Sydney

This week we had planned a trip to Sydney. The two main purposes to this excursion were to firstly get a bit of down time for Em and Izzy after 7 nights working at the hospital, and secondly for Izzy to meet up with her parents again as they come back around to New South Wales for a week or so before flying back to the UK. On Monday morning, Em and Iz got back from work and went straight off to bed. Em and I were planning on going to see Ciara (a medical registrar from Ireland who was moving up to Darwin) to go and finalise the purchase of her 7 year old Ford Mondeo.
I had gone to see the car on Sunday with cash in hand, but we realised that the 'pink slip' which is neither pink or a slip but simply a cut-down MOT type test printed on a piece of A4, had run out and we would need a new one to re-register the car in our name. The car had passed this fine, so I woke Em at around half past twelve and we headed down to meet Ciara. Cash was exchanged and much questioning of what we were all doing began. Ciara had never sold a car, we had never bought a car, so all got rather interesting trying to figure out which bits of paper we needed, which we didn't need, and what required either our signature or Ciara's signature. About ten minutes later, we'd got the keys and were driving it back to our place.
That afternoon, we headed off to Gosford and got the train to Sydney. Now for all my ranting about how much more expensive everything seems to be over here, they've certainly got it right when it comes to train fares. It cost £17.60 ($8.80 each) to get to Sydney each way. That's around £8 return for what would cost around £30 for an equivalent distance into London (i.e. Southampton to London). Why can't the UK get its act together and charge similar prices? Maybe then they would get a decent percentage of the population using public transport as seems to happen here.
Arrivedin Sydney on time and headed out to Wake Up, a hostel that Em and I had booked a double room at. Although this was a hostel and obviously all facilities were shared, it was still costing the equivalent of £50 per night which I think was pretty ridiculous. I'm sure in the UK we'd be able to find some cheap b&b for under £50 per night, even in London! Saying that, we were glad we'd stayed there as it was a really friendly place, loads to do, and if backpacking then there'd have been shed loads of excursions that we could have done for not a great deal of money.
Once bags were dropped off, headed to Izzy's parents hotel and Iz dropped her bag off as she was kipping on their floor. Went out to the Opera House and instantly remembered the layout of the city. Had food on the waterfront and soaked up the view - Opera House on the right and Harbour Bridge on the left. We'd wanted to do the bridge climb but we all realised that we'd not be able to afford that this time, so I'm sure we'll be back in the not too distant future.
Met up the following day to go with Iz and her folks around some of the bays in the harbour and wander around to Bondi. Was great weather. After the rains of a couple of weeks ago, most of South Australia is now in the middle of a heat wave, so some of the hot dry weather has been spilling across to New South Wales. Temperatures were around 26-29 all week, and the sun was out pretty much all the time. Great views around Watsons Bay, the north eastern peninsula on the south side of the harbour, and out to sea. Bondi was, well, Bondi really. Loads of people soaking up the sun. The odd surfer trying to catch non-existant waves but still somehow managing to surf a long way in to the shore, and loads of people in the sea having fun. Went and did the obligatory paddling and then walked around the coast to one of the other small beaches before catching the train back to central which is right next to Wake up. Found a nice place to eat up George Street selling pub-type fare at low prices then headed back to the hostel for the night.
Decided to go to Taronga the next day, but at a leisurely pace after all the walking of yesterday. Strolled up George street to Circular Quay - the main ferry terminus up by the Bridge and the Opera House. Popped into a fair few shops on the way up - saw the largest Camera Lens I've ever seen, but no price tag although I'm thinking several thousand dollars - and got to the Ferry around 11am. Booked onto a Cruise of the harbour which includes Zoo entry, so had a bit of a tour of the sights of the harbour and heard some of the history before arriving at the Zoo. Took the cable car up into the Zoo rather than walk up the hill and got great views of Sydney, not to mention the Orang-utan who was sitting at the top of a pole with a sack on his head to shade himself from the sun - most funny.
Spent the whole day wandering around the zoo. Some highlights were the bird show, which unlike most shows which just show the birds, get them to fly around a bit and then sit them on a perch, actually had them trained so that they would fly to certain points of the arena, swoop over the audience's heads, and make a noise at the right time to coincide with the handler's speil. The snake exhibit was quite a good one to look around as I at least know what they look like now and know that you're meant to keep still if one sees you and then it will just slither on past. Obviously one highlight was the Orang-Utans, although Mr I've Got a Sack on My Head was still happily sitting at the top of his pole even up to when we left at half 4! Saw a few spiders too - so also what some of the common poisonous ones look like. Unfortunately a number of exhibits were closed as they are re-developing the site and are building new enclosures so that was a shame, so we may have to return at some point to see it once they've moved them all.
Got back to Sydney at 6pm, and headed over to the Rocks, the area around the base of the bridge. Found a proper Irish pub in there and had a couple of pints of the black stuff whilst waiting for time to tick around so we could go for food. Got chatting to the Irish bar girl. Found out she's a nurse in training on a few months out before she heads back to finish off her degree. Went back to the harbour side for around half 7 and got a table in a nice place with a great view. Picked the cheaper meals from the menu as I reckon average prices there were $40 per meal. I had kangaroo - just had to be done - and Em had a pasta thing. Roo is a crossed between beef and venison, although a bit tougher than venison but not quite so gamey. Met with Iz again after our meal and had a drink by the Opera House then headed off to Jackson's on George a pub/bar/club which Iz's friend worked at for a while before starting medicine. We were told the barmaids dress as cowgirls so we wanted to go see that, but the club wasn't open and we think that must be where they do that as the pub downstairs and the bar upstairs didn't. Played a few games of pool before strolling back down George St to the hostel.
Checked out at 9am and had breaky in the hostel cafe before crossing the road and getting the train back home. Were back in Terrigal for about half 12, although that would have been around half 11 if the train had been a couple of minutes earlier as we only just missed the bus back home. The next one didn't turn up either, so Sydney to Gosford was marginally quicker than Gosford to Terrigal!! Got back and registered the car down at the RTA so we now officially own it. Em had a drive and is just about getting used to the size of a Mondeo after her Corsa and MX5.
Just relaxing for the rest of the week before Em starts work again on Monday night.

Tootle pip,

Rich