G’day Sydney
We arrived in Sydney after a tiring flight overnight from Shanghai. I had a total sense of humour failure as we were pushed aside in the race to get on the flight and then found that there was no more room in the overhead baggage containers. Safe to say I went into strop worsened by the fat fella in front of me pushing his chair as far back as it would go. However, the mood was lightened by Karen swopping seats with me and my discovery that there were loads of films on for me to watch. I must have had withdrawal symptoms because I didn’t sleep at all through the flight and I watched 4 (and a half) films.
On arrival in Sydney we made straight to our hostel. The heat was staggering after Russia, Mongolia and China but it was great to see the sun shining. On arrival at our hostel all the staff were all talking about a guy who had to go to hospital because he punched a bus stop when he was drunk and broke some bones in his hands. They then went on to talk about the drunken antics of the previous evening. It was strange to be in a city in which most people were English or English speaking again. It also felt a bit like I was back at University.
Having dumped our bags we went straight to the hospital to get a new plaster for Karen’s arm. We really hit lucky because the hospital that we went to specialised in hands. The doctors and nurses were really kind to us all and the hospital itself was in a great location. The physio that was sorting Karen’s arm out put a fibre glass plaster on it - perks of the job - so that it was lightweight and she could swim with it on. All in all it was a much more pleasurable experience than Mongolia.
Being in sunnier climes we needed to ditch our winter wardrobe and get some summer clothes instead (and of course the sun cream for me). It was nice to wander aroudn Sydney’s shops but we felt that everything was ridiculously expensive after China. Of course it wasn’t but it was hard to adjust. With all our new kit on we packed off our thermals and ski jackets to NZ to pick up later. To be honest we had worn those thermals so much they probably could have got up and walked to Auckland!
In the evening we headed down to Sydney Harbour bridge (as did the rest of Sydney by the looks of things) and enjoyed a drink over looking the harbour. From all the travelling and hospital visits it was nice just to relax.
We had inadvertently timed our visit to Sydney with Mardi gras which is the biggest gay festival that takes place in Austalia. Rather than jump into the all in one cat suit Karen and I retreated to the Botanical gardens and spent most of the day there. It was a strange sensation to be able to sit outside in a t shirt and shorts without feeling cold or needing to move around. Karen was immediately soaking in the sun to build the tan, but when you have my skin type (white to red to white again) it is just nice to sit in the shade. The botanical gardens were beautiful and had some great views of the harbour from them. It was also interesting to see the wildlife of the parks - parrots, bats, spiders (massive spiders).
Taking full advantage of the fact that we are in a country that has some decent wine we had a few drinks in the evening and settled nicely into the swing of things.
On Sunday, when the MArdi gras hangover was kicking in for a lot of Sydney we took a bus to Bondi beach. It was awesome to be swimming in the sea and just to lie on the beach without a care in whe world. Bondi beach is full of surfer dudes and it was pretty busy - but it was just a warmer version of Whitley Bay really. Obviously I immediately blended in with the locals and didn’t stand out liek a sore thumb at all - any whiter and I would have been an albino.
We arrived back in Sydney and walked to teh local pub for a beer. From there we watched the most terrific thunder and lightning storm. It absolutely threw it down with rain and when time came to brave it outside it was as if we had been in a shower. It felt very refreshing though. The next few days were punctuated by spells of rain. It made little difference to us but I was expecting uninterrupted sunshine when we got to Australia.
We made arrangements to travel down to Melbourne on a bus route that allowed us to get on and off when we liked. We decided to spend about 2 and a half weeks to get to Melbourne and to stop off regularly - thus avoiding the long haul bus rides. With our MP3s fully charged it was time to hit the road again.