I arrived in Sydney having spent 12 hours on an overnight bus. It wasn’t as bad as I had imagined, but arriving at peak hour with my enormous backpack wasn’t great fun! I set off to meet Sheridan, who works in Sydney’s Central Business District, and who was giving me the keys to her flat so that I didn’t have to spend the day wandering around the city. After a quick catch-up she put me on the bus and less than an hour later I was at their flat. Todd was there when I arrived and I spent the morning going round the city helping him deliver articles that his company had framed for their various customers. It was a great way to discover the different suburbs of Sydney and he was a very knowledgeable driver.
I spent most of the afternoon asleep and the evening was spent eating a delicious meal, having a few beers and glasses of wine and a great chat. This became the routine of my stay in Sydney. Steph and I met Todd and Sheridan on our trip to Halong Bay in Vietnam and they are a lovely couple. We all instantly hit it off and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them. They live near Manly and Todd is a life saver at one of the local beaches, Long Reef. It is a beautiful beach, unknown to tourists, and he spends much of his time there. The red flag was up the whole time I was there, which means you are not allowed to swim, but the surf was apparently ‘awesome’ and there were loads of surfers out. I was going to go out and ‘show them a thing or two’ as my father would put it, but unfortunately do not have a board – shame!
On the weekend Sheridan and I headed down to Manly Dam, a lovely and fairly empty spot where you can swim, hike or have a barbecue with friends. We chose to do none of these things and instead lay in the sun for a couple of hours – it was great. In the evening we headed to the Newport Arms, a pub they have told me about in Vietnam where they have a huge variety of beers on tap – fantastic! We had Beez Neez, which has since become one of my favourites and ate a lovely meal overlooking the gorgeous port.
On the Sunday we headed out to the Blue Mountains, where they would visit Sheridan’s mother and I stayed for a couple of days. We ate lunch in Leura village, a really quaint little village where Autumn was really showing in the colour of the leaves on the trees. They then drove me to my hostel in Katoomba, where I put my bag down and headed out for my first glimpse of the famous Three Sisters. Frankly, I was a little disappointed. I have seen so many photos of them that I was expecting some incredible place but with the hordes of people all standing at the lookout taking photos and the weather threatening to break, I stayed just a little while before returning to the hostel. Here I met some of the people in my room and we ended up having a few beers and chatting the whole evening.
The next morning I headed to Wentworth falls and did a huge walk all around the area. I hadn’t realised quite how up I was at the beginning of the walk and some of the descent was frankly terrifying. You have to go down ladders and are caged in as, if you should fall, you would fall hundreds of metres. Yes, you walk down the cliff face and I have to admit that on several occasions I considered turning back. But I persevered and I felt so good at the end that I almost think it was worth it! The climb down was hard, but the climb back up was even worse! I counted 1400 steps before I lost the will to live! Luckily, there are many waterfalls on the way up so I was a bit distracted, but it was the hardest walk I have ever done. In the evening I felt quite proud as the people I spoke to about my day all said they would never do that walk – check me out!
The following day I stayed in Katoomba and decided to brave the giant staircase. This, as the name suggests, is a really huge staircase that brings you down the side of the three sisters. It was a lovely day and the views were phenomenal and I was feeling pretty good so, instead of taking either the train or the life back up the mountain, I decided to walk back up the steps! I won’t go into how silly this decision was, but I made it and I’m sure it was good for me!
That was it for me in Katoomba and I headed back exhausted but happy with my time there. When I got back to Todd and Sheridan’s we had yet another lovely meal and great chats and I was introduced to the joy that is ‘The chasers guide to life’. This is like an Australian version of Trigger Happy TV and is extremely funny.
On my final full day in Sydney I decided that I should probably view all of the world famous sights so I set off for Circular quay and was extremely impressed. I had seen a thousand pictures of the Opera House and was still amazed at how large and bright it is. It was the same with the Harbour Bridge – I knew exactly what it looked like but to see it for real was something else. I sat in one of the parks for a while watching the street performers and the tourists mingle with the workers eating their lunch. It is a lovely place to be, except for the thousands of pigeons, which became a little annoying as a woman sitting close to me decided to feed them! I spent the afternoon wandering through the Rocks, a fairly trendy part of the city with loads of bars and restaurants and headed to Darling Harbour. The harbour itself is pretty average, but I wanted to visit the Aquarium to find out the names of all the fish I had seen when diving. It really is a brilliant aquarium, with loads of sharks and giant turtles as well as a huge array of fresh and saltwater fish. I loved the section on life on the Great Barrier Reef – this is what I had come for – and found myself recognising most of the fish here. It really was a great experience, despite the hundreds of people I was sharing it with!
After the Aquarium I took the ferry over to Manly and was lucky to see the sun set over the harbour bridge and the opera house. It is a lovely ferry ride and I was met in Manly by Todd and Sheridan. We stayed there for a few beers before heading back home for some food.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Sydney. Although I didn’t really experience the traveller side of the city, it is sometimes better to see it through the eyes of the locals, which is exactly what I did. A huge thanks to Todd and Sheridan, I look forward to seeing you both in Europe very soon!
