Sydney

... and around.

My train ride to Sydney was pretty unremarkable, though luckily so many people got off at Broken Hill I ended up with two seats to myself so I could curl up quite happily. I woke up as we were passing through the Blue Mountains the next morning but you couldn't see all that much from the train. Just a lot of trees, and a couple of grey kangaroos. I arrived in Sydney Central station and my train was met by Harry and Jeannette - my Grandad's brother and his wife who have lived out here since the 60s. Thankfully they recognised me as I'd only seen them once before, back in '97 and I couldn't really remember them. They are both absolutely lovely and I had the most amazing week with them as they took me around Sydney and the surrounding area. They live in the Liverpool suburb, about a 40min train ride out, in a bungalow they built themselves with their dog, Jack, who's a kelpie (Australian sheep dog). We often sat out in the garden and watched the local birds - lots of brightly coloured lorrakeets that are so noisy as well as a couple of sulpher-crested cockatoos who were so friendly you could literally get them to eat out of your hand. The first night I was there we had a barbie which was delicious and a sign for all the lovely food I got to eat that week. Yep, even vegetables and salads! I have a new-found addiction to butternut pumpkin (butternut squash).

Our first trip out was to the northern beaches - up as far as Palm Beach which is where the super rich live, and is also where Home and Away is filmed. It was a lovely drive and we came back via the city and Sydney Harbour Bridge. The view over the harbour with the Opera House was just breathtaking. Definitely one of those 'oh wow, I'm really here' moments. During the week we also visited the Blue Mountains, Sydney and the southern beaches.

The Blue Mountains were incredible. The wind up there was really icy at the lookout point for the Three Sisters - three stacks of rock on the edge of the immense Jamison Valley. Words cannot describe how big this thing is, and old too. They say it was already fully formed as you see it today when the river that became the Grand Canyon was only a trickle! We had a look at the Scenic Railway: a cable car and bizarre rail line that goes over the edge of the cliffs to the bottom of the valley. There are a few walking trails down there but you have to make sure you know where you're going as it's very easy to get lost and not find your way out. Some British backpacker got lost in there for three days recently and was lucky to be found alive. We had a picnic in a park and then Jeannette and I took a walk to look at a waterfall. You could see where it meets the valley and just falls down over the ledge. There were some hikers about three quarters of the way down it messing about on the edge of a very high drop-off. I was just waiting for one of them to fall but luckily they didn't.

On the Wednesday we went into Sydney proper via the RiverCat. We dropped the car off at the Olympic Village and caught the cat (a catamaran ferry) into Circular Quay, under the Harbour Bridge and passed the Opera House. After a coffee we walked up to and around the Opera House, which was really odd to see it in real life. It's a beautiful building though and an amazing feat of architecture and engineering. We had lunch around the opposite side of Circular Quay in The Rocks area - the oldest part of Sydney. I had my first real experience of an Aussie hamburger. Absolutely massive and came with bacon, cheese, egg, salad and beetroot (my other Aussie addiction. Mmmm beetroot). We took a walk under Harbour Bridge and then caught the cat around the corner to Darling Harbour. It was gorgeous but filled with very expensive restaurants. We were in time for the 3.30pm ferry back to the Olympic Village but as it was the Easter holidays there were so many people wanting to get on it was full and the next one wasn't for an hour and a half. They hadn't thought to put on any extras. Smart people. We had a drink in a bar before managing to get on the later one and getting back around 7pm. It was a very long day!

The Friday I was there we drove down to Shellharbour where their son Russel lives with his wife and children. We drove through some of the national parks, stopping for an ice cream at a place on the cliffs and watched the hang gliders and paragliders taking off. We'd brought Jack with us and he was very very excited to get out the car and have a look around. We got down to Kiama where there's a blow hole in the cliffs - basically a where the roof of a cave has fallen in and now shoots up water when the waves hit underneath it. We had a late lunch down in the little harbour and then drove to Shellharbour beach but as Jack wasn't allowed on the beach we drove slightly up the coast to where he was allowed to have a run. We had dinner with Russ and Shauna and left soon after as the children had to go to bed. Mind you, I was so tired I was nodding off in the car on the way back also!

Saturday morning Harry and Jeannette came with me to Circular Quay and said goodbye as I caught the ferry across to Manly. There son Stewart had said he'd take me around that day and I'd crash at his before he'd drop me into the city on Sunday. He met me at Manly ferry port and we had a look around the town and got an ice cream from Cold Rock - white chocolate, cookie dough and marshmallows. Mmmm. His house, which he shares with two mates, is gorgeous. Up on the hill overlooking a beach. I've never seen so many surfboards in one house in my life! I was staying in the spare room which was basically a surfboard storage room! It might be paranoia but I did check the room for spiders. Stewart got bitten by a red back in his own bed and while one bite doesn't kill you they do make you pretty ill. Stewart's been surfing for years and he was more than happy to tell me some 'horror stories' in preparation for my surfing trip next week. The one that stuck with me most was the one about his friend who was surfing in Hawaii. The guy was on the beach watching a couple of his friends out in the water when suddenly one of them was fired about 13ft into the air and came crashing down. Great white shark had attacked him. They hit you from underneath at about 60mph and stun you. They found the guys body two days later. Great. Just what I needed to hear. At least that was in Hawaii... At least, I think it was....

Anyway we went out that night. Met a couple of his friends at the Newport Yacht club where they'd spent the day sailing and then we went to a bar near the beach for food and drinks. We left when the bar shut (no idea what time it was) and had to walk up the [very] steep hill back to the house. The next morning we were all feeling a little tender and so went for a swim in the sea to wake up. The sea was lovely but there were quite a few big waves and I got bowled under quite a few times. Dried off in the sun and then went back up to the house to get my stuff together and get ready to go. We drove into Sydney to try and find Bondi Beach, as I figured I couldn't come all this way and not see it. We passed through the infamous Kings Cross area looking all innocent in the daylight. It's the club scene of Sydney and is renowned for drug dealing and gangs, and has now been dramatised in the Aussie tv show Underbelly: The Golden Mile (which is actually quite a good series). Finally we found Bondi and went for some food as we were starving before having a walk down the beach. There were a lot of surfers out and it was interesting to see the lifeguard tower where the documentary series Bondi Rescue (another of my Aussie tv addictions) is filmed. Stewart then dropped me off at the Wake Up! hostel in the city where I was going to stay that night as my surf trip leaves from outside it early the next morning. Checked in and asked if they were going to be showing the Grand Prix anywhere in the hostel. They said they weren't, but instead there was a free gig that evening in Hyde Park so I wandered down there to check it out as guess who was playing live? The Stereophonics!!!! They were awesome! I joined about 5000 other people just sitting on the grass listening to them. I had an amazing view and they were brilliant live. Feeling very happy I wandered back to my hostel to get ready for the week ahead. Surf surf surf!