Winter in Sydney!

When I left you last time I think it was with Freemantle. Basically nice, quaint, ye olde worldey port town with markets which are basically of the covent garden/camden mould. Also has a cool shipwreck museum and a nice area to eat known as the Cappuccino strip (we ate at the popular Gino's which was very much a local fave people were hopping from table to table and all seemed to know each other.) Then the huge strorm blew in and we chose to leave in a hurry although the free orange cat bus took an AGE to come! Due to storm warnings didn't really do much in the eve worthy of note so on to Saturday!

Our flight to Sydney was at 4pm so we spent the morning at the Western Australia Art Gallery where there was an exhibition of Egyptian artefacts at the Louvre which we peroused for a couple of hours. Must admit was pretty spectacular particularly the sarchopogae although was basically all about the afterlife so was a tad morbid. Kinda felt bad that someone had gone and basically desecrated the tombs and burial preparations which must have been painstakingly done over months but they are really amazing artefacts so...yeah make your own mind up about that one. Afterwards we hung out in London Court for a bit which is amusingly on St. George St which is a courtyard decorated as if it has come straight out of the Tudor period and has lots of Old Curiosity type shops (photos will come when I get back to England sorry but we both forgot USB connections) and is a pretty cool place. We wanted to have time to see the Swan Bells which were give to Perth by England and we also hoped to hear them ring as they are the bells from Oranges and Lemons but we didn't so still have reasons to come back and visit. Planning to do a West Coast trip once I'm over 21 and can drive (hopefully!) as although it's not got as much stuff what it has got to offer is pretty damn exciting such as Camel rides on Cable Beach and the like so if anyone's interested let me know! So yeah Perth was a really good stopover before we start our East Coast Run.

We arrived in Sydney after a very pleasant no frills flight with Virgin Blue at 10 pm and got picked up by family friends we were going to stay with as hostels in Sydney are absurdly expensive compared with the rest of the East Coast. Also am having a package sent from England containing important items which I left behind such as backpacker cards and bras (isn't it great to see how I've matured over this past year and how  organised I've become) so we're basically stuck in Sydney till it arrives. Althought you don't really get stuck in Sydney as really to properly experience everything you'd need to stay here for a month at least. It is Australia's biggest city and definitely is much more alive in Perth (on Saturday in Perth I'd say 90% shops were closed!) We were taken to a bit of an Old Boys' St. John's get together on the eve of our arrival and were given some really good home cooking and went through a bit of a spanish inquisition because we couldn't speak Tamil ( with such comments as "So are you fully English?" it was a wonder that I managed to hold myself back!) But the kids were all really nice and the next day we hung out together before taking us out to see the Sydney at night. We went to the Olympic Park which is really quite impressive and nicely lit before heading out to Circular Quay which is the main harbour to get to the City Centre. The Harbour Bridge and Opera House were breathtaking at night and accompanied by the soothing sounds of the ocean lapping against the docks it really made me look forward to exploring it during the coming week. We then went to an Italian restaurant in Leichardt for dinner. I should mention that there are many many Italian restaurants in Leichardt and we literally got touted by them all before eventually deciding to pick the one that had scared us the most by his enthusiasm. (We heard him trying to persuade a group of guys by suggesting that if they saw girls they liked in the restaurant he would give them free drinks!) Also had an argument about whether A. S. Rakham was the estranged father of Norah Jones but it turned out to be Ravi Shankar I was thinking of and not A. S. Rakhman, if anyone is actually interested... Ummm only have two minutes left so....what have I been up to...first day we woke up late but took a great ferry ride from Paramatta to the city then we went to the Art museum right next to Circular Quay and then finished off the day at the Aquarium. Next morning we climbed up 1427 steps to the top of the Harbour Bridge (440ft!!!) which was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we wandered around the Opera House and the nearby botanic gardens before heading out to Bondai to try and catch the sunset....Today we spent some time with some of Uma's family before heading out to Manly Beach and it is 20 degrees out here with 10km of beaches to explore so....more detail later but my hour is up so hope you're all well and ciao for now!!!

