Sydney- Christmas NYE and 21st :)

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 23^rd 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 27^th, just a meander through the botanical gardens and a 3^rd placing in the local quiz on the evening- even without cheating! On the 28^th 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 29^th 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 21^st birthday.