May
28
Sydney - been and gone.
Posted by TheMancunian at 17:05 | Filed In Travel | 2 Comments
I had high hopes for Sydney, but to be honest the inner city is just like any other city; packed with cars and people (business types mainly). However, i managed to have a great time here and made some very good friends.
I stayed in the Blue Parrot Hostel (In Potts Point near Kings Cross) (i’m presently staying at my mums cousins sons shared house in Ipswich, Brisbane) during my time in Sydney and enjoyed it a lot. This has been by far the friendliest hostel i’ve stayed in up to now, but it definitely wasn’t the cleanest! The first week i stayed in the top bunk in a 6 bunk dorm, seemed fine, then i moved to the lower bunk for one night and managed to get bed bugs across my lower belly (not a nice experience i can tell you; the difference between these and other bites is that the bug bites in little dotted-near-perfect lines).
During the daytime i made friends with a few lads from back home; all good guys and I will definitely be keeping in touch with them. (Andy - Geordie, Jack - Yorkshire lad and Dan the Brummy) - we had some good laughs and went out every other night to The World Bar or Bourbon up in Kings Cross.
I haven’t posted for over 20 days on here, so i’ll quickly summarise what I did in Sydney…
Saw the Opera House, Harbour Bridge & Botanical Gardens, played football (with Swedish girls who could actually play footy!), went out at night to the local bars, watched United and Chelsea (@4:45am!), went to Bondi Beach, walked to Coogee Beach visited Hunter Valley (wineries & vineyards!) and chilled out.
I flew to Brisbane from Sydney for the cost of a monthly Stagecoach ‘Megarider’ ($82AUD) this morning and I didn’t miss my flight either this time. As i turned up early, the polite stewardess let me off with any excess baggage (25.1kg rucksack + 5kg hand luggage!) and she also gave me the window seat of the emergency exit seats with an extra 1m of legroom! (~winner~!). Best flight upto now!
I managed to get to the train platform just in time for a train straight to Brisbane Central Station and a connecting train to Ipswich. Michael (my mums cousins son) had arranged for Marty (his best mate) to meet me as he had agreed to work today prior to me telling him my flight plans. When i got to Ipswich station i walked straight by my Uncle Tom and started walking up the ramp ”Chris, Chris!?” i turned around and there he was, to my surprise! It was good seeing him after so long and he’s not changed one bit!
Here are the photos:
May
5
Healesville Animal Sanctuary/Mount Dandenong - Yarra Valley, Melbourne.
Posted by TheMancunian at 16:11 | Filed In Food, Travel | 2 Comments
The guy who bought the spare Foo Fighters ticket from me is called Leigh; he had said he’d goto the AFL (Australian Football League) match with me this weekend to show me what it’s all about. The match was Hawks vs Essingdon and Essingdon were winning from the outset and continued to score ‘goals’ and ‘take marks’ and they went on to win the match (they ended up winning by about 60 points).
After this we went up to the Yarra Valley and had a few drinks in the local pub/bistro. Tried my first ‘parma’ here and according to Leigh they serve one of the best he’s had - a bit biased maybe ‘cos his mate’s the cook there. I have to admit though it was pretty tasty. For those who don’t know what a Parma or Chicken Parmigiano is, it consists of a butterflied chicken breast, breadcrumbed and pan fried then it receives a large helping of napoli (tomato) sauce and some ham and some cheese - it’s then stuck under the grill. Served with chips and salad. Ed met us at the pub, when we returned from the pub we met a couple of his other mates and proceeded to light up a massive bonfire in his back garden (aka ‘the paddock’ - it was a pretty big garden). Beer and jacket potatoes the order of the night.
The morning after (Sunday 4th May) Ed left before anyone even got up - Leigh and Ben (Pie) and Leigh’s brother and I walked down to the horse race track which is just at the bottom of the garden where on the first Sunday of each month a large market goes on. We got a freshly squeezed still lemonade from the lemonade stand to buy from and I went and got the first proper egg and bacon muffin i’ve had while i’ve been over here (with loads of red sauce nonetheless!)!
We drove for a few km’s to the Healesville Animal Sanctuary and it exceeded everyone’s expectations! There was a bird of prey show and wallabies galore (see photo - actually stroking the wallaby!). Kangaroo’s and all the other native australian animals which you expect to see in a good animal sanctuary! (Prior to this the first roo i had seen was when we were driving at night to Leigh’s house, at night in the pitch black - so barely at all; i hadn’t seen one in the zoo in Adelaide!) Today the temperature in the valley was comfortable but not hot at all; can’t wait for some warmer weather now; today is the only day the sun has been out since i arrived back here; look at the forecasts!
Rainy Melbourne:
Sunny Manchester:
I took some photos from a spot on Mount Dandenong which only the locals know about (I put them in the same set as the animal sanctuary as it was all done on the same day); you can see Melbourne CBD from the spot which is about 40km away. We ate in the restaurant at the very top of the mountain and then went back for some night shots (almost falling off the mountain in the process - hahaha - jus kiddin gran!).
P.S the night shots are slightly blurred. If only i brought my tripod. I went to the post office today too. It’s going to cost me about $150 to send my unrequired stuff home!!! At least the pack is going to be 7kg lighter!!!!! haha.
May
5
Another day in Melbourne; The Botanic Gardens.
Posted by TheMancunian at 14:59 | Filed In Travel | Add a Comment
As much as i have enjoyed it in Melbourne thus far, i can’t wait now to go to Sydney. The flight is on Saturday and i’ll be there for a few weeks. Probably a few weeks would have been enough in Melbourne too as i’ve done pretty much all the touristy stuff that is to be done here. Some shots of the gardens are beneath. Not all that exciting but uploading all the photos would take forever!
