Christmas down under. It's not all it's cracked up to be. After weeks of moaning with the other Europeans about how un-Christmasy it was in Australia I finally decided to embrace the whole idea of this BBQ on the beach idea. Unfortunately, nature had other ideas and the weather was crap. We had a nice picnic on Coogee Beach, but with the cold and the wind it felt more like spending Christmas Day on Southend beach. Most of the Aussies seemed to have sensibly stayed at home which just left hundreds of backpackers freezing their butts off, desperate to use their one oppurtunity to do a traditional Aussie Christmas. It was interesting anyway. So that was Christmas. New Year is a different thing altogether. Sydney know full well that it's one of the world's best places for New Year's Eve, and it's a big deal in the city. A whole bunch of us went to a big park place called Mrs Macquaries Chair which overlooks Sydney Harbour. This was my view:
Not bad! As expected there were a lot of people in the city and it was a really good atmosphere. In the bigger parks they'd banned alcohol so that you would pay their overblown prices at the bars set up there. That led to all kinds of ingenious alcohol smuggling. My personal technique was a 2-litre bag of wine taken out of the box and hidden down my trousers. It had been in the fridge for a long time, and I had to queue for about half an hour to get in. The sacrifices I make to save a few quid. It turned out to be a really good night, although the fireworks seemed to stop a bit prematurely leaving everyone wondering where the big finale was. Still a great experience though.
Since this was my last time in Sydney I thought I'd go into a bit more detail about the place. Downtown Sydney looks like this:
It's a bit strange. The place was founded by the British and so the roads are of a normal size and the old buildings are small and colonial. In recent years though, they've gone for American style skyscrapers all over the place like this:
What it means is that even when it's sunny, the sun usually can't get down to the street (by the way, the KPMG building on the far left is where I was working). By far the best areas in the city are by the water. My favourite spot in the city is Darling Harbour which is a great place for cafes and bars, has a big shopping centre there and also has the Sydney Aquarium which is a must-see thing in Sydney. The best thing about the place is in the evening when it looks like this:
It's pretty cool. Another similar nice place is Circular Quay, which is where all the ferries leave from and is where the bridge and the Opera House are:
The other big areas are the beaches to the east of the city. Apart from Manly Beach which is on the Northern side of the harbour, none of the others are particularly awe-inspiring but are pretty good considering they're only 15 minutes from the city centre. The world-famous Bondi Beach is probably one of the biggest disappointments in Australia as it's actually a bit like being in Blackpool with nicer sand and is very tacky, but there's still a cool vibe about the place. It looks like this:
Nice, but by Aussie standards nothing special.
So what else? The ferries are fantastic and a great way to cruise along the harbour on the cheap. To make up for that, the Sydney bus drivers are by far the rudest (and the worst drivers) I've ever had in the world. They must have special training or something. There are lots of bars and restaurants suiting cheapo backpackers like me to some really classy places. Shopping seems to be a strange mix of expensive boutiques and department stores, and some really cheap and nasty discount stores. Most backpackers would kill for something like Debenhams, Next or Topshop where you can get fairly decent stuff fairly cheaply. Sydney in general is pretty expensive and not a lot cheaper than London for most things. It's put a huge dent in my wallet anyway. My overall view of the place is that it's fun to spend a week or so there, but then it starts to stress you out. Unlike somewhere like Cairns it doesn't have a holiday vibe and after spending a few weeks commuting and working it feels like you're at home. Anyone who goes to Oz will see the place though, and it's still a lot better than Bangkok!
So anyway, I got back on the Oz Experience bus for the first time since July, left Sydney and went to spend 4 days in the Snowy Mountains. I know this is Australia, but they do have snowy mountains and even a ski resort. Unfortunately for me it's the middle of summer and there's no snow to be seen. It was still cool though as I spent 4 days staying with my Aussie friend Liz in a small town called Cooma and managed to explore an area of mountains, beaches and caves that most backpackers speed through. Oh, I also went to Canberra, the capital of Australia. Fascinating place. No, not really. I just got to Melbourne which is my last stop in Australia. Melbourne is... well I'll leave that to the next email or you'll be asleep at the computer drooling into the keyboard.
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