There were two things that surprised me about Sydney: 1) the
Opera House is not as white as I had initially expected and 2) every second
person there is British!
After a traumatic day involving a $70 taxi ride to the
airport and a $60 fee for overweight baggage (whoever said you can’t have too
many clothes was lying), I finally touched down in Sydney on the 23rd
December. I’ll admit that I wasn’t in the best of moods by this time, and felt
that this city had a lot of impressing to do. From the airport I caught the
train into Sydney’s city centre, and made the arduous journey to the hostel
with my ton of luggage. It was here that I was reunited with Chloe, my ‘other
half’. We did a bit of catching up then myself, Chloe, Amy and Roisin headed
down to see the opera house and the harbour bridge in circular quay. For a
reason unbeknown to me, some wise guy had decided to park his enormous cruise
ship in between my view of the bridge and the opera house, something I thought
to be very rude as I had only just arrived and wanted to see the sights
simultaneously, but I reassured myself that I was here for 10 days, and it was
probably his job. After taking the standard opera house and harbour bridge
snaps, we made our way to Darling Harbour. By this time it was getting dark,
which was perfect, as it allowed us to see the twinkling lights of the harbour,
all lit up with Christmas decorations. I have to hand it to Sydney, they do go
all out when it comes to festive decorations (which is more than I can say for
the Gold Coast’s metal trees with presents stuck on!). Even the lampposts were
dressed as Santa!
Christmas Eve was a weird one! Back in England I would have
probably spent it on the sofa in a snowflake- patterned onesie watching back to
back cheesy Christmas films. This one was spent firstly in the Chinese gardens
being stared out by an evil turtle, then afterwards walking around the markets.
The weather was great so we thought we’d then partake in typical Aussie
tradition and head to the beach for a bbq. This didn’t turn out so well, as
both this bbq and our Christmas day bbq were washed away by the wettest
Christmas Sydney has seen in 70 years. In spite of this, we kept our festive
spirit up by listening to Christmas songs on a loop, and wearing our santa hats
all day.
By boxing day we were all experiencing sausage and burger overload,
but despite this me and the girls headed from Bondi to Coogee along a beautiful
coastal walk to their friend Andy’s house for yet another bbq. Fortunately for
us, this Barbie was a bit different, as Andy cooked us some kangaroo which was
an extremely pleasant change.
Not much to report about the 27th, just a meander
through the botanical gardens and a 3rd placing in the local quiz on
the evening- even without cheating! On the 28th we made the much
anticipated ferry ride to Manly, which was beautiful but extremely crowded!
Would like to go back when it’s less busy.
We devoted Sat the 29th to the markets in the
rocks, a really lovely historic precinct of Sydney’s city centre. They must
take their markets very seriously here, as even the buskers were amazing! After
we’d perused all of the stalls we headed to the botanical gardens, where we
rested at a great spot where you can see the opera house and the harbour bridge
alongside each other.
Fast forward to New Year’s Eve, one of the most anticipated
days of our trip! We had been recommended a park named Birch Grove which had a
good view of the harbour bridge for the fireworks. Armed with bags of food and
alcohol, we made our way to the park bright and early at 8.30am in order to
procure ourselves a good spot. Considering we had a good 12 hours to kill
before anything even kicked off (there were earlier fireworks at 9pm) not once
were we bored or at a loss for what to do. There was a large group of us that
day and the weather was amazing- it was like being at a festival but without
the mud and music! Midnight came around extremely quickly, and the fireworks
were phenomenal. Chloe and I managed to acquire a good spot at the end of the
pier in order to see them better. I won’t lie, I did get a bit emotional
watching them thinking of the people I would have loved to be there, but I was
turning 21 so couldn’t be sad for much longer!!
New year’s day started, like most, with a hangover. Chloe,
however, ensured that this was pushed to the side as she was determined for me
to have a great day. I opened all of my lovely presents and cards, then we headed
out for breakfast, followed by manicures and pedicures. After this we had a
walk around Darling Harbour to check out places to eat for later. We found a
reasonably priced restaurant overlooking the water, and once showered and
changed, headed back to eat. After this, we had a couple of drinks and some
birthday cake in the opera bar, a bar with the most amazing view of the opera
house and harbour bridge. A day full of great company and great scenery made for
an extremely happy 21st birthday.
