Well,
I'm currently in Melbourne and have only half an hour left on the internet - $6 for an hour! And the computer is soooo slow so am going to have to speed type to let you know what I've been up to in the last couple of weeks. Have also got a bit of a post hot chocolate sugar rush (amazing, proper hot chocolate 60% melted chocolate) and have gone into a bit of a food coma.
So, Sydney. Was there for 10 days including 2 in the Blue Mountains which were great, but a bit fucking chilly, and if I thought Brisbane was chilly, the Blue Mountains were like the arctic. Bring on New Zealand!!!
Sydney was amazing and warm so did lots of walking around, took lots of pics of plants, buildings and the odd animal/bird or two. I ate a lot, but also went running so hope the latter outweighed (ha ha ha) the former. I arrived after a FREEZING 16 hour coach journey, I think I may have moaned about that already and the lovely Rob (worked with Crouch in cafe Nero for the Edinburgh lot who get this) came and got me. Hang on, this seems very familiar. Have I already told you about this??? Am going to check the last email I sent as the last thing I want to do dear peeps is bore you! Ok, so have had a look and I only said a tiny bit about Newtown, or according to some very strange train man 'Newt'n'. The day I arrived I was fairly tired, so after getting to Rob's and dumping my stuff, had a shower and then we headed out to Surrey Hills for some lunch and coffee and quite possibly cake. I can't remember, but my eating of cake/banana bread defo came into it's own in Sydney. Especially as the cafe across from Rob's did THE MOST AMAZING sticky date cake....it was fucking yummy, and I think I preferred it to their carrot cake. Now I know you will be saying, noooo, you preferred something to carrot cake. But it's true. The sticky date pudding was to die for. Well maybe not actually, but you know what I mean.
So day one (Monday)was spent eating (a trend is about to begin) and then Rob had to go and give some stuff to his girlfriend so I stayed on the sofa and watched some hideously awful film with Mandy Moore in about some seriously religious school kids and one gets pregnant etc etc. You know, standard American teen film. I then watched and discovered to my delight, Zoo days and BABY ZOO DAYS!!!! Rob was thrilled about this. He got back and we went to the supermarket where I discovered yet another new joy. Tim Tams. He had the normal ones at home, so I chose dark chocolate and double layer ones. After sampling them all (and I tried the white choc ones in the Blue Mountains as according to a guy I met there, they are the best. He was wrong.) Rob and I came to the conclusion that the double layers ones are by far the superior. When we got back he cooked - had Kangaroo for the first time and it was really yummy and we watched tv. This is also going to become a running theme.
Tues, I went for a run. Sydney park is also fucking hilly. Why can't the parks be placed on flat ground?!??!?! and spent the rest of the afternoon pootling around Newtown and took about a million pics. I also had all my pics to date transferred onto disk. Bye bye $20 (especially when a new memory card is only $30 which I found out a few days later).
Wed I walked from Robs past the university and into the city via a suburb which was really nice, but can't remember the name. Bugger. Got an amazing hot choc on the way. 100% melted choc,. mmmm... and finally arrived at the fish market. I got 4 oysters and 3 fucking enormous prawns for only $12, a complete bargain!! I then carried on wondering around the coast line to Darling Harbour. I then headed into town to the greyhound place to book my ticket to Canberra. That evening I met up with my cousins uncle (her mother is my aunt by marriage, and David is my aunts brother. Got it?? Good). and two daughters for sups. Went to a really nice burger place somewhere. I'm afraid I can't remember where.
Thurs, arrrggg, brain work! Oh yes, Rob wasn't working, he works Mon-Wed and we went to Bondi beach, as every tourist has to. Had a nice walk along the coast, went home via coffee somewhere. I now have a really bad latte habit. And yes, my diet of no dairy, caffeine, refined sugar is being ignored whilst I'm away. Although have been asking for decaf when I've been able to engage brain.
Fri we went to Manly beach which was really lovely, and once again went for a walk and I saw a lizard which is called, shit, ummm, bugger, can't remember. Anyways apparently I was lucky to see it. And how could I forget? We got the ferry to Manly which was really great to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, and even luckier, I remembered that my camera has a black and white setting!!! I also had a really good lunch of moule in something, can't remember what, but I can remember I was very impressed by them. That night we went out for really good (and yes, before you ask, all the food I ate was good. So maybe I should stop putting that as a precursor) sushi/Indonesian. It was really fun because you order everything from a touch screen and I might have gone back the following night to eat too....
