Sydney, the first weeks living in the land down under

I’ll start by apologising to those at home who’ve been missing the tales of my travels. I’ve been incredibly busy, and I hope to make it up to all of you in this blog, that WILL be the first of many regular features on my new site.

So, how did it all begin? Well, I’ll back track slightly to the point when I thought I was probably not going to make it past Sydney. The first few months of travelling made me realise I really enjoyed being away from the UK. I don’t know if that will last, but all the people we met, that feeling of independance and seeing new things - in the sunshine - every day just really made me happy. So, somewhere in Vietnam - I think around Hanoi (seems so long ago) - I started thinking that Sydney would probably be somewhere I’d want to stay put. And how right I was…

We arrived in Sydney from the North, driving in on the Pacific Highway. Now that was a scarey experience. It was the tail end of Sydney’s rushhour, and we were whisked along by 3 lanes of traffic. This in itself is ok, as it was fairly tame compared to London, but it was the lorry driving along just ahead of us that was intimidating. It almost felt like Steven Speilberg’s film, Duel! We just couldn’t get away from it, and eventually settled for lying in it’s wake, allowing it to part the traffic before us. Then there’s the way you drive over a blind hill at the speed limit, to be greeted by a row of parked cars that required the split second decision of trying to skilful swerve into the right-hand lane, hit the car, or make use of the pavement. You’ll be pleased to know that we took the first option! Ok, so that was a long paragraph just about driving into Sydney, sorry. But, I’ll finish it by saying we drove across the Harbour Bridge. And what a way to be greeted into the heart of this fine city.

We stayed in the Sydney Youth Hostel near Central station - after eventually navigating the irritating one-way system! For a hostel, it was very well appointed. Every other floor had washing facilities, then TV rooms. And, on the top floor a dip pool and Sauna! Although I only made it there once.

The first few days, I dived into the city doing my usual wandering trick. I think being the early bird, I spent most of my days on my own, which, when I’m siteseeing, I don’t mind. Armed with my trusty Canon 20D - Dan and Dai were getting sick of me moaning about not having a wide-angle lens for it - very few angles were left unexplored. I’d forgotten how much we’d enjoyed our first trip here, and this time it had a much more homely feel, as if an old friend were welcoming us back. It was one of those moments, where every so often you’d round a corner, see something - like the Opera House - and get that pleasant tingly feeling.

Obviously the nights weren’t neglected either, and we did spend most of them out until the small hours. We were accompanied by Steve and Eugene - the 4th person in our dorm. But, fun as it was, when I moved out of the hostel, it was quite a relief as the pace of drinking and partying suddenly went down to more normal levels - Dan and Dai were started to look and sound quite ill.

Which leads onto how I landed on my feet, and what has subsequently made me decide to stay in Sydney. So, on a friday morning - the 21st April for those of you who like details - I went to look at a house, which I liked and decided to move into the next day. So, later that day, sitting in the Botanical Gardens, overlooking the Opera House and bridge, my friend rings me up and asks if I was interested in an interview at his company. So, in my best “I’ve been backpacking, and don’t own many clothes” attire, I had an interview that evening and started work there on the monday.

Wiliam is a Web Design firm based in North Sydney. Which means that as I live in South Sydney, everyday I get to cross the magnificent Harbour Bridge and see the Opera House. What a way to start the day (is anyone envious yet?).

And the people I live with are great too! Although the downside of the house is it’s location, the plus side is also the location. On the main road from the airport it has traffic, but it’s also slap bang in the middle of everything, and it only take me 30mins to get to work (at £9 a week!). My flatmates are Sarah from Louisiana, Nicole from Germany, Sabrina and Roberto from Italy, and a couple more I’ll ignore as they ignore us.

As you can tell, the first couple of weeks in Sydney were awesome! And I’ve been really lucky to land on my feet running. Anyone who feels like coming to visit, I’ll be here for a while yet…

Links
Duel
Wiliam

Bookmark and Share

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea del.icio.us

Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com Furl Google

Hugg Jamespot Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb Netvouz

Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Sphere Sphinn

Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Twitter Webride Windows Live Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »

Powered by Bookmarkify™