Sydney & Blue Mountains

We’ve fallen behind on this blogging milarky once again. Unfortunately the lack of free internet, or perhaps more accurately the outrageous expense of internet is as much a feature of New Zealand as Australia. Still it’s catch up time so I have to cast my mind back one month to Christmas in Sydney.

(I have posted a bunch more photos on the photo site for your perusal.)

After Christmas we checked out of the Sheraton, the hostels this close to New Year were charging amounts which could only be considered theft so we had booked a 3 day tour of the Blue Mountains that came with accommodation. The weather was pretty bad and we spent most of the first day being told what we might see if it weren’t so misty.

After a day of disappointing views and freezing (well 12c) temperatures we gratefully arrived at our hostel to discover that we have been allocated a dorm room. My first taste of the real backpacking experience. The YHA in the Blue Mountains had that faint hint of sweat that one would imagine accompanies the malodorous backpacker. As it turned out our dorm also had the lingering aroma so things were not onto a good start.

I spent a good period of my life at boarding school sharing a dorm with 20 other teenage boys so I wasn’t too fazed and got a fairly good night sleep. Niamh wasn’t so lucky. She was woken twice in the night. First by a gentleman requesting that she get out of the bed as he was planning to sleep there. Niamh dealt with this in an expert manner, essentially a spot of growling followed by a spot of ignoring the new guest. The second disturbance was more distressing - Handy Andy in the top bunk causing the entire bed to shake along with his nocturnal entertainment.

We tried being backpackers, we really did, but the smell and the other disturbances were just too much. We jumped on the bus back to Sydney and checked into the Hilton for a long, well earned shower.

Before we left Australia we had a chance to catch up with another friend from Cayman, Lloyd. Having just flown back from South Africa he cast off the jetlag and treated us to dinner, drinks and the view from the roof patio at his apartment. If you squint a bit you can just make out the harbour bridge.

Next morning it’s off to New Zealand.