Godday mate Wed/Thu 15-16/01/03   Welcome to Australia, mate - to the beautiful city of Sydney, blessed with a unique opera house, terrific beaches, chic restaurants and bars, great museums and a 'sick' nightlife. I am sure the Australians will forgive me for not mentioning several hundred other great things about this place, however one seasonal event I do need to point out is the Sydney Festival which takes place throughout the month of January and consists of theatre performances, concerts, DJ's, cinema and tons of other interesting and wonderful stuff all over town. Due to the late departure of our flight from Jo'burg we did not arrive in Sydney until 10pm, which in turn meant two things: a taxi ride from the airport to the "Original Backpackers" and about AU$30 less in my wallet. The hostel turned out to be fairly clean, quiet and safe, yet without great deal of atmosphere, which didn't matter too much to me at the time as after 28 hours of travelling I was primarily looking forward to a shower, a bed. After a semi-decent amout of sleep I got up at around 10 the first day and strolled around Kings Cross and Paddington, discovering a cool Italian coffee shop on Victoria street called Coluzzi (rocking fruit salads), a wine "garage" right opposite with a very extensive selection and an Italian deli next door which sells purdeys, among many other delicacies. Wandered on to Oxford street stopping off at various clothes and books stores on my way to Wooleys Wheels a large bike shop from which I rented a bike for two days in order to explore town. Finally back on a bike, I first rode past St. Marys Cathedral followed by the Royal Botanic Gardens (which is where the Charlton Pool is), the Opera House, the Rocks and the CBD with some late night shopping opportunities as on Thursday the shops stay open till 9pm. Shopping had become necessary as one pair of shorts was falling apart and my non-trecking trousers were not faring much better. The quest for a new pair of shorts, which had begun some 6 weeks back in South Africa, would draw to a close that evening, yet the trousers (and shoe) acquisition proved (as usual) to be somewhat more difficult. After the shops had closed I made my way to Darling Harbour where several live latino bands were playing and lots of Salsa dacing was going on. (Took the picture of the skyline from there.) On the way back passed by the Hyde Park Barracks Musem where a very good trip hop band was playing live as part of the Sydney Festival. Raced to the hostel, got changed and returned for the last 30 minutes of Zephyr Timbre followed by DJ music. Pretty dire day financially, not exactly being helped along by the AU$ 6.5 for a Hahn's beer at the concert, but otherwise a lot of fun! Around town Fri 17/01/03   The first half of this day would turn out to be dominated by my search for trousers and shoes, which around the central business district of Sydney was really quite enjoyable, especially when comparing it to mall-shopping in South Africa. During my quest I came across a very cool store selling "Dinosaur Design" objects in the Strand Arcade. I eventually succeeded in buying a pair of semi-smart shoes but did not manage to find any suitable jeans. In the early evening headed over to the maginficently designed Andrew Charlton pool, which is situated right on the water within the botanical gardens, and after a short 1km swim went to see the very cool Australian movie called "Dirty Deeds" at the st.georges open air cinema overlooking the opera house and the skyline. Luckily I may add as the film was completely sold out within 15 minutes and I luckily managed to get ons spare ticket from another group going to see the show. After the cinema headed back to the Hyde Park Barracks Musem to see e.n.o playing a more jazz oriented gig which I did not like as much as zephyr timbre from the night before. Saturday in Sydney Sat 18/01/03   Packed up my stuff and moved out of the Original Backpackers into Eva's Backpackers which is located just around the corner on Orwell St. The place had a better and more social atmosphere to it, despite being frequented by lots of Germans. After I had moved into my new room with air conditioning, I quickly headed back into town to get my airline ticket changed and re-issued at the main Quantas office (corner of Hunter and Phillip St.) as the 1 hour wait on the day before had put me off slightly. Managed to get almost all the connections I wanted so left soon after to go to the Government House, which is open for visits on Friday - Sunday and then on to the Customs House near Circular Quay to see an exhibition of more Dinosaur Design works. After which I had to return my rental bike to Wooleys and then walked back leisurely to the hostel stopping to get some food and drin for dinner along the way. Decided to make full use of the rooftop terrace and had wine and cheese picknic at sunset overlooking the Sydney skyline. I was already dreading the next morning as I would have to catch a bus at 6:45 to the airport for my flight to Townsville.	Original Backpackers Kings Cross - 162 Victoria Rd.
