I had a week in Sydney and it was great. Although I only had a short time there I really liked Sydney as a city. Everyone seemed very friendly and there was a lot to see and do, always something exciting going on. I stayed with friends which was great as it saved me loads of money on having to pay out for expensive Sydney hostels. So thanks Anthony and Ross!! Their apartment was in a really tall building and had a spectacular view over the city. You could see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. It really was amazing. So what did I do while I was there? Let's see if I can remember!
I was really lucky with the weather while I was there as it was approaching winter. Most days it was really warm and I could walk around in shorts and t shirt. It was funny as the locals were walking round all wrapped up with scarves and everything. I think they should come and experience British winter sometime!! Anthony and Ross took me out for a lovely meal on the Sunday to a famous fish and chip restaurant. Can't remember what it was called but it was Irish. And it was yum.
I did a lot of sight seeing - Bridge, Opera House, Darling Harbour, Bondi Beach etc. The Opera House is an impressive building but it looked a little grubby - it's actually kind of grey close up. It felt kind of weird being so close to it - it's such an iconic building it felt kind of like i wasn't really there! I went to quite a few museums and art galleries (I love art galleries, yay). What else did I do...?
I went MOTHER FLIPPIN' WHALE WATCHING!!! You might be thinking I'd have had enough of that but I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. They are the most amazing creatures. On the trip I saw two sperm whales, which is really unusual as they are hardly ever seen in that area, aaand I saw humpback whales :) I love them so bloody much.
While I was there there was an arts and music festival going on at Circular Quay. It happens every year, is called Vivid and is a festival of light. All the buildings around Circular Quay get lit up including the opera house, the bridge, the art gallery, the train station and many others and its all accompanied by music. There's also loads of art/light installations dotted about the place. I spent one evening mooching around there looking at everything. It was really cool and so glad I was there when it was on! The whole thing just looked really spectacular.
On the Friday I went diving. It was awesome. I caught the ferry over to Manly in the early morning and did two shore dives off of Shelly beach. It was great and I'm so glad I did it. I saw soooo many fish and a couple of large Wobbegong sharks aaand loads of other stuff. No turtles though which was sad. It was quite different from where I'd learnt in South Africa as the water was much warmer and the visibility was much better. It was really really great. In a funny/nice coincidence the place I dived with in Sydney were called Pro Dive which happened to also be the name of the place I learned with in Plett! I was assured that there was no affiliation, just a nice coincidence. It made me smile.
Very stupidly I forgot about the fact that you're not supposed to go diving before going on a plane because of the pressure, and you might get decompression sickness and die or something. I only remembered this the next day when I was sitting on the plane to New Zealand as it was taking off. I started panicking that I was going to get paralysed and die (I admit I am a it of a hypochondriac!!) until I realised it had been around 20 hours since I had gone diving and that I would most probably be ok. I was still a bit worried however and only felt sure I wasn't going to die when I was still alive 24 hours later. Yay for not dying!!
So that was Sydney! I am sure I have forgotten to include stuff but you get the general idea of what I got up to. Next, onto to New Zealand!!
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