Sydney (Australia)

We ended up staying in the Blue Mountains around New Year, which was slightly less crowded than central Sydney, and eventually made our way into the centre after the chaos of New Year's Eve had subsided. We stayed in Kings Cross initially (coincidentely also the red light district), which was not the dodgy area it once was. Amongst all the gruftiness, some trendy bars and cafes have sprung up. Vania proved this by choosing a bar on our first night that was the most expensive of all the trip, even worse than Tahiti!



Next we moved up to Sydney's northern beaches, which were unfortunately closed when we got there! The weather was bad and a storm was sending some very large waves across the Tasman Sea. The beaches did open the next day, but even then a surf competition had to be moved from Manly as there were still too big! We were staying at Collaroy beach, the lifeguards opened a very small part of the beach and the waves were still crashing in. I went in, it was great - forget the need for a surfboard, I joined the locals who were amusing themselves by just bodysurfing the waves! This was fun, although after one particularly strong washing machining, I resurfaced to discover that the power of the waves had rudely taken my shorts down, which might have scared some of the local children... When the seas calmed down a bit I made use of the hostel's free surfboard hire and practised my surfing while Vania topped up her tan on the beach. We also spent some time in Manly, did some coastal walks and went to the best fish and chip shop ever (thanks Dave & Keira for the recommendation).

After a few days in Collaroy, we headed back to "the City" to stay in Glebe. Glebe is the trendy, arty suburb with good cake shops (that'll do for me)! And rumour had it possibly even coffeee that will meet Vania's approval (which is very hard to find)! Glebe was a great place to be, the independent cafes and shops give it a distinct feel. I found a shop selling favourite British food to ex-pats at extortionate prices. They even had Marmite!

We did some shopping in Sydney, went to the Australia Museum and walked around a lot. The setting of the harbour is as stunning as you hope for! We had a picnic watching the sunset from Mrs Macquire's Chair, the bit of land with the best vantage point of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. At some point Vania gotted bored of watching me taking even more photos odf the Opera House but fortunatly became entertained by the crowds of flying foxes taking to the skys.

Ok, I'll admit it, it got a bit obsessed with photos of the Opera House! Whatever angle you view it from it looks incredible. My obsession even meant that when Vania suggested we go to a performance there, I agreed. With Bjork playing at the end of January, we wanted to see the place before she trashed it! Not tempted by Burt Bacharach, I finally agreed to go and see an opera, so we got tickets for La Boheme. I admit, it was better than I thought, helped by the subtitles so I could work out what was going on (which was actually very little in the end). The acoustics weren't that great, but having a drink in the bar at the interval overlooking the harbour was worth the ticket price alone. More importantly, it meant I got to take another load of photos of the inside of the building too!

more opera house...........

We made a quick visit to Australia Zoo, where the animals also get a perfect harbour view! Although the lions were too busy fighting each other to notice........

When the weather finally improved (I thought this was supposed to be summer in the Southern hemisphere), we went to Bondi Beach. It was packed as expected, but we still managed to find somewhere to lie down. We then took a walk around the coast, as there are several better beaches just south of Bondi. The walk south along the cliffs from Bondi has some great coastal scenery, and all this just 15mins from he city centre!

More soon!
Tom