Ok, so this is actually talking about the last few months since arriving in Sydney, I’ve had quite a few of visits. Friends I’ve met travelling, my friend Pete, most importantly my mum (sorry Pete). As well as Dan and Dai being here for the first month.
I’ll start with them. When we parted, they were still staying in the Sydney Central YHA centre. In their words, staying there was ‘killing them’ as they basically spent the nights partying and the days resting in preparation for the next evening – from a few of the backpackers I’ve met, this seems to be fairly common for travellers. Not my cup of tea.
So, they moved out and after a few days of frantic searching, they found a place on Oxford St, near to Hyde Park. Now, that particular part of Oxford St is known for it’s somewhat ‘colourful’ occupants, especially fond of rainbows if you catch my drift. But, this didn’t seem to bother them, and to be honest, I walk past them everyday – how people can still be drinking at 7 in the morning is a mystery. But, their apartment was very nice, with a fantastic few of the city from the 14th floor (I think). I was slightly put off by the knee high balcony though – really made mine go wobbly!
Oddly, I didn’t see them that much as I was busy at work and was trying to craft a new life for myself. That, and I had some great housemates who I spent a lot of time with. But we did go out more than was healthy, although I think their plan to move out didn’t work as originally planned, and they were still killing themselves. In one way, I think they were sad to leave, and in another, I think I heard their livers cheering! It was great seeing them here, I just wish they still spoke to me, and I didn’t have to rely on other people to tell me what they’re doing – subtle hint there guys!
So, my next visitor was mum. Hi mum. It was really quite odd having her come to visit me in my home on the other side of the planet. But, in another way, it felt so normal. It was a very strange, and very nice experience. Most nights we went out somewhere for dinner, including one of my favourites, Ripples Cafe, next to Lunar park overlooking the whole harbour – wonderful at night!
We also did several other things, including the Sydney Sky Tower, Holst’s Stars And Planets at the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney BridgeClimb (Photos).
Seeing mum was great, my only wish is that dad could have come too. We did have a great time, and I know mum enjoyed seeing every little bit we could. She took also took a tour to the Blue Mountains, which was so well organised, that if anyone wants to do a daytrip there, let me know, and I’ll give you the details. My accomodation and housemates also met with high approval on both sides – they think mum’s really cool.
So, onto the last of the visitors from the UK, Pete. Pete’s visits to Sydney were fleeting and spaced out. He arrived for a few days, then jetted off to Melbourne, before coming back to Sydney, having been via Hong Kong – all his travels can be seen on nomadpete.com.
It was like I’d never left home to be honest. We were back to our old tricks of straight to the pub after work, and then drinking till the early hours. In a few of the restaurants, we managed to scare the staff by ordering more food than it should be physically possible to eat, and then almost eating it – note the ‘almost’ bit. My one regret of Pete’s visit was that I was only able to see him in the evenings as I was working all the time.
So, what else happened. Well, the main event had to be getting a dose of Pneumonia. Nobody knows how or why I got it, but I did. Very odd as I only found out I had it when I had an x-ray for my Business working visa – which got approved today after more than 2 months of waiting! I then went to a doctor, looking fit as a fiddle other than the odd cough, and he was shocked to say the least. What made it worse was that the test they did on me came back to say that I was very healthy. One of life’s annoying mysteries. Thank fully it’s gone now.
That’s all for now, there’s more to come, but looking at the amount I’ve already written I should probably stop. But I am getting better at putting content on my site more often, even if it is a bit late in coming…
Sydney Bridge Climb
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