Again with the Photos

Photos of our last days in Sydney have been added to the album. These include: Blue Mountains (Katoomba), Bondi, Kiama, Manly and some from this evenings Noodle Nights. Enjoy!

Food

I have to say that the food so far on this trip has been fantastic...

New York It's not so much that the food was fantastic here but as soon as I arrived I had a longing for hot dogs. I may have mentioned this before but I don't normally eat hot dogs, however, when I get to New York I can't get enough. Just as well we didn't stay too long in New York or I may have turned into a hot dog... ;-)

Sydney There has been lots of good food had in Sydney (as Farah promised)
Sushi rolls - These seem to have been a replacement for hot dogs... except better. They're like the little norimaki rolls you can get in Yamamori in Dublin but they are bigger - about three inches long and there is such a selection. They are so tasty....
Thai food our first experience of Thai food in Australia was one of the better Thai restaurants - Stir Crazy in Kirrbilli. The food is excellent and even do take away. So we ate there twice once eat-in and once take-away. I had a masaman curry, mild but very tasty and Jamie and stir fried chicken and sweet potato, a strange mix but pleasing. Stir Crazy won't break the bank but you can't book tables and the restaurant is small.
Chinese - we went to China Town one evening, which was an experience. It's got lots f activity and some great markets but we found a lovely restaurant called Noble Chinese Restaurant (funny cos our local Chinese in Dublin was called Noble House), maybe that's why we ate there. Anyway the only thing I could possibly fault them on is that their Sesame Prawn Toast isn't as nice as Jamie's. Not that it wasn't nice, just Jamie's is better. The main course portions were absolutely huge but that didn't stop at least sharing a dessert. All in all very pleasing.
Night Noodle Market - As described in blog below, a lovely idea and we enjoyed it.

I also have to mention a couple of other bits, such as Burger King is called Hungry Jacks over here and today we tasted peppermint Sprite (never seen that before) and we'll never taste it again. Lots of fast food places, kebabs and equally lots of places that do sushi and juices. New Zealand Natural ice cream parlours are the best as the also doo smoothies, juices and milk shakes.

Last Day in Sydney

Today is our last day in Sydney. Tomorrow we leave for Brisbane and beyond. I'm kinda sad to be leaving Sydney, I feel like we need more time and there's more that we could do. But at the same time I'm very excited to be heading north, where we'll go camping and hopefully do things like snorkelling or diving.

We didn't do much today, we had some stuff to post (snail mail) home then we headed to Manly Beach. It's not as nice as Bondi beach, definitely not as clean, but I'm sure this wasn't helped by the fact that the weather has been quite cold and dull today. Apparently we had just missed a visit from a mother and baby whale.
When we got back from Manly we went to the Night Noodle Market in the Botanic Garden. It's part of Sydney's Good Food Month, where lots of Asian restaurants have stalls in an area in the Botanic gardens and you try the fare from whichever you wish. There are also stalls selling wine and beer. There was a great atmosphere and it was nice to sit out and have good food and wine to top off our visit to Sydney. Great!

On Sunday we visited Kiama for the day - it's a town south of Sydney with two naturally occuring Blowholes. We have some pictures. The weather was lovely and it is such a picturesque place. Besides the blowhole the other great thing was that we got to see lots of pelicans - up close. They wander around outside a fish and chip shop and don't seem to be too afraid of poeple.

Blue Mountains, Bondi, Bridge Climb...

We've done a good bit this week - that might explain the tiredness ;-) To start off with we are now staying in Farah's plush apartment - thanks Farah. We moved in there Sunday and it's lovely.

On Monday we went out to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains for a couple of days. The main attraction there is the Three Sisters Mountains (picture on the left is "borrowed" from a website as we haven't uploaded our photos yet). After viewing the Three Sisters we went for a 3 hour Bush walk along the cliff edge. There were some fantastic views and I really enjoyed it. That was until Jamie insisted that we climb down to see the Leura waterfalls. Nice to look at, but probably not worth the walk back up. We slept well that night!
The next day we went for another bush walk. The Giant Staircase, complete with 900 steps, was closed due to a landslide but lucky us, we were able to go down the next best thing - the Furber steps. People, if you are even considering this please ensure you have cast iron legs. I am grateful that there was a train to take us back up, as my legs were like jelly form constantly going down step after step after ste.... you get the picture.
The best bit about it was we got to get really close to the Katoomba falls, which provided for amazing views. The photos should be up in a couple days and you can see for yourselves.

Wednesday we slept in and when we finally got up we headed to Bondi beach. The weather was good and the beach is beautiful. Didn't go swimming but had a lovely walk in the soft sand and a little paddle - ah :-) We walked around the coast too and there are some smaller really cute beaches too. We didn't look around the Bondi area much but we did top the day off with ice cream - lovely!

