We arrived quite early in the morning in Sydney and after finding a really cheaphostel (that was pretty grimy) we went for a walk around the city. We got someinformation on free stuff to do as we had been informed that Sydneywas the most expensive city in the world (even more so than London) and we soon believed it! We headed tothe harbour to see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.The Opera House did not look as good as I thought it would. I had imagined itwould be a perfect pristine white, however it is a kind of dingy grey concretecolour and was not as striking as I thought it would be, I guess its just getting a bit old! Still, it is a veryiconic building and with the Harbour Bridge opposite, the CircularQuay area as it is known, is a really cool place. It would have been good to dothe Harbour Bridge climb but sadly our budget is being stretched just livinghere in Australia so we gave it a miss and just took some pictures from the path on the bridge.There were quite a few street performers in the Circular Quay area and wewatched some crazy guy juggle a machete, chainsaw and apple whilst balancing ona BMX bike on a pole ten feet in the air and biting the apple as he juggled! Wethen called it a day as we were pretty shattered after walking everywhereinstead of getting public transport to save some pennies!
The next morning we visited an area of Sydney called The Rocks which is right byCircular Quay. It contains some of Sydney'soldest buildings and was the first port of call for European travellers. Todayit is a very trendy area, full of boutiques, fancy restaurants and that sort ofthing and is also really pricey! There were some awesome flats with roof topterraces with views overlooking the harbour. It was a Saturday so The Rocksmarket was on and had loads of stalls filled with local arts and crafts. Mostthings were quite expensive so we did not buy anything until we found TheChilli Factory stall! They had a complete range of chilli sauces rated from 1star up to 10 ++! we tried a few, including the hottest one, then purchased oneeach as they were really nice (you can check them out at www.thechillifactory.com if youwant!). After trying the chilli sauces our mouths were on fire so we decided tohead to Sydney'soldest pub located in The Rocks area and sink a pint. It was pretty dingy andreally expensive but the beer was good and cooled our tounges! We then checkedout a photography exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art beforeheading to the other side of the quay to get the ferry over to Manly.
It took about thirty minutes to get over to Manly by ferryand it was a great view back across the harbour with the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and city in view. It is a deadsmall place but was absolutely packed with people when we arrived because the Food and WineFestival was on for the weekend! We arrived at the jetty on one side and just afive minute walk leads you over to the other side of the town where Manly beachis and where most of the festival goers were. Sadly, at 2.50 Australian dollarsfor a small glass of wine, we could not take full advantage of the festival.Instead we chilled out on the beach soaking up the atmosphere and weather andplayed a bit of football before heading back to Sydney at dusk so we had views of the harbourat night. We were stood right at the front of the boat in shorts and t shirtand it was absolutely freezing as the sun was setting as we left. Luckily I hada fleece but John did not so he froze all the way back to the harbour! It wasworth it though as the Opera House and Harbour Bridgewere illuminated and with the city as a backdrop it was a pretty spectacularview. I am not sure my photos will do it justice though as it was hard to takea good picture in the conditions!
On our last day in Sydney weheaded to Bondi Beach! The weather did not look thatpromising when we woke up but luckily (as has been the case for the wholetrip.... its getting ridiculous!) when we arrived the clouds moved and the suncame out! We went for a swim in the small section of the beach where swimmingis permitted as it is mainly a surfing beach and can get quite rough. The waves are pretty strong butwe had fun swimming in on them, chucking the frisbee and ball about and just messingabout in there for a couple of hours. We then headed quickly back into the cityto go and see an Australian rules match. It was taking place at the SydneyCricket Ground and was between the Sydney Swans and Richmond Tigers. We arrivedlate, thankfully the ticket attendant let us have student tickets (half price)despite the fact that we are (were!) international students then we rushed in to take ourseats. The score was already 21 - 0 to Sydney Sharks with only 15 minutes gone!We were sat right behind one of the sets of posts. The crowd were remarkablyquiet and I think, far more civilized than any other sporting event I have been too(including cricket where half the crowd are drunk!). The fans are not splitinto home and away, just mixed up together but there was barely any chanting or singing. There werea lot of laughs though as Sydney kept scoring more andmore points and until the end of the third quarter, they kept there score four times that of Richmond's. Points arescored by kicking the ball between two posts, for which you get six points.There are also two small posts located one either side of the main posts, ifyou miss the central section worth six points you get one point for it goingbetween the smaller set. It took us a little time to figure this out! Richmondkept missing easy kicks and it was embarrassing for them! They did pull thingsback a bit though, and the score finished at something like 126 – 59. It was a good sport to watch, the action is pretty non stop, there are no breaks in play and no arguments, they all just get on with it. In thefinal quarter it started to rain and did not stop for the rest of our time in Sydney including the next morning as we got on a bus andheaded to Byron Bay! Just to let you know, the three hasnow become two! Liam has headed to Asia early to save some pennies as Australia is soexpensive. John and I are continuing on the planned route skimping whereverpossible!
