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| Opera House & Harbour Bridge |
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| Christine (France), Selina (Germany), me (UK). We like to joke about what people back in 1914 would have thought of this friendship... |
I said goodbye to Selina the
sea cucumber just before I went to Sydney, which was sad! She plans on heading
home to Berlin a little earlier than planned so she’s there when me and Joe
pass through on our interrail trip in June though, so it won’t be long until I
see her! We spent our last day together taking a TON of photos on the beach
with Christine, and then went to the cinema to see The Host. She was worried
she might not be able to follow all the English, but I only had to explain a
couple of things – ‘interrogate’ and ‘pity’ are two words she didn’t know.
I went on a road trip the
day before flying – we drove for over six hours to the outback which was crazy –
seeing these ‘towns’ in the middle of nowhere with just two houses and a church.
Saw a road train, and stopped off at a salt lake, which is essentially just
thick white salt where all the water has evaporated in the heat and lack of
rain. They’re pretty beautiful.
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| Walking across a salt lake |
My flight out to Sydney was
delayed, and my one back was too – I’m thinking there’s something with me and
flights! In the airport I left my travel folder in a shop, containing tickets,
hostel info, and passport. I went back and thankfully it was still there! Going
to excuse myself as it was 11pm, but I’m sure mum is regretting letting me come
out here alone! (haven’t told her I did that yet, so sorry mum! Haha)
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| Sunset on the Opera House |
I stayed in a hostel for the
first three nights, and then went to stay with Eliza, my penpal (I talked about
this in an earlier post, so read back!) The hostel was in Kings Cross, which is
summed up in the guidebooks as being “only
a ten-minute walk from the city, with its own train station and is always
lively. In recent years, it has shakedn the worst of its renowned red-light and
drug-abuse sleaze and is once again popular with backpackers.” It wasn’t
that bad!
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| Me with Harbour Bridge |
I headed straight out to the
harbour to see the bridge and the Opera House. Seeing that sight with your own
eyes is just… captivating. I spent so long just taking it in. I visited Customs
House, which had a scale model of Sydney underneath a glass floor that you
could walk across, the State Library, which was a really old-school kind of
library, Hyde Park Convict Barracks Museum, which was a really old building
with a fascinating history, and St Mary’s Cathedral. I also went around the NSW
Parliament building by accident! I was looking for a post office and was told
the nearest one was inside there, so I went through the security and posted my
letters, and was then asked if I fancied seeing the upper house chamber! Of
course I did! The security there was much less strict than in the UK – I was
just left alone in the chamber to do what I wanted. I saw fireworks over the
harbour, as well as my first koala in the entrance to a Wildlife Park! I walked
across Harbour Bridge and then got a ferry back across the harbour. I went
shopping in Darling Harbour (woops – going to struggle so much getting
everything back home), and made new friends in the hostel. Eliza and I got on
well, and her family are some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. I spent
Friday night at Hillsong Sydney’s youth group (about 500 youth!) where Eliza is
a youth leader, and then the whole of Sunday at Hillsong Church. It was pretty
awesome being at the ‘original’ Hillsong!
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| Blue Mountains |
I spent a day exploring the
Blue Mountains. This is such a beautiful area, where I saw waterfalls, the
Three Sisters, and climbed up the Giant’s Staircase (over 900 steps!)
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| A full day hiking through the Blue Mountains |
On my last day I’d wanted to
go to Bondi Beach, but Sydney’s unpredictable weather decided to pour with
rain, so instead I just stayed in the city. I actually spent the morning drinking
coffee with Hugo and his girlfriend Honor – mine and Hugo’s families were
really close when we were younger and then he moved away. We haven’t actually
seen each other in about 5 years, but were in Sydney at the same time, so hey,
why not? It was great catching up, if a little surreal!
When saying goodbye to Eliza’s
family, her mum gave me some necklaces from the Philippines (where she’s from)
so that I “remember them when I wear them”. Like I said, they’re the sweetest
family. I had about an hours sleep, and then got up to leave the house at 3am!
Sitting in a station in Sydney for an hour at 4 in the morning was an
interesting experience…
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| Half Way! |
So now I’m back in Bunbury!
I got home to a letter from Joe (finally! :P), a postcard from Emma in
Switzerland, a card from Harry in Rwanda (which he’d posted three months ago –
the African postal system is unique…), a bracelet and card from Joe’s family,
and an Easter parcel from mum. Unfortunately the parcel was full of chocolate,
which had all melted. An hour in the freezer and it’s (nearly) as good as new
though!
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| Easter parcel chocolate carnage |
