Sydney

Ok, the reality is I've been back home longer than it is until i go off on another trip to Turkey. So this really is playing catch-up! (At this rate, expect a write up of climbing in Turkey over new year sometime late spring!)

The last 5-day leg of my trip to Australia was to the city of Sydney. Once again i was cursing a lack of research into this trip as my arrival in Sydney coincided with the last week of term and a whole host of school kiddies booking out all the cheap accommodation. After phoning around I managed to find a room in the city centre YHA for the first night, but there after it looked like I might have to swap dorm-room/hostels/hotels each night until flying home.

A last minute saviour was found in the form of my long lost cousin, Stacey. A Sydney resident for the last few years, but I hadn't seen face to face for many more. I was massively grateful to Stacey and fiance Dennis for offering to put me up for the remainder of the trip, but I was equally massively embarrassed to discover it had been 22 years since we'd last seen each other at Melanie's wedding!

My time in Sydney was spent at a more relaxed pace than the previous 2.5 weeks with more museum/art gallery/stately home visits than you could shake a stick at; walking huge distances each day despite having bought 5day travel passes to the tube/train/ferry/bus network.

The first use of the travel pass was to take a ferry under the iconic harbour bridge.

My top 5 Sydney attractions:

1) Maritime Museum: Lots of interesting exhibits including a 1960s destroyer and Submarine to go aboard and explore

2) The harbour - bridge/opera house and all that: Iconic views; need I say more?


3) Elizabeth Bay House: A 18th century folly that bankrupted the governor who built it. Needless to say it's a very fine example of Georgian architecture and the view from the lawn across the bay is almost peerless. I also enjoyed winding through the newer high-rise buildings to find a stoney grotto and koi pond which were part of the original house gardens.



4) Fish markets: Dennis dropped me at the fish markets on his way to work one day, and I ate a massive fish supper of calamari  snapper, crab sticks and salmon all deep fried and served with chips.

I really could have done with a lie down afterwards, but carried on walking around town and found...

5) Sydney Art Museum: An unexpected bonus as I stumbled upon a late night opening to celebrate the life of Francis Bacon. I'm normally an art philistine, but really enjoyed the displays of aboriginal and modern art.


Some other photographic highlights of Sydney:

Coming second in the pub quiz; Australians seem to think that asking questions about Europe makes their  quiz difficult, when in reality it just means that ex-pat teams take the prizes... (Me, $40 gift certificate and Stacey (+random)

$7 BBQ yourself steak - hmmmm....

A spectacular waterfall seen whilst on a daytrip to the Blue Mountains - The one bit of climbing i did here on a boulder above the path quickly deposited me back on my bum with a broken hold in my hand.

Feeding the colourful parrots on Stacey's balcony on the last morning (Rainbow Glories?)

Eventually the trip had to come to an end, and predictably I turned up late for this one too. Checking in with 45min to spare on a 26hr flight is not to be recommended but somehow I made it through security in time and settled in for the long flight home, via a brief 1hr stop in Singapore airport.

Arriving back to a dark Heathrow morning and 2 Celsius was thoroughly demoralising, and work on Monday morning all the more so, which just leaves one question...

...When to go back?