Australia

Been more busy the last couple of days, so I haven't had time to update the old blog.

Here we go then ...

Thursday night -

Went out on Thur with Reinder (no, not Rudolf, my dutch room mate) and Eva (nice German girl from the hostel).

Our local bar is open until 4am on Thur-Sat, so got rather drunk and rolled in at about 2ish.

Friday -

Hangover. Check.
Raining. Check.

Ho hum, another rainy day. Decided to brave it anyway, and went for a walk around the botanical gardens, and through to the Opera House.

The Opera House is pretty specatucular close-up, I'll upload a couple of photos when I get more time to do it...

Met up with Phil and Martin for a few beers later on in a really nice pub (athough they call them a 'hotel' here) called 'The Orient'.

Said 'cheerio' to the 2 guys, as it was their last night in Sydney. Can't say I envy the 25 hour flight they have in store ...

Phil's got a picture of this lovely moment, so maybe he'll e-mail me a copy so I can post it here...

Anyhow, after all this, came back to Kings Cross, and had a beer or 2 with Gavin, one of the lads from the hostel.

Saturday -

Hangover. Nope.
Raining. Nope.

Yes, you're reading that correctly - NO BL**DY RAIN ! Hurrah.

Celebrated by oversleeping and getting up at 2pm. Damn.

Had nice day though. Got the ferry to Manly, which takes about 30 mins. Gives you a great view of the bridge/Opera House on the way, and lets you see some of the pretty rugged cliffs around the coast here.

Manly was really nice, the beach is totally spotless, although people with food tend to get terrorised by the VERY forward seaguls.

Spend a couple of hours reading / drinking coffee on the beach.

All in all, very relaxing.

Got a few piccies, but I haven't go time to upload them now.

Just got back to the hostel about 1 hour ago, and am off for a few beers (again ... hmmm I detect a pattern) with Eva again.

That should keep you whingers (<cough>Imy) quiet for a bit !

Rich.

Done pretty much naff all today.

Can't even report having good food, 'coz I made myself sarnies for lunch and tea!

Might go to the local bar with a couple of the randoms floating around in the hostel common room tonight...

At least I managed to get my power issues sorted out, and now have a working camera - what a productive day !

Well, at least the weather is like Manchester - it's chucked it down for 2 days solid.

Still, it's dry in the bars (in one sense of the word) !

Met up with Phil yesterday, had a few beers in Kings Cross (that's the are next to where I'm staying), and went for a great Chinese.

Sydney has a cool China town - way bigger than Manchester has, and it's pretty lively, even on a wet Tuesday night ...

Ate roast suckling pig (Chinese style) - now that's decadence for ya !

Today (Wed) we were supposed to go on a Whale Watching trip, but it was too windy for the boats to go out. Instead, we ended up going to the aquarium.

It's actually a really great aquarium, with loads of big tanks set up like parts of the Barrier Reef.

Plus there are big sharks - swimming just an inch over your head in one place ... cooool.

After that, went for a meal at one of Sydneys most well know fish restaurant (so well known, that I've forgotten what it's called !). Had some really nice John Dory.

Was completely outclassed on the eating front, both yesterday and today, by Phil. Makes me feel thin...

Still no piccys - I haven't gotten round to getting a plug adapter yet, so my batteries are flat. I'm gonna sort that out tommorrow.

Laters dudes.

P.S. got a mobile today as well - number on the contact page.

OK, so after upwards of 25 hours of travelling, I'm finally in my hostel (the Blue Parrot).

Finally feel clean, after a much needed shower, and am off out to face the rain. Yep, it's p*ssing it down here !

Also, as the digital camera I ordered last week was only delivered to work today, I haven't got a simple way to take quick snaps - you'll have to use your imaginations for the moment.

Flight were all fine, the quick summary might go -

2 hours of airport lounge boredom,
7 hours with good legroom sat next to pleasantly dull guy,
2 more hours of lounging,
followed by a final 13 hours of zero legroom

Had to be wheeled off the plane ...

Still, at least no DVT, no shoe bombers, and no Lost style island landings

I'll jot some more notes tomorrow, when I've actually DONE something !

e-mail : rnewton@mailsnare.net

phone : 0161 660 8549
(leave me a voice message and i'll get it as an e-mail)

mobile : +44 (0)404 963 268

Remember the time difference if you ring my mobile !!