Back in Sydney

I can't believe that I spent a whole week in the city centre of Sydney, and that I am out in the suburbs already! I arrived in Sydney late wednesday evening from the surftrip, and said goodbye to most of my surfmates. That evening I took it easy, and the next morning I went to see the doctor about my thumbnail (or lack thereof). There I was bandaged up properly and told to come back 3 days later to have the dressing changed. I then met up with Emma and Georgie - two girls from the surfcamp - and we spent the morning looking around Sydney. In the afternoon Emma went for a haircut, and Georgie and I went to the Imax theatre in Darling harbour to see a movie about the underwater world. We were a bit disappointed, it wasn't fabulous, but it kept us dry (it was raining again). That evening the three of us met up with Sandra, a friend of Emma's from travelling, and we had a fun night out. We first had drinks at the bar at Georgie and Emma's hostel, where there was quite a good live band. Once we had had enough of that we went to a pub called Scruffy Murphy's - yes, it was an Irish pub - but the main crowd was quite a bit older than us, so we decided to try another place. Sandra knew of a good bar called the three wise monkeys, which has three floors. The first two are like a pub/bar, and on the third floor at first there was a live band playing, and later on they had a dj.

Friday was quite a boring day. Emma left for Melbourne, Georgie moved into the hostel I was staying at and I did lots and lots of washing. Generally the washing facilities at hostels aren't brilliant, so I jumped at the chance to do a warm wash in stead of a cold one, which basically does nothing for clothes you have been backpacking in. Georgie and I then arranged a trip to the Blue Mountains for Sunday, and Georgie made arrangements for her next trips. That evening Georgie and I cooked dinner and just had a relaxing night.

On Saturday Sonya and her mom Viola, came into town and the three of us went to the aquarium. Viola is a friend of my mom's, and Sonya is going to Macquarie University, where I will be going shortly. The Sydney aquarium was really interesting, and we spent quite a while there. We then had lunch and went to a really big bookstore in The Galleries Victoria, close to my hostel. Sonya and Viola had to get back home, and I went back to the bookshop and bought myself a student cookbook with useful tips and quick and cheap recipies. I met up with Georgie for dinner, and we just went out for one drink afterwards, since we had to get up early the next morning for our Blue Mountains trip.

The weather forecast for Sunday had been showers and sunny spells, but luckily for us it was only cloudy and sunny spells. We had to go to a hotel to be picked up, and lots of different tourbuses came who we asked if they were the tour we wanted before ours came. Our busdriver was really nice, but he had some absolutely terrible jokes, and he just kept going all day, but it was sort of amusing to hear how bad they were. First we drove to a wildlife park where you could see lots of native Australian animals, and I had my picture taken with a snake (!) and a bird of which I can't remember the name. You could have your picture taken with a koala and feed the kangaroos, but I had already done that at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane, so I spent my time just looking around. After the wildlife park we went to see a valley with a waterfall from a place called Garrett's Leap. The view was amazing, but I am always a litlle sad that it doesn't translate as well to a photo. After that we had lunch in Leura, and our tourguide told us about a sweetshop with god knows how many different sweets, and a place that does really nice hot chocolate (with marshmallows) . After lunch we went to the Jameson valley and Scenic World. First we stopped at echo point, with a wonderful view of the whole valley, the three sisters rock formation and mount solitary. We then went across one part of the valley in a horizontal cable car from where we could see the Katoomba falls really well. The cable car also had a glass floor, so you could see down into the valley below. We then went down into the valley in another cable car, and from there you could walk along a boardwalk - so that you don't disturb the fragile ecosystem of the rainforest - to the little train that would take you back up the valley. This is the steepest train in the world - Guinness World Record holder - and when you get in it feels a bit like a themepark ride, and you feel like you should be strapped in somehow. The track is indeed very steep, my friend Georgie was quite freaked out. Once we got back to the top we got back on the coach and headed to the ferry which would take us back to the CBD. Unfortunately we missed the ferry that the tourguide had intended for us, so we spent about 10 minutes at the Olympic park to kill time before the next ferry. We went on a citycat, so it wasn't too choppy, but it was rather windy. It was nice seeing the CBD and the Harbour Bridge from the other side (upstream rather than on the sea side). That evening Georgie and I had dinner at Darling Harbour, and had a quiet night because Georgie would leave the next morning.

