Palm Beach - 12-12-10

Palm Beach is a hour drive north of Sydney and the most northern suburb of Sydney.

It is also where Home and Away is filmed and makes a brilliant day out. Much quieter than Sydney's main beaches, there are regular buses to take people out of the city, but its a long ride.

Manly to Spit Walk 19-11-10

There are many coastal works in Sydney, however its is said that the Manly to Spit walk is the most beautiful. Sure enough there are some superbly stunning views and each corner unfolds new breathtaking shots and another lizard.

The walk totals approx. 9km, and is supposed to take 4 hours to comfortably complete. This is the case for the first timer as there are so many places you have to stop and admire the views or take a dip in one of the many pristine beaches. 

We started in Manly (doesn't make much difference which way round to start.) The first 2km are very gentle and curve round Manly’s neighbouring suburbs with some very impressive beach front properties. 

After that the terrain becomes a little more rugged, as you cross streams, beaches and bridges. Then you step into bush. The paths are well maintained and heavily used. This part has a few spots where there are rocks which both hands and feet are needed.

Water is essential as there is no where to buy more and suitable footwear is a must, though I did spy a few flip flops - sorry ‘thongs’ - but their faces said it all. You will come across the hard core fitness fanatics running the route, impressive as it is, its a hard walk for the average Joe.

Tennis 14-11-10

Lindfield tennis courts are very old fashion quaint grounds, with 3 grass courts and a wooden hut.

Even though in a residential area, in the ‘suburbs’, it was beautifully quiet and the afternoon of appalling tennis was accompanied with Pimms and nibbles. A delightful  way to spend what was a blisteringly hot Sunday afternoon. 

Whale Watching 13-11-10

Humpback whales migrate right past Sydney’s coast twice a year, in the Autumn (March - May) heading North to warmer waters to breed and in the Spring heading down to feed in the southern waters. 

The season ends in November, when the last few stragglers pass. These tend to be Mothers with calfs as they can't swim as fast. 

Leaving from Darling Harbor or Circular Quays, daily whale watching trips take you out through the harbour and through the heads into open water. You don't have to travel far out to sea before seeing a whale. We were lucky enough to see a mother and playful calf. The trip lasted a total of 4 hours, which was plenty of time to get some god pictures and admire these beautiful creatures, along with getting thoroughly sea sick by bobbing up and down. The seas are rough!

Trips are around the $70-$80 per person mark, online bookings offer 10% off. June-July is the peak whale watching season. However they can be seen almost all year round, they have been known to come into the harbour on occassions. 

Travel Expo 7-11-10

Within the grandeur of the Town Hall, this years travel expo showcased different companies trying to entice travellers to 

a) visit that particular area of the country/world 

b) go with that particular company 

We all know how tight fisted people our when it comes to parting with large amounts of cash, so to tempt people more, the companies used various methods. There was lots of competitions to be entered, free goodies - ranging from bags (filled with leaflets) sweets and beer (that stand was very popular).There was even snakes and crocodiles there!

www.travelxpo.com.au

Melbourne Cup 2-11-10

Be-known to the British, the Australians celebrate the Melbourne Cup in a big way. In a big way, I mean it is a national holiday in some places!

The nation literally stops for the 10 minutes the race is on as people gather round TV screens and radio’s clutching their tickets (they do like a flutter). For the Melbourne Cup, everyone dresses up and adorns their Sunday best even if they are not watching the race at the course.

Most companies face the inevitable and plan something for their staff, be it food and drink round the race. Our company treated us to the afternoon off and lunch at Nicks Seafood Restaurant on the King Street Wharf. 

We had a 3 course lunch that consisted of a lot of fish. Oysters and mussels as an entrée, crayfish and prawn cocktail to start and a huge platter of seafood for main. Fruit and cheese to finish, with free flowing wine.

Darling Harbour Fireworks 25th Sept

 Darling Harbour like to spoil the people with lots of free events. All through September and October there are free firework displays. Pretty spectacular for a free show. The only things complaining were the local roosting birds!

  

The Sydney Wildlife World and Aquarium 19th Sept

For $49.99 you can buy a mutli pass for entry to the wildlife world, aquarium, Sydney tower and ocean world Manly. Saves about $50 so is a cheap way of seeing them all and you have 3 months in which to visit them all. The last two are yet to come.

The wildlife world has some amazing snakes and reptiles - all native - a huge croc who only gets fed once a week on Tuesdays, some lazy kangaroos and sleepy kolas.

The Aquariums highlights were the life size great white shark and the walk through tunnels packed with sharks. Nemo and Dory make regular appearances too.

Wildlife World and the Aquarium are right next to each other in Darling Harbour so are easy to do together (the aquarium is open later so do that second).

Note to All - Beware the Cowboys

I used Anglo Pacific to ship my goods over, now by goods I do mean clothes and shoes and other important things. I shall not be using this company again. I have not come across a more useless company, the customer service is appalling. But then I should of picked up on it when waited in vain for the collection van to arrive (they hadn’t booked it in), by then I had left it too late.

Another company not to use is HiFx when transferring money across some of your funds just miraculously disappear! If only I could figure out how to make funds just ‘appear’!

Bondi 12-09-10

Now Bondi is one of the ‘must see’ places of Sydney, it’s the number one thing to do and see in the guide books. It is Sydney’s most famous beach and it was, well a beach! What more could you expect. Considering it's September and early spring it was crowded, the public transport a nightmare and the water cold. But as can be expected there were numerous tough nuts braving the waters and showing off with some impressive surfing moves.

The coastal walk has some impressive views of the beach and the surrounding suburbs, at the tip of Hunters Park you can see both Bondi an Bronte beaches - the later being much quieter.

On the south end of the beach is the Iceberg Swimming Club which have an outdoor swimming pool with stunning views! Now its called Icebergs because in the winter the members jump into the pool holding a large chunk of ice. Its supposed to toughen you up and maintain fitness apparently!

Bondi Beach is a 15 min bus ride from Bondi Junction where the main train station is which is also home to a nice array of shops. Bondi Junction is a 10 min train ride away from the CBD and the trains are double decker, a much needed commodity back in the UK.

5th September 2010

Awoken with brilliant sunshine, its time to see what Sydney is all about. For $20 you can get a Multicard, which allows unlimited use of ferries/trains/buses. We started with a breath taking ferry to Manly, on Sydney’s northern shores.

Creamy sand and turquoise waters, strewn with surfers, Manly is the pinnacle of what Sydney’s about. Lunch on the beach, who’d of thought one week before I was on Brighton beach, very cold, very wet and very grey, couldn’t be further apart!

The ferry return and then another from Circular Quays to Darling harbour, just to see the view from under the bridge.

For the 5th day of spring, it was hot and sunny - if not a bit too windy, things will only get better and hotter. Surfing shall be attempted once the water is a bit warmer! Oh and today is Australia’s Fathers Day, so happy fathers day for the second time this year!

Our apartment door - Must be fate

2nd and 3rd September 2010

After what seems like forever, and losing Wednesday, we have arrived in Australia. Leaving behind a cold, grey England, we found a cold, grey Sydney. Settling into our apartment on Harris St and exploring the local supermarkets was the sum total of Thursday which ended very early. Friday started very early and we ventured outside (after the torrential down pour had past). The Harbour Bridge and Opera House don’t fair too well against the grey sky but are impressive still. The forecast for the weekend looks better, might head to Manly beach, where there were whales seen last week!