiting the outskirts of the harbour including Middle Harbour, Darling Harbour, some magnificent waterfront homes (one where Nicole Kidman used to live), private beaches and secluded bays.

Sydney has been fun but I am very much looking forward to visiting the tropical Cairns tomorrow.