ANZAC day morning saw us going round the Wollongong local beaches. These were really nice beaches, long stretches of sand with next to no-one on them. In the UK, a beach like that would be very famous and a tourist attraction. Here it is just the norm! Everyone has heard of Bondi but who has heard of Wollongong North and South beaches?! Not many foreigners, yet they were just as nice as Bondi, with some great surfing waves too. We also took a scenic drive up Mt. Keira to a stunning lookout point from where we could see all of Wollongong and the great mountain surrounds.On Friday night we stayed at Ben and Fahmiyas and in the morning were taken to Paddington Markets. They were great markets with lots of really busy stalls, obviously a local favourite. They were stalls for most things here but the majority were art and clothes. There were also a lot of young designers selling goods here, hoping to be picked up by design companies that look for new talent here. In the afternoon we went to another family meal, this time at Salma's house. We had met everyone the previous week so it was nice to be a bit more relaxed. We also saw Zahra again who is taking us to the Sydney Swans AFL match next Sunday!
Yesterday we caught the first ferry over to the city and met with Ben, Fahmiya and their friends for Yum Cha, a chinese buffet style brunch. This was ok but slightly chaotic first thing in the morning! After leaving here we went on a long drive over to Palm Beach on the far north of Sydney. This is where Home & Away is filmed apparently (Summer Bay??) but I never watched it so I wouldn't know! It was a great beach with some nice waves, we went for a swim which was pretty hard work as there was a strong sideways current.
On the way back we stopped at Balmoral, a nice little beach with a sailing club that I'm sure someone I worked with in Italy said she had worked at! We had fish and chips here as the sun set and it was a really nice end to our third week here (I can't believe how fast it had gone!).
So, Monday, the start of our final week! Today we planned to go and do the Sydney Tower. We could have done this earlier but I wanted to make sure that the BridgeClimb was the first time I saw Sydney from on high! I'm glad we did it that way round too because this was ok but nothing that special. Don't get me wrong there were great views all around but we didn't know what we were looking at really. It's lucky we had been here for 3 weeks and had been to any places, we could pick them out. There was a distinct lack of information up there which was a shame. It was also pretty expensive for what it was, this was just a good view, the BridgeClimb was an experience!
Yesterday we caught the first ferry over to the city and met with Ben, Fahmiya and their friends for Yum Cha, a chinese buffet style brunch. This was ok but slightly chaotic first thing in the morning! After leaving here we went on a long drive over to Palm Beach on the far north of Sydney. This is where Home & Away is filmed apparently (Summer Bay??) but I never watched it so I wouldn't know! It was a great beach with some nice waves, we went for a swim which was pretty hard work as there was a strong sideways current.
On the way back we stopped at Balmoral, a nice little beach with a sailing club that I'm sure someone I worked with in Italy said she had worked at! We had fish and chips here as the sun set and it was a really nice end to our third week here (I can't believe how fast it had gone!).
So, Monday, the start of our final week! Today we planned to go and do the Sydney Tower. We could have done this earlier but I wanted to make sure that the BridgeClimb was the first time I saw Sydney from on high! I'm glad we did it that way round too because this was ok but nothing that special. Don't get me wrong there were great views all around but we didn't know what we were looking at really. It's lucky we had been here for 3 weeks and had been to any places, we could pick them out. There was a distinct lack of information up there which was a shame. It was also pretty expensive for what it was, this was just a good view, the BridgeClimb was an experience!After we came down, we did as Hazel my Godmother suggested (and paid for as a present to us both) and went to Watsons Bay for sunset and fish & chips. The weather cleared up jut enough for the sunset to be really nice. From here you get a great and not typical view of the city in the far distance. It was really nice to see it from a different perspective for once.
The plan for the rest of the week is Jetboating, Manly Beach, a couple of dinners out, a visit to Luna Park and a trip to the SCG to watch the Swans!
The plan for the rest of the week is Jetboating, Manly Beach, a couple of dinners out, a visit to Luna Park and a trip to the SCG to watch the Swans!
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