Long weekend in Sydney

So, yep, early in the morning, like 7am or thereabouts we, Seb, Meg and I, got up and I drove us (avoiding hook turns) to the Airport. We hired the car with Europcar, you get a mini discount if you have YHA membership, it was cheap enough I guess between the three of us anyway.

Then we got the flight etc etc. Caught the train to The YHA at The Rocks...$15 one way...on balance we could have just got the three of us in a taxi and probably would have saved...also weirdly they won't take Meg's student cards, Australian students only, I guess I understand the principal of that but it seems awfully unfair. Maybe you need an ISIC or whatever it's called card?

So first off anywayz, we left our bags in the lockers as we were too early to be checked in. You had to pay for the lockers. Fancy electronic system, the whole hosel was very fancy and I'd say worth staying here beyond any other hotel because it's a really high standard etc and all very swish and new and built on top of some old excavations of the Rocks which are kept exposed for you to see, really cool!

We decided to go to the Zoo, Taronga Zoo, http://www.taronga.org.au

It was really good, we were very impressed, it was pretty pricey for it all though. To get there we caught the ferry from the main harbour point, Circular Quay and it took about 15 minutes. Then we caught cable cars up and you come in over the zoo seeing the elephants and the monkeys, very cool way to enter! We saw an allright seal talk and a cheesy but cool bird display with the harbour bridge and opera house in the background. Quite fun. It was hard work trying to make sure we saw all the animals there were to see but we did a good job at trying and then were possibly the last lot to get chucked out at 5pm and caught the ferry back. On the way back we called in at a bar called Basement where we were slightly tricked by their cheap drinks advertising but had some nachos to go with as we were getting hungry...however...

We'd booked to eat a bbq at the Hostel for $5 a head which was cool and there we made two friends, Olga and Jan who we went over to the Glenhorne pub in the Rocks with, up on the rooftop bar where we could see the winter light displays which was cool. Michelle arrived late on in the evening as well to join us.

The next morning we got up relatively early and headed on over to Sydney Fish market using the bus as advised by the guy in the hostel...who ommitted any information about needing to pre-pay your tickets in a nearby newsagent...weirdly the bus driver let us on for free anyway, nice of him!

There's a bundle of seagulls flying around everywhere waiting for any sign of fish for them to eat. It was fun but slightly sad too seeing all that fish. Lots of clear eyes, so proper caught that morning fish and of course we had a fish platter shared between us too, very cool! Then we walked back over towards Darling Harbour and the weather was lovely and sunny, though randomly cold, too breezy, then warm, constantly removing layers and then putting them back on again! Around Darling Harbour it was all decorated for the World Cup, so a massive big screen and apparently space for 20,000, and loadsa portaloos etc. There was also this cool fountain which I managed to take some pictures I was quite chuffed with!

We decided then to head off to Manly, so catching the ferry from Circular Quay. It's quite a lengthy ferry ride this one, maybe half an hour. Seb was so amused with the name Manly and kept taking pictures all over the place..luckily I still needed to get him a birthday present so snuck off to get him a Manly T-shirt and Towel! Manly beach and area was lovely but cold, even the sand was super cold, so we headed in for a pint next to a fire! That evening we met up with Olga and went, weirdly, to a vegetarian Chinese in the middle of nowhere, miles away, not barely passing any other restaurants. It was kinda good, but quite weird too. The place was called Mother Chu's www.motherchusvegetarian.com.au. After that Seb, Michelle and I went to try out The Argyle in The Rocks, quite a large venue and it had football on as well. Seb got slightly scared/bemused/confused by the unisex toilets and was then greeted with some Weissbeir that he wasn't happy with, neither were Michelle and I particularly so we all sipped a bit and then went back to sleep.

The next day, Seb's birthday, Saturday, we got up earlyish, although by comparison to the last few days it was a lie-in, Meg went to sort herself out for her trip up the East Coast, and the rest of us wandered round the rocks, found the cool puppet shop hidden in the rocks and the market, where I bought some beautiful earrings, annoyingly of which I've lost one already, grrr. Then we all met at the Opera house, as you do and went for a wander along through the Botanical gardens, they're very big and there's bats in them, I'm guessing Fruit Bats, but I don't know for certain.

We went down to the pie place that Michelle and Meg had read about I think...I can't remember its name, but I believe it has quite a reputation, it's even sign-posted as you walk down to it, it's just a pie stand, but the pies were pretty good to be fair. Then we got in a taxi to Bondi, which was like $25 or something. It was a bit cold, maybe not quite as cold as Manly. We met up with JP, my old flatmate from when I was last living in Oxford. So JP, Lisa, his girlfriend, and two-week old daughter Isabel came to join us for some lunch overlooking Bondi, but sadly not in the sunshine...so we were all quite cold! It was very strange to see him, lovely too, but sort of confusing 'you're the person I'm meant to see in Oxford, what are you doing here even though I know I arranged to meet you here'! He seemed really happy anyway, life's obviously plodding along nicely and he's settling in to being a Dad, and step Dad too which is lovely. In the evening we all went along to 'The Australian' a pub just near the hostel and had 'novelty meat' pizza, e.g Emu and crocodile pizza, all fine, Emu was my favourite.
After JP went home to catch up with fatherly duties we headed over toe Darling Harbour, it was pretty difficult to find somewhere nice to go for a drink due to the football, we found a quite nice place that was a bowling alley at the end of the row of bars etc, and we had some sparkling wine in honour of Seb's birthday. Then we watched a bit of the Aussie match on the big screen and then headed back to sleep.

The next day we checked out and went for a wander along the Harbour bridge. Rather than do the massive bridge climb we thought we'd just walk it. Then I spotted The Rocks market, beady eyes that I have, and we scampered on down to have a look. I found a few presents there as well as a lovely fancy red dress to wear at my brother's wedding! They are going to alter it a little (making it long enough for a 33 year old to wear) and send it on to me before I go back...hopefully...only a short time left now! We just wandered about really then, and down to circular quay and watched some people pretending to be statues and scaring the children, lots of crying children, we were dissapointed by the children we saw that didn't cry...how mean are we!?

Flight back was OK and little Meg caught the bus up to Byron Bay, Greyhound overnight bus. She went to spend two nights in Byron Bay (at Cape Byron YHA) and planned to visit Nimbin nearby too and lie around on the beach. When Seb and I got back to Melbourne we did a crazy quick taxi turnaround five minute change and headed on back out to farewell meal out at Matteo's, the lovely restaurant we went to before...although they were not as welcoming sadly as when we came along before...hmm...the power of the two girl scenario. Eh well! Still the food was gorgeous!

The collection of bars and maybe even restaurants seems a bit few and far between...I'm glad I did end up in Melbourne, deffo one of my favourite cities!