J’ai passé 12 heures dans un bus afin d’arriver a Sydney aux heures de pointe avec mon gros sac a dos et une envie de dormir enorme! J’ai retrouve Sheridan en bas de son travail au centre de la ville et elle m’a donne la cle de son apart pour dormir. Mais en arrivant a l’appart, j’ai croise Todd qui m’a invite de venir travailler avec lui. Il travail dans l’encadrement et devait faire un tour de la ville pour donner des articles a ses clients donc j’ai decide de partir avec lui. 3 heures plus tard j’avais l’impression de comprendre un peu mieux la ville et envie de dormir! Le soir, après une enorme siesta, j’ai retrouve les deux pour un bon diner, un bon vin et surtout de la bonne compagnie. On a rencontre Todd et Sheridan a Halong Bay au Vietnam et on s’est bien entendus des le debut. Ils sont tous les deux tres interessants et sympas et je me suis sentie comme chez moi avec eux. Ma visite a continue dans ce rhythme – je me suis levee, j’ai visite un endroit et je les ai retouve le soir pour quelques bieres et de la discussion.
Le weekend je suis partie avec Sheridan a Manly Dam, un endroit tres sympa et peu connu ou on peut marcher, nager ou faire des bbq avec des amis. On a decide de rien faire, donc on s’est allongee au soleil pendant quelques heures en regardant les oiseaux et les poisons – parfait! Le soir on a mange au Newport Arms, un pub connu pour le nombre de bieres qu’il vend, ce qui m’a bien plu! On a tres bien mange et bien bu en regardant la couchee de soleil sur le port et puis un match de rugby.
Le Dimanche on est partie aux Blue Mountains. La mere de Sheridan habite ici, et je voulais passer quelques jours a decouvrir ce parc national bien connu, donc après un dejeuner dans la ville mignonne de Leura, ils m’ont depose a l’auberge. Je suis allee toute de suite voir les celebres trois soeurs et j’etais tres decue. C’est peut parce que j’en ai tellement entendu parler ou parce que je savais deja a quoi ca rassemble, mais avec des centaines de touristes qui cherchent tous a prendre les memes photos, c’etait loin d’etre spectaculaire. Je suis donc retournee a l’auberge ou j’ai retrouvee des gens pour aller prendre un verre.
Le lendemain je suis partie faire une rando aux chutes d’eau a Wentworth, bien connu mais peu visite car la descente est tres dur. Je confirme, elle est effectivement tres dur – il faut descendre des escaliers et derriere il n’y a rien du tout, donc si tu tombes, tu tombes pendant des centaine de metres, c’est assez flippant. Une fois en bas les chutes sont assez spectaculaires, mais la montee etait tres tres dur. J’ai conte 1400 escaliers avant de perdre l’envie de vivre, et il y avait des moments quand je croyais reelement que je n’allais pas y arriver, mais j’ai tenu et je suis encore vivante – phew!
J’ai passé mon dernier jour a descendre les escaliers geants qui, comme indique le nom, descendent beaucoup. J’avais deja mal au jambes en debut de journee, mais il faisait beau et les vuea sont magnifiques, donc l’effort valait bien le coup. Encore une fois j;ai decide de remonte par les escaliers, malgre la presence d’un train, et c’etait encore tres difficile. Une fois en haut j’etais tres fiere de moi mais pas sur si j’allais pouvoir marcher le lendemain!
J’ai passé une derniere journee complete a Sydney, ou j’ai visite toutes les sites touristiques connus – le Harbour Bridge, la maison de l’opera, le jardin bottanique. Je dois dire que meme en sachant exactement a quoi rassemble la maison de l’Opera, en le voyant pour la premiere fois j’etais vraiment impressionne. Elle est enorme et avec l’eau a cote c’est assez magnifique. J’ai aussi visite l’aquarium, ou j’ai pu voir les noms de tous les poisons que j’avais ve en plongeant. Malgre les contains d’enfants avec lesquels j’ai partage ma visite, l’aquarium est tres bien fait et la partie des requins est incroyable – ils font trop peur meme derriere une vitrine!
J’ai pris la ferie de Circular Quay a Manly, comme est indique dans tous les guides, et c’est vraiment un voyage magique. J’ai vu le coucher de soleil sur la maison de l’opera et le pont du harbour ainsi que toute la ville. En arrivant a Manly j;ai retrouve Todd et Sheridan pour boire quelques bieres dans un pub local avant de manger du libanais.
J’ai vraiment adore ma visite a Sydney. Meme si je l’ai pas vraiment vu des yeux d’un touriste, des fois il vaut mieux voir un endroit de la point de vue de ce qui le connaissent et qui l’adorent. Un grand merci a Todd et Sheridan – j’ai hate de vous revoir bientot en Europe!
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