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Sydney, Australia
33° 53' S 151° 12' E
Aug 03, 2005 11:47
Distance 2139km

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Sydney Part 1!

Text written in: English

For my first night in Sydney I met up with Sinead, Ronan, Niamh and Dylan from our South American tour. They were all sharing a house in Glebe and Sinead and Ronan had been working for some time. They suggested a pub called A Friend in Hand where on Wednesday night they have crab racing! I didn't know quite what to expect but we had an excellent evening. It was great to see everyone again and it was as if we hadn't been apart.
The crab racing used small hermit crabs. They were placed in the middle of a round table which had a black band around the edge. The first four or five crabs to reach the black band were set aside for a grand final. There were 2 qualifying races and my crab got through in the 2^nd race. As a winning owner I had to compete against other owners to win a t-shirt. The object of the game was to eat a dry cracker and then try to whistle without taking any water first. On my first attempt I managed to spray the compare with chewed up cracker! Eventually though I managed to swallow the biscuit and produce a whistle before anyone else. The t-shirt has a bit of a rude slogan on the back and is winging its way back to my parents as I write!!
My crab failed miserably in the final race - it didn't even make it out of its shell. The evening continued though with many pitchers of beer and plenty more silly games. We all got pretty drunk and ended up in a kids playground on a roundabout. The guys thought it would be really funny to see how fast they could spin us girls around. I felt very sick by the time I got off but we got our own back by doing the same to the guys, Dylan very nearly fell off completely. It was a memorable (mostly!) evening.
I was up early the next morning to visit the Indian Consulate to see about a visa. I had some photographs taken on the way there - they were pretty shocking as I was feeling a little hung over! Thank goodness they don't use the photos in your passport!! The lady at the consulate was very helpful, taking the various forms and just a copy of my passport (I needed it to fly to Alice Springs the following day) She assured me that it would be ready by the time I returned but I would have to leave my passport with them for 1 day so they could attach the visa. It would mean less time to tour the East coast but at least I would have one visa sorted.
I spent the rest of the morning doing some sight-seeing. I started with the Harbour Bridge, an impressive structure that spans Sydney Harbour. There is a bridge climb you can do but it costs A$160 (£70) and you're not allowed to take a camera. I had been told you can climb one of the towers for A$8.50 and get just as good a view! On my way there I spotted a number of Rainbow Lorikeets in some trees next to the bridge. They really are colourful and were noisily feeding on the flowers in the palm trees. I spent a good deal of time trying to photograph them before I got a picture that was just about recognisable!
The information about the tower climb was correct and it was a good choice. You climb inside the tower (by this time it had started to drizzle outside) and there are 3 small floors with a shop and various museum exhibits describing how the bridge was built. It was really interesting. At the top there is a viewing deck that runs all the way around the tower giving a 360 degree view of the city. It was great and I could take as many pictures as I liked. I even spotted a group climbing the main structure - they looked pretty cold and wet! I later discovered that the tour company take photographs of you at the top and with the exception of one small complimentary one charge around A$30 for copies!
Next I headed to the Opera House. It really is an impressive building and hard to believe it was conceived in the late 1950's - it still looks very contemporary. Circular Quay and Opera Quay leading up to it have been nicely developed with lots of shops and street cafes. What fascinated me the most were the thousands of tiles that cover the roof structure. They are a sort of diamond shape and alternate between white and cream. I took a few close up pictures!  The inside is equally modern although I only went into the foyer - the guided tour seemed a bit on the expensive side.
I met up with Niamh and Dylan at Circular Quay and we walked along the edge of the Botanical Gardens to a place called Mrs MacQuaries Seat. It's a particularly good viewing point where you can see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge together. Along the way we spotted a few White Ibis birds. We walked back to the Quay for lunch and then walked through an area known as The Rocks. It was once the haunt of prostitutes and drunken sailors but has since been completely transformed. The old wharf houses have been changed into fancy restaurants and there are lots of nice shops and bars.
After The Rocks we went to Darling Harbour, another area that has undergone a transformation. It's full of bars, restaurants, children's play areas and interesting water features. Around one fountain there were at least 30 of the White Ibis we had seen earlier. The palm trees above had been turned white with the amount of guano that had been deposited! Also in this area is a statue commemorating the 2000 Olympics. I have to say, if this is the sort of investment we can expect in London for 2012 then it can only be a good thing. I was really impressed with what has been done in Sydney.     
It was getting dark so we headed back to Circular Quay on one of the many ferries. It was a really nice trip as we got to see the harbour, including the bridge and the Opera House, all lit up.