Where to begin?
After an uneventful (though late arriving) flight from Auckland on 30th May, Caitlin and I arrived in Sydney and the glorious rain. I'm not going to lie; I was disappointed. Rain? After I'd had weeks of beautiful weather? And to make matters worse, on the last day of our week we had a stunning blue sky.
Psht. Whatever.
The train to Kings Cross was $15.20, and from there it was a short walk to Forbes St, where we found our hostel, G'Day Backpackers, a great messy place that reminded me of university. We were in a 10-bed mixed-dorm, and both took top bunks before setting out to see the City.
Now, Caitlin unfortunately had picked up the cold that I got in Auckland the week before, and the first couple of days she had a really awful time having to deal with all of the walking I made her do, as well as the rain that came and went at the worst times. Anyway, that first Saturday we walked down William St towards Hyde Park, before I took Caitlin towards Circular Quay on a convoluted route, trying my best to avoid sighting the Harbour monuments before we arrived. It really is a shame that we didn't have nice weather that first day, because the Bridge and Opera House look so much more stunning against a blue sky. At any rate, it was great being back in Sydney.
So we walked around the hub of the Quay, adn then I took Caitlin to Darling Harbour to look for food, and to show her the more vibrant and commercial side to the Harbour. Afterwards we headed across into the centre, had a quick look around the Queen Victoria Building, before buying groceries to last (almost) the whole week: pasta and bread, mainly. Stupidly, neither of us had enough cash to pay once we got to the checkout, so there was a minor hurry to an ATM and returning slightly embarrassed to the cashier with lots of money. Pasta spirals never tasted so good too.
Back at the hostel, lots of people who we still hadn't met were watching Kill Bill (so good!), so we sat down to that before an early first night.
The next couple of days were interesting. The hostel provided free breakfast every morning (toast and cereal), which we took advantage of, and we also made ham and tomato sandwiches to take out for lunch each day. On the Sunday we walked for hours around the Royal Botanic Gardens, seeing people covered in cockatoos. It was suitable for Caitlin, doing something that relaxing given her ill-state. We also walked right around the Opera House, before walking across the Bridge, and through sideways rain, to the North Shore, and around to Luna Park.
On Monday, we went to the ZOO! Taronga was amazing. We caught the ferry from Circular Quay, and I was looking forward to taking all sorts of photos of every exotic and exciting animal there, but during the crossing, my camera stopped working! The screen just went purple between taking shots of the Harbour Bridge...so I was not a happy person with that fiasco going on. I sent a quick text home to ask for (repayable) money for a new camera, and feeling down, looked ahead to the zoo.
They had everything there. Red pandas, condors, seals, giraffes, elephants, giant tortoises, crocodiles, lions, tigers, bears, and so on. The mountain goats were mental. Seriously, they have hooves, but can scale the most sheer cliff faces, and are amazingly nimble. There was a great walkway through a kangaroo and wallaby enclosure - a definite highlight of the visit - as well as a spectacular bird show, which we missed the first part of, so went to to see it again in the afternoon. And then the koalas! It was $20 to get a photo with one (rip off), but it was awesome just seeing some again.
Despite the colourful fauna, Caitlin and I had mixed feelings towards Taronga, particularly the birds; there wasn't enough room for these creatures to run around in, and maaaan some of them, like the bear and zebras, looked really unhappy.
Tuesday we walked down Oxford St, then through the top of Centennial Park, to Bondi Junction, where I bought a new camera (exciting!!!!!!) and Caitlin wanted a coat. More importantly, we had to visit a Hungry Jack's (because I'd hyped up the amazing burger joint), but because we couldn't find one locally, and it was clearing into a nice day, I suggested we walk to Bondi Beach. So we walked to the beach, grabbed a burger, watched the surfers, ran at the seagulls, and Caitlin was still a bit ill. The walk back took forever, and when we saw Anna in the evening, she was shocked we went so far.
We met Anna for coffee, and she took us to a (slightly overpriced?) café, where they served me a latte in a glass. We also discovered that Anna is a coeliac, which takes my total of gluten-free people met to four. Combine that with Caitlin's lactose-intolerance and we were happy families.
After catching up with Anna, we headed back to the hostel where we met a load of people, and chilled out before heading out clubbing. I had really mixed feelings about this considering how I felt back in Auckland, but then again, it's my gap year, and if I don't throw caution to the wind every so often, then how am I going to live? So we went to a club where we got free entry through the hostel, and what do you know, there was karaoke between 9 p.m. and midnight. Caitlin didn't have the guts to sing, but after two from the hostel, Lawrence and Lizzie, sang "Summer Nights", I got up and sung "Higher Ground", the Chili Peppers version. Good times. After a few hours of dancing, we headed back.
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