Ok am continuing Sydney from free internet access at Port Macquarie backpackers which has been our second stop since leaving Sydney on Saturday. So starting from Paramatta ferry ride which definitely is the best way to get into the city although early morning in Winter when it starts going pretty fast and you're at the front of the boat trying to capture some of the great shots of the cityscape it is really bloody freezing plus my glasses, scarf, hat etc. was flying all over the place so was quite an experience! For anyone who hasn't visited Sydney I would advise you to travel as much as possible by ferry and particularly on the river cats rather than the rather older two storey contraptions travel within the harbour. Was amused by rather seedy, short, blonde highlighted aussie ticket collector who really liked our London accents but unfortunately would not give us concession tickets. (The ISIC card really is not that useful at all for all those who haven't been told to do so by STA.) The Museum of Contemporary Art is right next to Circular Quay and since we again got up rather late and didn't have time to catch another ferry to Manly we decided to visit the gallery and grab lunch at the cafe* which has great views over the harbour. There was an interesting exhibition on Latin American Art some of my favourite pieces included a photograph of Che* Guevara made out of baked beans and a black room with knives hanging from the ceiling and spikes protruding from the floor symbolising the threatening natures of both capitalism and communisim or something of the same ilk...but was really good exhibition. Then we ventured up to the Points of view exhibition by Matthew Ngui who has born in Singapore but has spent most of his life in Australia and how both his homes and different cultures have influenced him and was fully of quirky but cool installations. My favourite were video interviews with people who have emigrated to Australia for love! Anyway was quite a nice unplanned start to the day then we grabbed lunch on a ferry out to Darling Harbour where we spent the evening in the Sydney Aquarium. Completely surpasses London's and the definite highlight being the underwater walkway with huge loggerhead turtles, manta rays and massive sharks swimming all around you. Unfortunately our cameras chose that moment to run out of battery so we left but then realised that we had camera phones which in fact took better photos than there digital counterparts. We had a bit of a trek up to Sailor's Thai (again a recommendation from Lonely Planet) but the cantine was all booked up so we ended up at Za Zina's, an Italian restaurant near Circular Quay which seems to be a favourite haunt of Australian sports stars when they visit Sydney judging by all the signed menus and photos on the wall. Again haven't really managed to finish much but will back later to do so. Take care one and all xxx

We actually managed to get up early on the 31st because we w needed to get to Sydney for 11 for our Bridgeclimb which we had rather splurged on but it turned out to be well worth the money. Eventhough we were quite punctual the trains from Seven Hills weren't quite so helpful so we ended up getting a taxi from Town Hall St so that we wouldn't be late. Once we'd checked in we had a half hour induction which included being breathalised, changing into a one-size fits all bridgeclimb jumpsuit (needless to say on my short frame it was extremely baggy) and meeting our irrepressable climb leader Pete (who had a fondness for singing Abba songs and cliches such as we'll cross that bridge when we come to it....)He was a really nice guy though and definitely made the climb more enjoyable. Climbing the bridge is actually pretty straightforward as all they've done is attach steel wire along the stairways which bridge maintenance workers use which you are harnassed to throughout the climb. The hardest part was ascending the four steep, successive staircases which take you right to the top of the Harbour Bridge but once you got up there the view was absolutely spectacular. We were climbing at around midday on a beautiful clear sunny day as the American family (who hailed from Newpot Beach, OC and were staying at the Four Seasons!!!) kept reminding us we were extremely lucky to be witnessing such an AWESOME sight on such an AWESOME day. It was such a great start to our day and I have a really cool photo of Uma and I with the Opera House in the background when we were right at the top. I definitely recommend you do it if/when you ever come to Sydney. We were pretty famished after our 3.5 hour mini trek so we had lunch at the Rocks before wandering around the Opera House and the Royal Botanic gardens which was a very nice way to while away the afternoon. Unfortunately there were no tickets left for the operas we wanted to see and we decided against a backstage tour in favour of tcatching a train out to Bondai for sunset which we unfortunately missed but was quite fun wandering around the beach at night watching adventurous late night surfers. One of them stopped for a bit of a chat and explained that he loved surfing under a 'blanket of stars' which I thought was quite poetic despite the light pollution around blocking out most of the starlight!!! Only downside was getting my jeans soaked thanks to the tide coming in a bit quicker than expected and unfortunately the sand decided to cling on to the aforementioned soaked jeans so they needed a good wash in the evening. We tried to find another Lonely Planet recommendation 'Madame Chan's' but Madame Chan has now moved into the clothing business so we decided to go home for a family dinner!

