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I think the last time we wrote we had completed day 4 of the
Inca Trail. Well after that we spent a couple of days seeing the sights in
Santiago before catching the flight to Oz. Since the days in between aren’t too
exciting, involving more flights and bus trips etc, I have decided to skim over
those and start with the day we touched down in Australia. So here goes ……
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Wednesday 31st March (since we lost Tuesday 30th March to the international date line !)
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After a night of disturbed sleep on the plane we touched down in Auckland New Zealand at 4:30am ! We had managed to get some sleep although had squeezed in a few films, Matchstick Men, which was great, Duplex (not so good but funny for a plane movie), and School of Rock, another entertaining plane movie. I had tried the old eye masks to shield the light and managed to sleep reasonably well. Trev unfortunately had a more disturbed nights sleep. It was with bleary eyes that we ventured out of the plane at Auckland, we were due to have an hour there while they got the plane ready for the rest of the flight to Sydney. It was great to be able to understand people again. We were told to line up and walk along a white line. It wasn’t until we neared the front of the line that we realised that we were lining up to be sniffed by a couple of spritely sniffer dogs. They hauled a couple of people to one side and interrogated them close to where we were sitting which was interesting to watch and helped to pass the time. We bumped into an Australian chap that had been on the floating islands trip with us, his wife and two kids so we sat chatting to them.
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After a delay due to engineering problems we finally reboarded the plane and
took off for Sydney. We touched down at 7:30am local time, but then had an
exceptionally long queue and wait to get through passport control. Due to the
fact that we had food and a wood product in our bags and because we had been in South America during the last 6 days we had to go through items to declare. I sailed through having a nice chat to the lady who was searching my bags. I showed her the pasta I had and she hoped I would enjoy it! Trev on the other hand with his wood carving was stopped as it had seeds inside. Fortunately the guy was nice and took Trev into an office to see if he could get the seeds to come out. They made a small hole in the bottom of it and shook all of the seeds out – it took a while though and it was gone 8:30am by the time we emerged from the customs hall. As we came out Trev and I scoured the line of people not sure whether we were looking for Ju and Shu or just one of them. Trev spotted them first and off we dashed. Both of them looked really well and relaxed. Then from behind Julian out popped Jan! It was a fantastic surprise and really lovely to see her. After initial quick catch ups on how we all were we headed out to find the cars. Jan headed off to hers but was coming back to Ju and Shus for breakfast so we had more time to catch up then. We piled into the blue Roo and set off into the Sydney traffic chatting ten to the dozen.
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Ju and Shu pointed out various sights on the way home and then the moment came when we drove round the corner into full sight of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was awesome to see and a little bizarre as Trev and I struggled to believe we were actually in Sydney. We also caught a glimpse of the Opera House – very special! Back at Ju and Shus we gathered our stuff together and headed up the stairs to their flat and what a flat it is! Beautiful views and a lovely layout, so clean and tidy as well. It was grand to be in such a lovely environment and to feel so at home with Ju and Shu. After a tour of the flat it
was time for brekkie of hot cross buns – delicious and just what the doctor
ordered. Jan arrived and we all had a good old natter about our adventures,
Australia and Sydney. Sadly all too soon Ju, Shu and Jan had to potter off to
work and the like. It was a glorious day though and Ju and Shu had given us
directions to get to the ferry to Manly Beach for some much needed R&R. After putting some washing on we got our stuff ready for the beach and headed out into the sunshine. We managed to find the ferry port – just a stones throw from Ju and Shus flat and sat there soaking up the sun and the scenery. We caught the ferry to Circular Quay and then another one to Manly. On arrival at Manly we grabbed some toasted sarnies before setline down on the beach in the sunshine. After a quick red we both dropped off into a glorious snooze. By the time we awoke it was getting cooler and we didn’t fancy a swim. So we packed up and headed to the ferry to back to Circular Quay. We wanted to get there before 5:30pm to see the sunset over the Bridge and Opera House from the comfort of the Opera Bar. We were meeting J&S there for a drink or two. A couple of beers and a sunset
later we all caught the ferry back to the flat where we had chicken myers
(yummy!!) wine and a chat. Trev fell asleep soon after dinner, so we retired to bed to catch up on sleep and to be brighter for the following day. It had been a fab day and a surreal one as we still struggled comprehend we were in Sydney with J&S.
Thursday 1st April – Pinch Punch the First Day of the Month – April Fools !
After a leisurely start to the morning and a glorious brekkie of cereal and
marmite on toast we set off for the ferry to head into the city for an explore
and a shop. We needed to buy a tent today for our camping trip to the Blue
Mountains at the weekend. We also plan to camp throughout Australia so would be handy. When we got to Circular Quay we strolled up George Street taking in the sights and the sounds of the city, looking for places for Trev to get his hair cut. We then turned right along King Street on our hunt for Kent Street where J&S had told us all the camping shops were. We went into all of them asking about tents, stoves etc. Most of them had sales on which was an added bonus. We had to decide whether we wanted the cheap option that wouldn’t last or something we could continue to use in England. In the end, after much deliberation we went for the one that would last, as we hope to do more camping in the UK and around.
We then strolled back towards the city to have a mooch about the shops and to get Trev’s haircut before meeting Shula at 4:30pm at the QVB building, the
Queen Victoria Building, a beautiful place to meet as it is a fab building.
From here we strolled down to Darling Harbour to a waterfront bar at the far
end, close to Julians office. We sat down with a much needed beer for a good
old chinwag and to watch the sunset over the water. Ju arrived from his office
and after a few more bevvies we strolled out of Darling Harbour via a bottle
shop and on into the area known as the Rocks. We were eating at a place called Fish and Rocks. The food was gorgeous with all of us having fresh fish and was time for brekkie of hot cross buns – delicious and just what the doctor
ordered. Jan arrived and we all had a good old natter about our adventures,
Australia and Sydney. Sadly all too soon Ju, Shu and Jan had to potter off to
work and the like. It was a glorious day though and Ju and Shu had given us
directions to get to the ferry to Manly Beach for some much needed R&R. After
putting some washing on we got our stuff ready for the beach and headed out
into the sunshine.
We managed to find the ferry port – just a stones throw from Ju and Shus flat
and sat there soaking up the sun and the scenery. We caught the ferry to
Circular Quay and then another one to Manly. On arrival at Manly we grabbed
some toasted sarnies before setline down on the beach in the sunshine. After a
quick red we both dropped off into a glorious snooze. By the time we awoke it
was getting cooler and we didn’t fancy a swim. So we packed up and headed to
the ferry to back to Circular Quay. We wanted to get there before 5:30pm to see
the sunset over the Bridge and Opera House from the comfort of the Opera Bar.
We were meeting J&S there for a drink or two. A couple of beers and a sunset
later we all caught the ferry back to the flat where we had chicken myers
(yummy!!) wine and a chat. Trev fell asleep soon after dinner, so we retired to
bed to catch up on sleep and to be brighter for the following day. It had been
a fab day and a surreal one as we still struggled comprehend we were in Sydney
with J&S.
Thursday 1st April – Pinch Punch the First Day of the Month – April Fools !
After a leisurely start to the morning and a glorious brekkie of cereal and
marmite on toast we set off for the ferry to head into the city for an explore
and a shop. We needed to buy a tent today for our camping trip to the Blue
Mountains at the weekend. We also plan to camp throughout Australia so would be