Just a quick note to say we're headed to Langkawi for 3 nights on the beach. We probably won't have Internet, so we'll probably be in Penang or Krabi (Thailand) the next time we check in.
Hope everyone at home is good! Buh bye for now!!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Another day, another flight
Here we go again...
Just a quick note to say we're headed to Langkawi for 3 nights on the beach. We probably won't have Internet, so we'll probably be in Penang or Krabi (Thailand) the next time we check in.
Hope everyone at home is good! Buh bye for now!!
Just a quick note to say we're headed to Langkawi for 3 nights on the beach. We probably won't have Internet, so we'll probably be in Penang or Krabi (Thailand) the next time we check in.
Hope everyone at home is good! Buh bye for now!!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
I actually quite liked it!
(Please note none of this will make sense unless you've read James' post below first)
I think this is the first place that James and I disagree on to this extent; I actually liked Singapore. There's lots of nods to it's past through colonial architecture and the constant references to Sir Raffles-the founder of modern Singapore. I also think as a girl, being able to walk around at night and know you're completely safe is nothing to be sniffed at. Girls living in cities are always on their guard, especially at night and this place really allowed you to relax.
The third key plus in Singapore is that clearly a shopaholic built this place. The endless malls are like works of art in themselves. State of the art architecture, coloured LED lights across the whole wavy frontage creating a giant
screen to create patterns that you can stand and watch for
hours. Inside these great structures are wall to wall designer shops. If I wasn't travelling and had some money coming in I could have done some serious damage! Popped into Hermes as I love their silk scarves (£281 each so nothing purchased). The man behind the counter was so helpful, getting dozens of different scarves of all different sizes and textures. The real fun started when this awkward little man, in his effort to show how versatile each piece was, actually started modelling them himself over his suit! I don't know about you but a man with a scarf around his waist like a sarong, another wrapped up like a boob tube and a third around his neck was just hilarious but was never quite going to cut it!
Regarding relexology; I agree with every word James wrote. It was brutal! This guy was seriously hurting my feet- all I could think was 'it's only supposed to hurt in places you are unwell so I'm clearly on the way out'! Apparently my yelps were louder when he pressed into the part of the foot that corresponds with the gut. The staff seemed excited that they'd made a new discovery and didn't have the heart to say 'i know, I have Endometriosis you plonker' apparently my stomach is 'very sick' and the cure was to come back the next day and have a one hour full body massage. Now, even if I believed a massage could cure a chronic illness, I just couldn't handle the pain of another one if their torture sessions!!
All in all, I quite liked it. I'd have liked it more with some cash to burn and maybe it's a place to visit with the girls, rather than a smelly boy!
Mx
P.s I wasn't in the least bit bothered about skydiving as my lovely boyfriend has suggested and found the whole thing start to finish really fun. When we get home we'll show you our video diaries of the jump. You'll see from the rambling, the sweating then the hilarious arm moves in the sky that someone, who will remain nameless was quite stressed out!!
I think this is the first place that James and I disagree on to this extent; I actually liked Singapore. There's lots of nods to it's past through colonial architecture and the constant references to Sir Raffles-the founder of modern Singapore. I also think as a girl, being able to walk around at night and know you're completely safe is nothing to be sniffed at. Girls living in cities are always on their guard, especially at night and this place really allowed you to relax.
The third key plus in Singapore is that clearly a shopaholic built this place. The endless malls are like works of art in themselves. State of the art architecture, coloured LED lights across the whole wavy frontage creating a giant
screen to create patterns that you can stand and watch for
hours. Inside these great structures are wall to wall designer shops. If I wasn't travelling and had some money coming in I could have done some serious damage! Popped into Hermes as I love their silk scarves (£281 each so nothing purchased). The man behind the counter was so helpful, getting dozens of different scarves of all different sizes and textures. The real fun started when this awkward little man, in his effort to show how versatile each piece was, actually started modelling them himself over his suit! I don't know about you but a man with a scarf around his waist like a sarong, another wrapped up like a boob tube and a third around his neck was just hilarious but was never quite going to cut it!
Regarding relexology; I agree with every word James wrote. It was brutal! This guy was seriously hurting my feet- all I could think was 'it's only supposed to hurt in places you are unwell so I'm clearly on the way out'! Apparently my yelps were louder when he pressed into the part of the foot that corresponds with the gut. The staff seemed excited that they'd made a new discovery and didn't have the heart to say 'i know, I have Endometriosis you plonker' apparently my stomach is 'very sick' and the cure was to come back the next day and have a one hour full body massage. Now, even if I believed a massage could cure a chronic illness, I just couldn't handle the pain of another one if their torture sessions!!