On Monday I had to go to the doctor to have my thumb dressing replaced, and luckily it wasn't infected and looked a bit better than the last time I had seen it. With the new dressing I can now actually touch my thumb without it hurting, yay! Since it was such nice weather I decided to go to the beach. I had heard that there was a really nice walk from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach, so I decided to do that. I took the bus to Coogee and started the walk along the coast to Bondi. There were quite a few little bays, and some surfers where the waves weren't braking on the rocks, so I took it easy stopping to admire the views and take some pictures. In the end it took me about 1,5 hrs, while one girl from my room had told me it would take me at least 2 hrs (don't know how slowly she walks). When I arrived at Bondi I put my cozzie on (as australians call a swimsuit/bikini - they also call it swimmers) and spent a couple of hours relaxing at the beach. When I had had enough I went for a look around the shops, and bought a really cute dress for only 20$ (12€). I headed for the busstop the shop owner pointed out to me, and after waiting for about 10 minutes the bus to the city centre came. I was one of the last people he let on, because the bus was completely full - we were standing like sardines in a can! At the second busstop, at the other end of the beach there were also lots of people waiting, but the bus didn't even stop because we couldn't possibly have fitted one more person in. It was quite a long busride with lots of stops, and a bit uncomfortable having to stand the whole way, but I had had a nice day and even such a busride couldn't ruin it. That evening I cooked spagetti alla carbonara from my recipe book. I was really proud of myself that I had managed to finda ll of the equipment in a hostel kitchen - although I did have to cut the onion and garlic with a bread knife, which is not very easy - and it tasted extra good because I had spent time making it myself.

I spent tuesday having a last look around the city. I walked around Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens once again, and I went to Surrey Hills where I haven't been before. While reading an Australian magazine, I noticed that some Australian celebrity (of whom I had never heard) mentioned that Surrey HIlls, and in particular Crown Street was good for vintage shopping, so I decided to go and have a look. Some of the shops were quite expensive, but some had sales on, and I found a bag and another dress, both were very cheap. When I got tired, I decided to go and relax in Hyde Park, because it had been such nice weather that day, but then I noticed that the sky was clouding over. By the time I got to Hyde park a few drops were starting to fall, so I decided to keep going and head back to my hostel (which luckily wasn't far). By the time I had crossed the street along Hyde park it was positively pouring, so I ran from shelter to shelter on my way back to the hostel. Just after I arrived two of my roommates got back as well, and these poor boys had been on a ferry (outside only) when it had started to rain, so they were absolutely drenched!

On wednesday I took the train to Beecroft, where Viola picked me up, as I was going to stay with them for the last two nights before I can move into my uni house (tomorrow!). We got back and had some lunch, and then we went to see the movie 27 dresses with Katherine Heigl. I really liked the movie - it was a nice romantic comedy, right up my alley after such a hectic time travelling around! I have spent most of wednesday and today on the computer sorting out pictures (gosh that takes a long time), out in the garden and with the Bridgers (the family) and their cute dog Mollie. Tomorrow Sonya is going to drop me off at uni, and there will be a welcome BBQ. Then on Saturday I leave on a pre-orientation trip to the south coast for a few days. Hopefully I will meet some nice people as I will be spending more than just a few days with them for a change! So my travelling days are over - for now at least - and I am going to start settling into uni and finally starting my actual exchange. I have really enjoyed travelling and seeing some of Australia - yes some, I only saw a really small part actually! But I am also ready to settle down, and eager to meet some real Australians, rather than German/English/Dutch/Swedish backpackers.