Well, I've been pretty fecking busy the last few days and my legs are really aching/chafing from all the walking and crouching/craning to get the best pictures! I also apologise for the fact that I'm therefore going to be writing this very sloppily, as I'm knackered, but I want to write this now as I don't know when I'll next have internet access. At least I'm going to be sitting on a coach most of tomorrow though on the way to my farm familiarisation course, which I think is about 4 hours outside Sydney, with somewhere scenic to stop off and add to the >700 photos I've taken and kept since I've been gone! That's nothing even approaching the number I've actually taken though, having deleted about half I reckon.
As I said, I went to the zoo on Thursday and, as I also said, managed to spend far too much money; but I at least managed to do a lot of stuff, and didn't spend QUITE as much as I could have! I went over to the zoo on the train/bus, paid my entrance fee (with the 15% off coupon in my free map from the airport) and began my photo-taking mission! I won't bother going into the specifics of anything much, but I think my favourite pictures are of the snow leopard, which was beautiful. The whole day was awesome and I managed to get round pretty much every single exhibit but, annoyingly, the platypus there was also hiding! As was the orang-utan (although at least I've seen orang-utans before!) It was knackering and expensive, but well worth it - I would definitely recommend it to anyone remotely interested in animals who's visiting Sydney. The spag bol I cooked at the hostel that night has also lasted me all 3 remaining nights, which has been a welcome relief to the wallet (the ingredients costing me a total of around $10, which I'd be pretty lucky to pay for a single takeaway in Sydney!)
That morning (Thursday), I'd picked up a 'free things to do in Sydney' map from the hostel reception and had, during the course of the day, decided I'd do the two free [though with a donation at the end to thank the guide, as it's her business] tours they offered for Friday (yesterday). So I set out to meet between Town Hall and St Andrew's Cathedral (both very nice buildings) for 10.30am and met up with the tour guide and the rest of the 20(ish)-strong group for the 2.5h tour round half of Sydney (all on foot), learning plenty of its history and stories. The lass was great and totally deserved the absolute killing she and her boyfriend [who did the evening tour] must make from it (two tours in the day and one in the evening, 7 days a week, with at least 20 people on each one, giving a donation of at least, I'd reckon, an average of $10 per person.....) The evening tour probably wasn't quite as good, but still really interesting - about all the murder stories and history of the area around the first landing site, where the convicts were mostly contained. Between the first one ending and the second beginning, I got the (free) ferry over to Cockatoo Island, which was a massive shipping yard during the war (along with other functions before) and has now been converted into many different art exhibits. It's all really well done - educational, entertaining and often stunning - and was yet another opportunity to walk around for several hours, taking a hell of a lot of photos!
Today, I had the least relaxing beach day ever, as I decided to visit three different beaches in a day, at opposite ends of the city! Thankfully though, I've had plenty of food today to keep me going! After a couple of slices of toast and jam at the hostel, I got a day-ticket for all the public transport around the city - train, bus and ferry - for $21, which saved me a LOT today, as the first beach is on an island which is a $15 (return) ferry ride away, every trip on the train/metro is $3.40 and the buses are even more! Before getting the ferry though, I went up to the observatory tower near Circular Quay (between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, with amazing views of both, so I could have pictures infront of them in my Sheffield Wednesday shirt! The first beach, on Manly Island, was nice, but too crowded for my liking, I also wanted to get back so I could train/bus it over to the other beaches, so I had some lunch (a steak & onions sandwich, with a dessert of a massive cheese & bacon corn puffs bag and an iced coffee) before getting the ferry back over the water to the main city. Although obviously not without taking a few photos first! Once I finally got over to the famous Bondi Beach, it was about 2pm and again crowded, but even more beautiful. So I stayed there for an hour or so of paddling, picture taking and sunbathing, before heading over to the third beach - which was another bus ride and a half-hour walk away. This one, being so inaccessible from the main city, was much more secluded - although, being a nudist beach, the few people that were there were certainly not worth taking pictures with! Eurotrip got it right - just naked, pervy old men and a group of shy teenagers that sat in a corner giggling (then me, of course, sunbathing in another corner!)
Once the sun had started to go down, I walked quickly back to the nearest village and wandered round, looking for somewhere to have some more food and a beer for the $10 I had left in my pocket, which is a difficult task around here! But, as I was looking at the menu for another place, the owner came out (who'd been behind the bar) and, after talking for a minute, said he could do me a deal for a bowl of chips and a beer for my $10. He also, seeing as I was the only customer for most of the time I was there (it was a couple of minutes away from the waterfront), sat chatting to me. The beer and the chips, apart from being very reasonable, were particularly nice and I told him I'd give as much good rep as I could! So, if anyone's ever in the area (right by where the no. 380 terminates at Watson's Bay), visit Glimpse Bar + Kitchen! After that, I came back and finished off my spag bol, sat down to write this about 2 hours ago and keep getting distracted by Facebook, Twitter, SWFC news and mostly Braveheart (which is on right behind me, with a drunk Scotsman giving loud commentary on every scene!) But I'll now sign off to concentrate on the rest of Braveheart and the Wednesday game kicking off in 10 minutes, pack for tomorrow and get some much needed sleep! Thankfully my bag now smells of fish a lot less than it did after it somehow got something spilt on it in the bottom of the night bus I got from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap! But - now that I've wiped it over, covered it in Lynx and washed all the clothes inside which had also got wet and smelly - it's almost unnoticeable!
'Til next time, Andy xx
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