Australia, Sydney: Finishing an Incredible Year

Sydney was located on the southeast coast of Australia and was the biggest and most populous city there (4.1 million). It was also built around the largest natural harbour in the world. The city was the site of the first European colony in Australia, which was established in 1788 at Sydney Cove. Over the years, immigration has had a huge impact on the city and it is now one of the most diverse cities in the world with immigrants from England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Greece, Poland, China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, India and Philippines making up the population, but with the main three sources of immigrants coming from England, China and New Zealand.

After a short flight from Melbourne, we picked up our bags from the airport baggage claim and called Carl to let him know we were waiting for him. The airport wasn't too far from the centre of town and it didn't take long for him to arrive and then drive us back to his flat. Carl, by the way, is a friend of Dan's who was previously Dan's boss in the UK. He had moved to Australia to work and had spent the last couple of years in Oz. we were fortunate to have been able to visit him in Sydney, and it was very kind of him to offer us a place to stay!

The entire bridge looked as if it was exploding with fireworks bursting out from all directions

Carl lived in a modern residential tower in North Sydney with fantastic views overlooking the city and the infamous Sydney Harbour Bridge. A friend of Carl's, Bernard, was also staying with him for a couple of days and was joining us for Christmas dinner. Bernard was from Singapore and had been working in Australia for the last year or so, and was heading back to Singapore to live and work after the Christmas holidays.

Since it was Christmas Day when we arrived, Carl made a traditional dinner consisting of turkey, vegetables, sausages and stuffing. We pulled our Christmas crackers and laughed at the bad jokes inside before putting our crowns on our heads. Dessert that evening was homemade cheesecake and cream served with fresh blueberries. The food was very tasty and everyone felt completely stuffed afterwards.

After eating, Dan called his parents and family back in the UK to wish them a Merry Christmas. It was Christmas morning in the UK and everyone was opening presents, and it was hard to think that we would be back in the UK to see them all only 9 days later. Despite having such a large meal that evening, our appetites were not deterred and we ended up satisfying them throughout the rest of our time in Sydney by trying out many various eating establishments in and around the main part of the city.

Finding a Wagamama restaurant in the city surprised us, and we made the most of eating there on two occasions. Being so close to the end of our trip and missing several things about London and the UK, we enjoyed a "taste of home". For our first visit, we ordered gyoza, wasabi mayo crisps and a rice/prawn dish with vegetables, and for our second trip there, we ate fried chicken, gyoza and some noodles.

Keeping with our food theme (to get this all out of the way in our last journal entry from our around the world trip - haha)... during one of our walks around the city, we came across a sushi restaurant where we popped in for a quick bite of sashimi, nigiri and maki rolls. Travelling on a budget meant that we hadn't had the opportunity to eat sushi since Washington D.C. in the summer, and before that, in Singapore, our first destination almost one year earlier. It was delicious!

When we met up with our friend Chontelle later in the week, we went kayaking in Rose Bay and we went out to eat at a local cafe there. Chontelle took us to a place called Cafe Bondi, a friendly eatery serving chicken and beef burgers with fries. We were all starving after kayaking for most of the morning and the food was great.

One evening before going out, Dan went to dinner at an Indian restaurant called Tandoori Palace with Carl and a friend of his. The food was very good there and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. On another night out one evening, Carl took us to a late night pizza place called New York Pizza Slice, which did the trick after a few beers.

Oporto’s was a chain restaurant in Sydney which served up Portuguese-style chicken dishes. Between the two of us, we ordered a large chicken wrap and a big chicken baguette. We had shared a lot of meals on our trip, both to save money and also to not eat so much since we ate out almost every meal during the year 2007, and the two meals ended up being a lot of food that we struggled to finish.

During our time in Sydney, the local train system was not operating from North Sydney due to maintenance works, and this meant we had to get a bus into the city or walk along the bridge. On Boxing Day (that's the day after Christmas Day for the Americans reading this), we ended up riding a very packed bus to the city centre where we were dropped off at Wynward Station on the other side of the harbour.

Our first stop that day was to explore The Rocks area of the city. The Rocks was by the water's edge and was the oldest area of Sydney with many old colonial buildings lining the streets. Most of the buildings have been turned into shops, boutiques or restaurants and it gave the area a very cosy feel to it. A little farther around the harbour, we came across the busy Circular Quay, a ferry terminus where many boats were transporting people to various areas of the enormous harbour.

In the Circular Quay area, we saw the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge and views of The Rocks and city skyline, all of which were magnificent. A few days after our first foray into the city, we finally walked to the Sydney Opera House to get an up close look of the world famous landmark. It wasn't what we expected at all; it seemed smaller when we arrived and the roof structure was made up of small tiles and concrete. The building looked dated, but was still an incredible structure. From the Opera House, we were granted beautiful views of the Harbour Bridge spanning from The Rocks area over to North Sydney. It was a huge and structural marvel.

Taking to the streets of Sydney during the after-Christmas sales, particularly the main shopping areas of Pitt Street and George Street, was probably not a good idea since the streets were packed with thousands of people on holiday and/or looking for bargains. We reckon it was even worse than London's Oxford Street during the run up to Christmas since the weather was so nice, hot and sunny, and didn't deter people from going outside to spend their cash. However, once on the streets and fighting our way through the crowds with no money to spend ourselves, we decided enough was enough and we left the busy areas to "window shop" in a more quiet location.

Shopping was definitely not the only thing we did in Sydney. Luna Park was a very famous theme park located by the harbour at Milners Point. We left the flat one morning to check the area out and to see how the ageing theme park was holding up. The park was brightly painted and had many rides for young children to enjoy. None of the rides seemed worth the money to us so we skipped them all, but we did have fun laughing at ourselves in the fun illusion mirrors set in the centre of the boardwalk. There had also been a Luna Park located in Melbourne's St Kilda district, but we didn't make it there due to the constant rain in the Australian place we had visited before going to Sydney.

After the Christmas break, the trains had started up and were running again, which was great since it made the journey into the city much quicker than taking a bus or walking. The trains were double deckers, something that we were not used to and found quite novel. We took the train to Wynward Station one day when we had planned to meet Chontelle, an Australian who used to live and work in London, to go kayaking for the morning. From Wynward Station, we walked over to Circular Quay to catch a boat and meet her at Rose Bay, a few stops east towards the ocean.

The boat first went to Watson's Bay before heading back towards Circular Quay and stopping at Rose Bay, a much more laid back and quiet suburb of the city. After arriving, we walked over to a small beach where Chontelle was waiting for us. On the beach, we gave her a hug and chatted for a little bit, and then selected our kayaks and took them out onto the harbour. Our destination that day was Neilson's Beach, an hour or so away around a large peninsula. Kayaking was tiring but was a lot of fun and we saw some excellent views of the city that day.

Once we had reached the beach, we pulled the kayaks up onto the sand and swam in the water for a little while to relax from all the paddling to get there. It was funny to us that we had to swim within a large netted shelter that provided a safe place for people to swim without being eaten by sharks and other ocean predators. The netting didn't look overly attractive, but it did the job at keeping everyone safe. It wasn't until the paddle back to Rose Bay that we realised those same predators were not blocked by any nets and could easily have gobbled us up, kayaks and all, if they wanted to do so. The way back was really tough going and tired us out; Chontelle had been kayaking for a while and led the way without any problems, being clearly in better shape than us boys were.

During a quieter day than Boxing Day, we checked out the Queen Victoria Building, a beautiful and large colonial shopping centre with many small boutiques inside. It was adjacent to the Town Hall on George Street. We walked through the inside and then left as we were still not shopping during our trip. One thing we did splurge on, though, was films. Sydney had some great cinemas and there were many new releases to choose from, so we chose a few during our time there.

When we talked above about the food we ate, we mentioned we had been out on the town with Carl. He took us to a few bars to experience the Sydney nightlife and see what it was like to go out in shorts, flip flops and t-shirts. On one particular evening after Carl had decided to go home early, Kyle and Dan got something to eat and then walked through Hyde Park. It was late in the evening and we discovered possums scurrying around looking for food. We decided to return with a camera so we could take some pictures of the adorable creatures, and we returned two nights later. That evening, we saw a couple feeding some possums a little bread, nuts and fruit, and it was a perfect opportunity to take some pictures. The couple were friendly, and so were the possums, and we chatted with them - not the possums, but the couple - while they (again, the couple) told us a bit about the possums' habits. We also had the chance to pet one of the possums that came close to the couple for some food.

In the daytime, we were able to go inside the small Remembrance building in Hyde Park, which we had seen in the evening during one of our possum spottings. Inside the building were an eternal flame and a balcony that overlooked a large statue of a naked man draped over a sword and shield.