St Marys Cathedral City at Night from Darling Harbour Dinosaur Designs @ Strand Arcade Parliament House Andrew (boy) Charton Pool Opera House at Dusk View of City from Cinema Open Air Cinema Screen and Opera House Art Gallery of NSW at Night Downtown view at Night Sydney Conservatory for Music Government House Entrance Government House Dining Room View over Harbour Government House Customs House - Tea Exhibit Dinosaur Designs - Plaque Dinosaur Designs - Patterns Dinosaur Designs - Colour Dinosaur Designs - Form Oval Kitchen Set Cutlery Square Rage Lineup & Logo Customs House Coluzzi Cafe Italian Deli & Wine Garage
The Return to Sydney Sat 25/1/2003   On the morning of the 25th first recovered belongings from my room, which I had not been able to get to during the night (see Queensland section) and got a taxi to Shute Harbour from which the ferries to Daydream, South Molle and Hamilton Island depart. Just caught a ferry at 10am in the pouring rain, arriving at Hamilton one hour later. The island is basically one large resort with bars, shops, pools, lots of hotels/bungalows and golf carts everywhere. (The mode of transport). Took me about 1 hour to have a look around, after which I plonked myself at a table by one of the pools and had a drink. Made my way over to the airport on foot and caught the 13:20 flight to Sydney, which was interesting as the landing strip basically stretches across the whole width of the island and seems rather small (but had no problems lifting off in time hehe). Got back into Sydney by the green and yellow Airport bus (AU$ 12 return) and had a quiet and relaxing evening at Eva's with some nice white wine and Thai food on the terrace overlooking the city. All in all a well boring Saturday night but I was still exhausted from the diving trip and the night before in Airlie. Australia Day! Sun 26/1/2003   Slept in and still felt tired but had to get going to see what Sydney had to offer on Australia Day! First bought a Daytripper pass for 13.40 with which one can use the all public transport within Sydney including Ferries, as my original pan was to head out to Manly for the day. This did not come off because all the museums turned out to be free and I tried to visit a few which I had previously not been to. After a short walk around Darling Harbour I joined the masses of people shuffeling through the "Star Wars" exhibit in the Powerhouse Museum. The exhibit showed lots of props and original costumes used in the Episodes IV - VI and I. Very funny seeing the details of the interrogation druid up close! Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries on the ocasion so there are no pictures of the expo. Second stop was the IMAX theatre where I watched the Spacestation 3D film, which was truely awe inspiring. One scene that I particularly liked was the launch of the Sojus Rocket and all the people standing around the base of the rocket filming and cheering. The images from the International Space Station (ISS) were of course nothing short from awesome. (Could have done without Tome Cruise narrating though) Continued my trek to the Mint, located right next door to the Sydney Hospital, but turned out to be rather uninteresting, so I wasted no time and visited the Hyde Park Barracks Museum right next door. On the way there took some photos of the amazing oldtimers lining Macquarie Street, one I am sure my father will appreciate is the Heinkel Bike with sidecar! Saw some very nicely restored Rolls Royces' futher down the street also. Hyde Park Barracks is a museum dedicated to the penal colony past of Australia, illustrating the evolution of the building from a prison to an immigration centre, to a civic building housing a variety of law courts and finally a museum. The prisoners, many of which seemed to spend 7 or 14 years there, slept in hammocks spaced only centimetres apart, as captured in one of the photos. I did not have enough time to thoroughly appreciate the museum but another astonishing fact is that much of what is known about the day to day life in the prison is because of the thousands of rats that lived within the building. They collected pieces of cloth, small personal belongings, bones, porcelain, just to name a few and stored it wihtin their nests under the floorboards. During the restauration work of the building when it was being turned into a museum these stashes were unearthed and archeologists and historians archived all recovered objects, some of which are on display in the museum. Wandered around Hyde Park where the walkways were lined with food and drink vendors, and a live band was playing on an open air stage. After 6 pm things started to slow down so I walked through the Gardens to Charlton pool and swam 2km before returning to the open air cinema which was showing Crackerjack, a heartwarmingly funny Australian movie which I had already seen on the plan but liked so much that I went to watch it again. Then went into town to "the tank" but found it to be sold out so wandered to Darling Harbour and went to the Cargo Lounge instead, which was an excellent choice! Met some nice ozies in the queue and chatted to them most of the evening. Last day in Sydney Mon 27/1/2003   Bought another Daytripper pass and headed off the the Taronga Zoo first thing in the morning. As I had only seen dead kangaroos on the side of the road in Queensland I felt I could not leave Oz without having seen one alive, and the Sydney zoo that is home to a large number of endemic or at least typical Australian animals seemed like the best choice. The easiest way to get to the zoo is by boat from Circular Quay, which only takes 10-15 minutes, and since the zoo is on a hill it's best to start at the top and end up at the ferry terminal after the visit. To keep it short, the zoo is worth a visit and the "keeper walks" and displays are very well done. Not only did I get to see my koalas and roos but a large assortment of other interesting animals, such as a Red Panda, a Tasmanian Devil, and an Asian Leopard. Just enjoy the pictures all right? In the late afternoon caught the ferry back to Circular Quay and from there on to Manly which is a surfer mecca about 17 miles from the centre of town. Very laid back atmosphere with tons of extremely well stocked, yet rather pricey surfer stores. Seems like there are many nice places to stay in Manly, but my first impression is that there is not nearly as much to do as in Kings Cross, if you are not a surfer that is. Still managed to replace a t-shirt I had "lost" in Townsville, with a stylish Rip Curl one. Returned to Sydney in the evening, when it started to rain slightly and spent the evening at the hostel and the internet cafe, this being the first day of rainy weather I had experienced in Sydney - might be a little introduction to what I will be seeing in New Zealand!	Eva's Backpackers 6-8 Orwell St. - Ph: 02 9358 2185
Oldtimers on Macquarie St. Heinkel with Sidecar 1925 Rolls Royce Macquarie St. on Australia Day Hyde Park Hyde Park Kid Hyde Park Barracks Interior Hyde Park Barracks Hammocks Artefacts from 1840s Rat's Nets under Floorboards Sydney Public Library Open Air Cinema II Opera House at Night Tongara Zoo - Wallaby Tongara Zoo - Young Roo Spider Monkey Large Roo Tasmanian Devil Keeper and Giraffes Richard with Giraffe Giraffes Crockodile Lizard Komodoran Lizard (largest lizard) Komodoran Lizard Lion Leopard Zondiak Bear (largest bear) Sea Eagle Red Panda View from Roof Terrace