We spent Wednesday morning with Uma's Aunt and then took a Rivercat from the Sydney Olympic Park into the city which I will again repeat is the best way to get into the city and this trip was decidely more comfortable as we decided to sit down rather than trying to brave the fierce winds at the front. Then we took a comfortable half hour ferry trip over to Manly where I spent some time in an internet cafe trying in vain to catch up with my blog which is now about a week behind and then chilled out on the beach for the afternoon trying to build sandcastles minus a bucket and spade!! We did plan to schlepp around the Manly Scenic Walkway but it turned out to be far more enjoyable paddling and sunbathing on the main beach. In the evening we took out Uma's cousin to 'The Simpsons Movie' which was really funny and again I would recommend you go see it (Spider pig, spider pig, does whatever a spider pig does...)

On Thursday we took a train from Paramatta to Katoomba in the heart of the Blue Mountains about an hour away from Sydney. I got into a bit of trouble as I went in and out of the turnstiles too many times as I'd got used to my daytripper pass (travelcard) allowing me to get on and off whenever I wanted to which was amusing for Uma as I tried to explain my logic. We missed the train we needed by literally a minute so we had to wait for an hour for the next blue mountains line express and eventually got to Katoomba for around 1pm. We paid for an all day trolley tour pass around the mountains which allows you to hop on and off wherever you want. We decided to take the Scenic Railyway (the world's steepest railway) which turned out to be more like the worl'ds slowest roller coaster down the mountains and instead of taking the cable car back up we decided to trek up the Giant Staircase but more on that later as my hour has again run out...take care you guys xxx

So how did we end up trekking 750m up in 900 death defying steps up the side of a mountain...well we wanted to see the Katoomba waterfalls which were rather off the beaten track onto a bush trail not far away from the Scenic Railway but the falls turned out to be a bit of a let down so we decided to keep going on the trail. We reached a map which showed as where we were and which described three trails two medium strength and the hard Federal pass to Daradanelles pass to the Giant Staircase. You would've thought the warning signs about not doing this walk if you had heart and/or breathing problems would've deterred us but Uma was keen to relive fond memories of DofE so we took the hard walk. The paths leading up to the Giant Staircase were fine and took us right under the 'Three Sisters,' an impresive rock formation which are apparently are three beautiful women turned to stone because they wanted to marry men from another tribe. Uma did indeed regret the decision to trek up the giant staircase but the views along the way were so worth the effort. However  most people were clever enough to walk down the staircase from Echo's point but I think it made the views all the better knowing how hard we worked to get them ! Oh also the reason they are named the blue mountains is because of the blue haze which surrounds them created by the fine mists given off by the thousands of eucalyptus trees. If you come to Sydney they are definitely worth a day trip and if you can also try and fit in the Jenolan  caves. Friday we spent the day shopping around this huge n\all in Paramatta before playing board games late into the night with Uma and her cousins  (being an only child sucks cos you have no one to play with so I got really into it plus you all know how competitive I get!!) Then we left Sydney on the Greyhound on the New England Hwy bus cos we missed the Pacific pne. The only thing we didn't manage do in the city was chek out the night lifein King's Corss (they also have a Hyde Park in that region and near Bondi they have Oxford Street!!!) but I'm really hoping to come back in that not too distant future. So moving onwards I'm gonna stop now cos both my contacts lenses have fallen out, the right one came out whilst surfing this morning and the left one has kindly slipped out now as well. Anyhow take care everyone hope you're having a great summer.