During our time in the city we worked a great deal on the travel journal, and we also started a flat hunt for when we returned back to London, since we needed a place to stay. At Greater Union cinema on George Street, we saw "Golden Compass", "National Treasure 2" and "Alien Vs Predator". At the artsy Dendy cinema, located by the Opera House in Circular Quay, we saw "No Country for Old Men".

For New Years Eve, we were able to watch the fireworks over the harbour from Carl's flat. He had great views overlooking the bridge where the main action would be, and a nice balcony on which we could hang out and enjoy the view. The children's fireworks were first at 9pm; they were good but were not focused around the bridge. They were focused on various points along the harbour instead since the bridge was to become the main highlight at midnight. The Children's firework display was impressive, but no match for what was to come later that night.

To eat, Carl had been busy in the kitchen again and made tuna pate and a sour cream dip, and served some pecans for a snack. For a main meal, he made beef chilli and rice, and he prepared a peach crumble dessert. The food was excellent and of course there were drinks to go along with it!

As midnight drew nearer, Dan and Carl gathered on the balcony of the flat and waited for the countdown to begin. Kyle had been really tired all day and had actually fallen asleep, but Carl opened a bottle of champagne for him and Dan to drink and to bring in the New Year. He had also bought some party poppers and sparklers to enjoy until the fireworks' display began and to drown out Kyle's snores. At midnight, the fireworks erupted from the harbour and soon were launched from the bridge itself. The display was spectacular and very loud, which made the event very exciting to watch. During the finale, the entire bridge looked as if it was exploding with fireworks bursting out from all directions. It was fantastic and certainly something to remember.

On the 2nd of January, we were due to leave Australia and head back to the UK. We were both very excited about going back to the UK and Dan was especially excited to see his family and his two nephews, who had already grown so much in the year that he had been away.

After saying our goodbyes to Carl, we took the train from North Sydney to the International Airport, which was several stops away with one change at Central Station. The train only cost $14 AUD each, too, which was around £6, or $11. During the train journey, we met a friendly Welshman who was going to the Domestic Airport to meet a friend. After the initial embarrassment of Kyle asking him where in England he was from, despite his Welsh accent, we chatted with him until we reached the airport.

Kyle asked, jokingly, if the girl at the gate if we could be upgraded on our flight back to the UK. Kyle looked at Dan who sniggered, thinking there was no chance. The smiles were soon wiped off our faces when we were told that we had been upgraded to Business Class for the entire 24-hour return journey! We couldn't believe it and tried to keep straight faces while waiting for the girl to give us our new boarding cards. With our improved seats, we were able to walk through the crowds waiting to be called and straight onto the plane, where we were told to head upstairs to the Business Class section. Upon hearing this, we were both very happy since neither one of us had ever travelled in the upper deck of a jumbo jet.

On the top deck, we were shown our seats and given a pair of gray long-sleeved pyjamas (that's the same as pajamas for the Americans reading this) with the Qantas logo on the front. We were impressed by the amount of space we had around our seats, and that the seats were fully reclining for the long flight home - part 1 to Singapore was 10 hours. We were both feeling very happy and couldn't believe our luck after travelling away from home for exactly 365 days.

When the plan landed in Singapore to refuel, we had to disembark the plane. We headed straight for the airport's business lounge and used the showers to freshen up for the next part of the journey back to the UK. The flight re-boarded just over an hour after landing, so we headed back to the upper deck after cleaning up. Dinner that was served on the plane was beef rendang, a Malaysian curry, and we ate it despite eating a lot of food at the airport lounges in Sydney and Singapore. This beef rendang didn't give us the Big D that the one we shared in Penang, Malaysia gave us in the first part of our trip.

The remaining flight - part 2 - from Singapore to London Heathrow airport was 14 hours. Over the tannoy, the captain told the passengers that it was 2 degrees Celsius back in London and that the airport there was expecting snow. We looked at each other and grimaced as we didn't have jackets to wear, since the whole year of travel had been in hot climates. We were not looking forward to walking out in the cold without appropriate clothing, but we were more excited about getting back, so it was okay.

It was 3rd January when we arrived back in the UK, and although it didn't snow, it was very cold and windy. It didn't feel as bad as we thought it would, but we certainly weren't used to the lower temperatures yet. The bags took a while to come out as the airport had problems with lack of staff that day. Once we had our bags, we headed to the Tube to catch a train to Liverpool Street, and then an overland train towards Essex where we would be anxiously, and excitedly, greeted by Dan's family.