 |
| Opera House |
The aim is to get a summary of both weeks into this one
post – a whistle-stop tour of my two week in Australia.
Here we go…
We got to Christchurch Airport at 3am and once I was
checked in I headed for a big area full of comfy couches and snoozing backpackers
and slept for over an hour. A noisy cleaner came round at just before 5am to
let us all know that security was opening so we could move off her patch and
head for our departure gates – most of us did. I fear that the couple of guys
who didn’t even stir either missed their flights or got forcibly removed by the
woman!
By 8am I was coming in to land at Kingston Smith Airport.
I had arranged to meet OB at Circular Quay at about 9.30 but as we taxied
towards the gate the captain made an announcement over the PA system that 25
bags had been left behind in Christchurch and soon after that I found out my
bag was one of them! No matter!...I had no connecting flight or plans other that a day of gossip, beers and sitting
in the Sydney sunshine. I found my way to the train station and was waiting for
the train to the Quay when I was accosted by none other than one Miss O’Byrne!!
Safe to say ther were hugs and LOTS of
excitement but, after about 2 minutes of chat it was like we saw each other
yesterday. This also happened with Connie and Jenny and Heather and Jimmy –
somewhat of an anti-climax (but not really!). We had no choice but to hang
around in town until the evening when I could go back to the airport to collect
my bag so we strolled around to the Opera House and (as it was still before
10am) we had coffee and croissant rather than getting straight on the beers. We
talked for hours and before we knew it we were in seriously in need of some
lunch a beer! We headed towards an area called The Rocks to a
restaurant/fancy bar called The Argyle where Joe joined us for a beverage.
Eventually it was time for me to collect my bag which had finally arrived in
Sydney (via Auckland!) safely.
 |
| Excitement! |
Sunday was Joe’s birthday! I’d found a particularly awful
birthday card with a teddy bear and pink balloons on it – lovely. We had a
leisurely morning before going around the corner to The Stein pub to meeting up
with a mate of Joe’s from back home who moved to Sydney a while ago. We had a
couple of bevs but had to move on fairly sharpish as we were heading to
Paddington to see the Aussie Rules match between the Sydney Swans and North Melbourne. The Swans triumphed by quite a margin. Aussie Rules is a great game
– the one game I’ve seen where players can really get away with giving someone
a sly thump and getting away with it quite easily – the pitch is massive, 8
refs, 34 players, runners, water boys.. I think there was around 50 people on
the pitch at one point!!
 |
| Spit to Manly |
On Monday I
went all Dora the Explorer and headed over to Circular Quay solo, and made my
way to the Australian Museum. I saw some amazing Aboriginal painting and learnt
about the Canning Stock Route. They also had a large exhibition hall filled
with skeletons in rather strange posses. From there, I headed to The Domain and
the Art Gallery of New South Wales where I saw a painting of Milford Sound from
1879! I explored the enormous China Town and Darling Harbour areas – stopping for
a couple of pints and a read of the Sydney Morning Herald – before catching the
ferry back to Manly.
With sandwiches and sun-cream packed, OB and I caught the
bus out to Spit Bridge on Tuesday
morning ready for a few hours and a 10km trek back to Manly. We strolled
through forests, along beaches and across parks and hurried the in between bits
to stay ahead of the weather that was quickly closing in. We passed some
spectacular scenery and gigantic creepy crawlies before joining up with Joe for
the rest of the day.
 |
| Anzac |
Wednesday was
a public holiday. Anzac Day is the Aussie and Kiwi Remembrance Day, with dawn
and sunset services and a lot of boozing and gambling between the two. All
three of us went to Kings Cross to play Two-Up and win lots of dollar –although not as much as the 85 year old veteran throwing down the $100 notes! A
funtime Wednesday meant a hangover Thursday.
In our infinite wisdom, we thought a trip to Bondi Beach would clear our heads –
we were wrong. A bus journey that seemed to last a life time and a while on the
beach watching the surfers and we felt grimmer than ever. We went for a coffee
and treated ourselves to the train back into town. I was glad I got to see
Bondi but the highlight of the day was the spectacular sunset we were gifted as
we sailed across to Manly – Superb.
 |
| Walking the Bridge |
Friday was
another Dora day. I decided to venture north of the Harbour Bridge on the train
and walk back. Little did I know, THE BRIDGE WOBBLES, which was quite
unexpected for such a huge structure and made it tricky to go to the edge to
get any decent photos. I did however get to see the nutters who decide to CLIMB
the Bridge up close. Once I was safely across, I explored The Rocks and the
Botanic Gardens and saw more lunchtime joggers than I’ve ever seen in one lunchtime my life.
Back in Manly that evening the three of us went across to Shelley Beach to play
a bit of Aussie Rules, watch the sun set and get an early night in preparation for
the excitement of Saturday’s trip to
Featherdale Wildlife Park.
 |
| KOALA |
What can I say – It. Was. Awesome!! I had said if I didn’t
do anything else the whole time I was in Australia, I wanted to see the Bridge,
the Opera House, a kangaroo and a koala. Job done. As well as kangas and koalas,
we saw a Tasmanian Devil and wombats which I’d never seen before. All in all a
super day, followed by hours and hours of poker playing and rum/vodka drinking…
3am came around all too quickly and ensured that Sunday was a complete write off consisting of hours monging in the
internet café and rehydrating.
Now this most is getting lengthy again and I’m only just
getting to week 2 of my Australian adventure. But it’s OK, because I can’t
really tell you much about week 2 – ‘what happens on Tartar Tour, stays on
Tartar Tour’. On Monday we said our
goodbyes to Joe and headed to the airport to catch a flight down to Melbourne.
We spent the night at a family friends’ of the O’Byrne’s and set off the next morning
for a tour of the Great Ocean Road, starting at the Twelve Apostles an taking
in several lookout points and beach stops. We spent Tuesday night in a small town called Lorne, had fish and chips (and
tartar sauce) for dinner, bought a crate
and pack of cards from the British girl in the local supermarket and sat in the
kitchen of the hostel entertaining the French group of backpackers with Jimmy
Carr-esque laughter and inappropriate ‘Would You Rather’s /‘Criuse, Marry, Shag’s.
We continued our road trip on Wednesday,
all the way back to Melbourne. On the way back we made a pit-stop at the
lighthouse from Round the Twist and the street that doubles at Ramsey Street in Neighbours!
 |
| Great Ocean Road |
And next thing I know, it’s Friday and it’s time for me to go home. And I’ll leave that there
otherwise I’ll get totes emosh again about the fact I may not see the BFF for a
year…or more.
And that’s it, I promise. I’ll not be banging on about
the trip any more, although I can’t promise
won’t mention it from time to time… Plans a afoot for the future and
being out there on a more (semi) permanent basis within a couple of years.
OK – normal service will resume with the next post – I have
lots, as always, to fill you in with!
Until next time,
Bren x
Ps, Not sure if non-London based folk have heard about the Cable Car, but its right outside my office and I'm going on a tour of it next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment