Australia

Our, and many of our fellow passenger’s, excitement at arriving at Sydney prompted a round of applause as we ground to a halt at Sydney International Airport; although the applause may also have been for the fact that we had had an excellent flight with the very good Singapore Airlines. The applauding of a flight had never happened to us before and has happened only once since: after our flight to Vanuatu. However, we would put those applause down to the exceptionally large amount of free alcohol that Air Vanuatu handed out during the flight. Or to the fact that after consuming large amounts of free beer, wine and spirits people were relieved to be landing with the prospect of emptying booze filled bladders once inside the terminal; there had been only one toilet on the plane and one very large queue.

Upon entering the airport terminal we knew we’d arrived in Sydney when we were greeted by an Irishman, almost knocked unconscious by a falling surfboard and then asked to clean our muddy shoes. With sparkling shoes in hand we eagerly headed to our 3 ½ star Travelodge hotel which we had managed to book cheaply in Singapore. It must be noted at this point that Emma, unsurprisingly, has been the main organiser during the trip and booked numerous places for us to stay. However, there have been general trends relating to her chosen accommodation in that they were required to fit into one of three categories for them to be deemed acceptable: 1) Demonstrates a certain level of building site activity so that the occupant can be woken up promptly to the sound of drills or hammers (Aurangabad & Dehli)
2) Located either above or next to a nightclub so that the guest can enjoy a somewhat muffled dancefloor experience from the comfort of their own bed (Penang & Auckland)
3) Crammed with enough bugs to have the guest running around with a torch/lamp at 2:22am attempting to kill mosquitoes/cockroaches (everywhere else)
Thus it was with the utmost smugness, on my part, that we rolled in to our cheap and classy establishment. Although, Emma would not agree to carry me around Sydney on her shoulders in order to parade her great accommodation booking boyfriend.

And so to the fantastic city of Sydney.

It was really good to be back and to us it is the best place that we’ve ever lived. Emma stayed there in 2003 for 4 months working as a waitress and I was there for 5 months working as a touch-typist for the Government (it is amazing how fast one can type with two fingers when they’re skint and need a job). Thus we’d both been eager to return and share our previous experiences with each other. Emma was to show me the great places to eat, drink red wine and shop. I was to show Em the cheapest places for pool, beer and the Hungry Jacks Burger joint where you can offer the workers as much money as you want and they still won’t sell you their Hungry Jack caps.

Day 1: After arriving at our hotel and marvelling at the view from our 18th floor room (which included the Campbell St. eyesore which once housed me during my time in Sydney and for some reason has managed to evade demolition) we headed off excitedly to see some of the sights. First stop being Blackbird café at Darling harbour, for dinner, where we gleefully munched on pizza and demanded some money back when our wobbly table sent wine over my trousers. And then of course to the Opera house and Circular Quay where it sunk in that we were actually in Sydney and no we weren’t dreaming.

Day 2: We awoke to a beautiful blue sky with not a cloud to be seen. “Is it really winter here?” asks the ginger as he reluctantly slaps on his factor 30 sun cream. Then it was off to Circular Quay via the Botanical gardens, complete with comedy white birds and flying foxes, and to the Opera house. At which point we randomly bumped into two fellow UEA medics, Bhav & Randeep, who were also spending a few days in Sydney having spent a few weeks in India. Where despite being Hindi speakers they too were ripped off on numerous occasions. Not just us then.

After a coffee and a catch up in the Rocks Café, where Emma once graced the tables as waitress extraordinaire, we bid them farewell and hopped on a ferry and cruised past the Opera house on our way to Manly. A very pleasant afternoon was then spent strolling along to Shelley beach, picnicking on turkish bread sandwiches from the deli, supping a cold schooner of Tooheys over a game of ping pong. Then headed back on the ferrycat with some hot chocolate from the bald man. Who I discovered wasn’t some bald bloke selling hot chocolate but was actually a shop called ‘Chocolate from the bald man’. Very nice chocolate. Em didn’t speak for about an hour afterwards and just sat with a glazed look in her eyes. (It wasn’t the same eating one of the little pots of melted chocolate without you Becks!)

Day 3: Yet again we awoke to clear blue skies. Perfect. We decided to head over to Darling Harbour and have the famous (to the Greig Girls anyway) Sweetcorn fritters from Café 22. They tasted as good as Emma had claimed them to be and as with most café’s in Sydney they make coffee’s to die for. After a very filling breakfast we walked the short distance to the Sydney Fish Market. Hundreds of different fish and shellfish displayed on ice filled counters; who needs to pay $15 to go to Sydney Aquarium when we could see them here! But with very filled bellies there was no room for any fresh calamari and chips, maybe next time. The market is very near to where Emma used to live in Pyrmont. In comparison to my ramshackled, overfilled, cockroach ridden terraced house the ‘Palladium’ was 5*. Luckily she couldn’t show me the swimming pool, gym or her old rented penthouse apartment all for a similar price to mine as we didn’t have a swipe card to enter the building.

Not sure quite how but according to Em (Becks and Mum you will back me up here) a trip to Darling harbour wouldn’t be complete without singing ‘Monorail, monorail, monorail, monorail’ as the monorail passes you overhead. Remember that Simpson’s episode? So after a quick rendition we headed to the main drag of George street and headed through China town to find a Sushi train restaurant that I’d had been too.

Emma takes over the task of typing: After tramping round for half an hour with claims of ‘its just round the next corner’ and ‘I’m sure its round here somewhere’ we settled for a smoothie and set off for Glebe. Here Simon managed to get a $8 haircut and visit second hand book and record shops; I can never understand wandering aimlessly round shops in which you have no indention of buying anything. Anyway we did discover a 1.3L bottle of Hardy’s Shiraz for only $9. A bargain I am sure you will all agree (if only Waitrose sold them Mr Kerr) so we went to one of the many BYO café’s for a quick snack before the evening entertainment we had both been looking forward to for 2 months; a trip to the Opera House to see Barber of Seville, part of Simons birthday present! Running late as ever we were marching back to our room for a quick shower and change when we bumped into two more friends form UEA; Kevin and Caroline. A quick hello and ‘isn’t this a small world’ followed with an arrangement to meet up the following night for some drinks.

The opera was fantastic. There is nothing quite like arriving at the Sydney Opera house in your glad rags with a ticket for the Opera. Despite seats with a slightly restricted view it was an experience not be to missed. Well done me for being organised and booking it months in advance; at least someone is organised. We walked home to our own rendition of ‘Figaro’ planning when we could next return to Sydney, we both love it.

Day 4: Today, I hate to tell you, the skies were a perfect Sydney blue again so we decided to do the Coogee to Bondi walk. This is a super 2 hour walk along the rugged east coast with waves crashing and lots of surfers and surfing to watch. By this time we had earn’t our steak sandwich on the beachfront and after some shopping for bikini’s (I had lost mine after leaving it on the roof of our car in Malaysia), rash vests (to prevent further snorkelling sunburn in Vanuatu) and t-shirts (a boy can never have too many apparently) we were rather tired and ready for a snooze. A quick 40 winks rejuvenation and we were back out to meet up with fellow medics Chrissy and Kev for some cheap beers in the backpacker pubs of Sydney. Scruffy Murphy’s, Three wise monkeys, the shark bar….fantastically bad places with cheap watered down beer. Great stuff!!

Day 5: Our last day; how could the time have passed so quickly? We had a few bits to buy for Vanuatu and obviously had to visit the Opera House one last time. The day passed far too quickly and it was sunset before we managed to walk over the harbour bridge for great views of the opera house and botanical gardens. A final meal, yet more pizza at the Australian, was followed by a beer to toast Sydney farewell from a rooftop bar sitting above the Rocks area.

And then to Vanuatu where the last recorded eating of a human being occurred in 1969. Some say it still happens….or am I thinking of Wales?

Missing you all. E & S XXX