Today, we climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In the organised way, rather than the get-on-the-9-o'clock-news way. I didn't think I would be as nervous as I was. I'm as afraid of heights as the average person and don't mind climbing too much. My problem is I hate climbing down. So coming down ladders is tough for me. There are 8 ladders on the bridge, 4 up and 4 down. I think it was going up the first set of ladders got me jittery. When you look down all you can see is the road with cars speeding passed and beyond that the river. Climbing the arch itself is good. It's very windy but the views you get are fantastic. They even take your picture so I have proof that I did make it to the top.
Actually that's the thing, once you start, because of how you're strapped on, there is no stopping. You have to go all the way up and come all the way down.
And the down bit... I nearly cried coming down those ladders. As I came down a train passed under me. Cos it's not cars under you on the other side it's trains. The whole bridge vibrates and the bars you're holding onto vibrate in your hand and the steps you're standing on send quivers up your legs. I was shaking like a leaf when I came off.
I'm glad I did it. I can't say I've overcome my problem with climbing down things but I'm proud of myself.
At least now I know I can never do a bungee jump or a Skydive - it's too hard.

Email Troubles

I just want to let everyone know that if you have sent me a mail over the last week or so and I haven't replied, it's not that I'm being rude - I have been having trouble with my email.
In future you can use hilser23 AT oxygen DOT ie to contact me.
Thanks

We're all going to the Zoo tomorrow...

Well actually we went today.
It was a gorgeous day in Sydney - yes the winds have passed - and we headed, by ferry, to Taronga Zoo.
[Now Lil, I know you don't approve of zoos, but they do some good work and the animals are so cute]

We started off having our picture taken with Koalas - I kept my distance, they can be viscious buggers and you definitely don't want to be disturbing their sleep. They're cute and everything but have you seen how long their claws are and they can't retract them.

Then we saw the Chimpanzees getting fed. The Alpha male had to "sort out" some of the younger fellas who were getting a bit uppity. There was a moment there when it nearly got very ugly. They have a few new baby chimps and they are so cute...

We also saw the penguins getting fed. They have little Fairy Penguins - the smallest species of penguin. They're tiny and blue and very cute - their size just makes them all the more lovely when they're clumsy and falling into the pool :-). We then saw the penguins enemy (the leopard seal) at play. He's actually very clever. He's got gates that he can open so he can move between pools and he has lots of toys. He practically put on a show for Jamie and me - opening gates and throwing toys....

There was a cool bird show but I think the best bit was being able to walk around beside the Kangaroos and Wallabies. They just sit there eating while you walk passed. There was a baby wallaby wo was intrgued by the activity and just hopped around like a mad thing - Ah!

There will be lots of photos from the zoo going up in the next couple of days. It'll make a nice change from the Opera House.

Mendhi

On Wednesday night I was at Farah's Mendhi night. It's a traditional Indian event held for the bride before she is married.

When I arrived, Farah was having Mendhi applied to her hands and feet. Later, after some delicious food prepared by Farah's mother and sisters there was a belly dancer. She was fantastic, she looked good and the outfit she was wearing was beautiful. Obviously she was also a great dancer and even allowed some of us to join in :-)

A traditional Indian ceremony was performed then (I'm gonna have to ask Farah what it was called). Basically everyone get's to bless the bride. More food followed, and then everyone else got to have some Mendi applied. I had some put on my hand - it looks fantastic. There will be some pictures of how it looks next time we upload some.

The rest of the evening comprised of traditional Indian dance and song. It was a fantastic evening and I'm glad Farah invited me.

PS

Jamie's currently working on uploading the photos from New Yorka nd the last few days in Sydney so keep an eye here.

We Have Landed

Well we landed in Sydney last Friday morning after an extremely long flight. I never thought flying couldbe so painful, but it was. Anyway, we only have to do that once more. When we got to our hotel there wasn't a bed ready, when we finally got our bed we slept all day.

We had spent two days in New York with my cousin Michelle, which was great. We got so much done in such a short space of time; Empire State Building, Ground Zero, a boat ride around Manhattan; and I loaded up on hot dogs. It's an amazing thing, I never eat hot dogs but when I get to New York I just can't get enough of them.

In Sydney the weather has been a bit weird; it's warm but very windy, they even had snow on the Snowy Mountains the other night - yes despite the name for htis time of year I think it's unusual for it to snow up there. The weather forecast for yesterday was 21 degrees, so I decided to wear shorts - I nearly froze to death with the winds. Of course it didn't help this headcold I managed to pick up from that germ infested plane. The weather's supposed to change tomorrow though - thank God, cos I really didn't pack for this kind of weather.

We've had a bit of a look around Sydney in the last couple of days, it's pretty amazing. We're staying on the North Shore, almost right next to the Harbour Bridge, we can get ferries into town instead of buses or trains and that's lovely. Next week we're planning to climb the Harbour Bridge, another reason we're greatful the winds are going to die down :-)
The area we're in is also great for restaurants and cafes, and we've found a fantastic Thai place.

At the weekend there was a Hunter Valley wine tasting festival in The Rocks and, of course, we took part. And of course we're going to go to Hunter Valley for more of the same.

Sydney is really easy going (I'm sure that's true for all of Australia), what's weird is we've never seen a rush hour. There is really no time of the day where the city is swamped with cars on their way in/out or people rushing home from work. This is an unusual thing for such a large city and it makes a refreshing change from Dublin.