Now, I know you must be thinking by now, hang on, she's only been running once. The reason is because I started to develop a sore throat and not feeling too great. I think it's because of how fucking artic the bus was that I got down from Brisbane, so decided not to go running as I didn't want to exhaust myself and encourage the lurgy to take a hold of me.
On Saturday I went for breakfast with a 2 childhood friend's (and the eldests wife!!!) and their mother. Was really great to see them. I saw the briefly when I was in Sydney on my gap year 7 years ago and it's so strange because in my head we are still between the ages of 4 and 11. Obviously not any more. I then headed into town as we were evicted from Robs that night due to the flat above being sprayed for bugs or something, so we couldn't be there. As I was being picked up at 7.20 the next morning (yuk, fucking yuk) to go to the Blue Mountain's I said I would go and stay at a hostel in the city where I had the worst nights sleep EVER. Not from people being noisy in the hostel, but from the noise of people on the street. I spent the afternoon wondering around the city and went to the Botanical gardens where my battery dies after about 10 mins which was fucking annoying. That happened because I'd had my camera plugged into a comp for about an hour before hand uploading pics. I only got about 50 uploaded so ended up buying a new memory card. Much easier. And yes, I know I have them on disk, but I didn't want to delete them until I had them backed up online as well, just in case. And yes, I know I'm mental.
The Blue Mountains (Sun and mon) were amazingly fucking cold. And very beautiful too. We went on one long walk of about 3 hours down 1,000 steps and then back up them including a bit of walking on the flat. There were a few waterfalls and lots of birds and trees, so guess who took quite a few pics??! I also learnt that it's called the Blue Mountains as the Eucalyptus trees look blue from a distance due to the oil they give off.
That evening 5 of us stayed in the hostel there which was really lovely and had a fire!! I was so happy!! The main sitting room area also used to be a dance hall and still had the original floor which was a bit bouncy. The decor was art deco, so yes, I took more pics.
The following day I didn't go far as my legs fucking hurt like you wouldn't believe it, so just wondered around the town, Katoomba (I think) and stayed in reading. It was also cold and miserable and not the weather I'm inclined to venture out in. I also had the first rain of my trip the day before, admittedly it was only for about an hour and a half and over most of our lunch break, so didn't affect us too much.
After getting back into Sydney after a bit of Tea and Tim Tams we headed out for some sups.
Tues - my last full day in Sydney!!! Was pretty exhausted from not much sleep the night before the Blue Mountains and all the walking etc I still managed to go for a run and then headed into the city to wonder around The Rocks. I was going to go back to the Botanical Gardens but couldn't be arsed. That evening we had our usual ritual of tea and Tim Tams, sups, stayed in, and then headed out for cake for the last time. Sob.
On the Wednesday I packed and then headed into the city to get the bus to Canberra and arrived in Canberra at about 5.30pm. Which was fucking cold and rained the whole of Thursday which was my only day there. Walked around both the Parliament buildings. They only decided to build the first on in 1913, ha ha ha ha ha. Amazing. I also wondered around the Portrait gallery which I really enjoyed. I then headed back to Sophie's and we went out for really yummy Thai. On Thursday it morning it was time for me to leave and got the bus and train down to Melbourne which I will save for the next email!
I'm glad I went to Canberra, more to see Sophie, and feel that I did it justice on the Thurs and saw most of it! The only thing I didn't get the chance to go to was the other gallery, but Sophie said it was huge and wouldn't have taken me hours to go around, and as I only had the one full day, I'm glad I did what I did.
So lovely ones, I'm now on my second hour of Internet time as need to get some stuff booked for New Zealand. Can't believe I'll be there this time next week!!!! It's crazy how fast it's going, am over half way through!! Am having an amazing time, and enjoyed every minute.
More soon, hope all is well with everyone, and haven't been caught up in all the riot shit. Can't really believe it has happened!!!!
Oh and also, I'm the face for a Macmillan on line campaign, so if you fancy going to their website, check out the 'big thank you' page.
Lots of love, etc etc etc.
XXX
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