Day 4 What shall we do then? Friday 27 October 2006

So, the first full day in Sydney. So much to see.....

I know what I'm doing this evening as I'm going to see a play at the Sydney Opera House! It's called 'Hospital', is about 3 nurses without any patients to look after and is very funny and naughty apparently. Report to follow.

I did lots of walking about yesterday, following the water's edge - the harbour is very crinkly. So, I took in the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Opera House, the BRIDGE (which looks very high...), lots of expensive apartments, and so on. Sydney didn't seem as bustling as I might have thought. Perhaps I found the quiet bits. Mind you, there were lots of runners out at lunchtime. Lots. Almost wanted to join them but remembered (a) I was suffering sleep deprivation and (b) I think I did a marathon recently (although just to annoy you can I say that my legs don't seem to know that). Had lunch at a famous Sydney landmark - Harry's Cafe de Wheels - an upmarket food van like you get at festivals etc. It does pies with mushy peas and mashed potato piled on top! Think I'm going to live on Harry's pies and bagels with vegemite :o)

Am going to try and book my train tickets for journeying on today, so that I know I've got that done. Might take in the new Sydney Wildlife World and/or the Aquarium - you know how I like all that nature stuff. Yesterday, I remembered one of the things I like about this country - the amazing plant and animal life. No ring-necked bliddy parakeets here. Saw cockatoos, some beautiful multi-coloured parrot things - similar size to the r-nbp, ibis (they might have been ibis they didn't have labels), exotic plants, lots of other birdies (small brown jobs they weren't) and so on. Some big fish in the harbour too.

Sydney itself seems to be a mix of old restored buildings and a huge amount of modern architecture. It's pretty clean too. If this is a legacy of the 2000 Olympics then roll on 2012. At times it felt almost a bit too trendy for me!!

The backpackers' place I'm staying in is ok. I'm waiting for my 'BBH moment' though (someone said to her "I wish you were my grandma"). Don't know what I expected of the other guests but they're mostly European - lots of Germans, a Dutch chap; also a South African couple whose experience of England is living in Basingstoke.... What this means for shared computer use is that all the words on blogger are in Spanish and the ones on my e-mail and webmessenger (are you all in bed?) are in German and goodness knows what else I'll find.

Anyway, mustn't waste my time talking to you lot ;o) I'm off out. And yes, it is possible to get photos onto this pc, as has been demonstrated by a jungfrau during the course of this blog post (grr).

Thanks for all the e-mails. Yes, I did get a good amount of sleep. I also have an Aussie sim now. Carry on texting me on the UK number but expect reply messages from a number starting +61 (no I don't remember the rest of it!). How handy that I brought a spare phone with me :D