All in all, I quite liked it. I'd have liked it more with some cash to burn and maybe it's a place to visit with the girls, rather than a smelly boy!
Mx
P.s I wasn't in the least bit bothered about skydiving as my lovely boyfriend has suggested and found the whole thing start to finish really fun. When we get home we'll show you our video diaries of the jump. You'll see from the rambling, the sweating then the hilarious arm moves in the sky that someone, who will remain nameless was quite stressed out!!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Our 10th Country
As some of you already know, we flew out of Australia on Feb 22nd, bound for Singapore.
Singapore (meaning Island City) is typical city in many ways and probably most of what you'd expect, but it is remarkably clean, not so much in a clinical way, but there's zero litter, and clearly well looked after. It's also one of the safest cities in the world, mainly due to brutal policing, expensive alcohol and that a womans word in court gets you locked away, so ladies, you can walk alone and won't be hassled.
Singapore's major points of interest are the CBD, China Town and Little India, the botanical gardens and rainforest (one of the worlds only prime rainforest within a city) and it's Zoo.
The first night, we headed to Little India for a curry, which was pretty good, and certainly what the doctor ordered. After that, we made a near fatal mistake, we went for a massage. I went for a 30 minute back and shoulder massage, Miranda 40 minutes of reflexology. A small Chinese lady stepped out and directed me to a room for my massage, two minutes later she was going to town on me... No not that. She literally beat me up for 30 minutes, elbow in the spine, punch to the kidneys, just two of her favoured techniques. If I wasn't so proud, I'd have started crying like a little girl, but I manned up and rode it out. Occasionally, my focus was broken by Miranda letting out yelps from across the corridor, though interestingly they diagnosed a bad stomach, and water retention, all from touching her feet (which she's now very proud of, pedicure on the joint account...).
The next day we chose to see some of the city via an open top bus tour (you can see most of it in under an hour, as everything is in easy reach). Electing to jump ship at the main commercial area, Orchard Plaza, where we roamed the shops (if you like malls, Singapore is for you) for a while before heading into a food hall, we settled on a place called Teppenaki - Beef chilli stir-fry, vegetables, rice and miso soup for £5. Around about this time I realised these chilli's were particularly warm, actually, that does them an injustice, they were like a rocket up the arse! Thorough dehydration occurred in the form of head sweats and watering nose, luckily it was a good eat! Miranda got off more lightly with a similar dish with John Dory, but, with less chilli :-)
Earlier in the day, we were walking in the 35 degree sun, so we thought we'd head to the Raffles Hotel, for, guess what? Yep, a Singapore Sling! After they'd relieved us of £12.50 a piece, we headed off... Far too rich for our sort!
So, Singapore in a nutshell, alcoholic drinks are expensive, very expensive. Food is reasonable, and of good quality. The city is clean, and the people friendly. Ultimately, for me, it just felt a little disappointing and not something I can easily put my finger on. It just wasn't in your face enough to be memorable, nor did it have any obvious trace of it's roots. There's things we didn't see, but I saw enough to know it doesn't (for me) have the same appeal as London, or a lot of other places we passed through since October.
Today, we took the 6 hour bus ride to Kuala Lumpur, and after guessing an anonymous Wifi networks password (1234567890, tut tut), was able to bring you an update. Much the same for KL really, I've heard it's more of a 2 day place than somewhere to get comfy - Thailands beaches beckon!
For those not in the know, we uploaded our Skydiving photos yesterday, proof we did (despite Miranda's trepidation) jump from a plane.
In other news, big congratulations to Katy for becoming a mum, to her baby girl Isabel (9lb 13oz). Well done!
Speak soon, bye!
Singapore (meaning Island City) is typical city in many ways and probably most of what you'd expect, but it is remarkably clean, not so much in a clinical way, but there's zero litter, and clearly well looked after. It's also one of the safest cities in the world, mainly due to brutal policing, expensive alcohol and that a womans word in court gets you locked away, so ladies, you can walk alone and won't be hassled.
Singapore's major points of interest are the CBD, China Town and Little India, the botanical gardens and rainforest (one of the worlds only prime rainforest within a city) and it's Zoo.
The first night, we headed to Little India for a curry, which was pretty good, and certainly what the doctor ordered. After that, we made a near fatal mistake, we went for a massage. I went for a 30 minute back and shoulder massage, Miranda 40 minutes of reflexology. A small Chinese lady stepped out and directed me to a room for my massage, two minutes later she was going to town on me... No not that. She literally beat me up for 30 minutes, elbow in the spine, punch to the kidneys, just two of her favoured techniques. If I wasn't so proud, I'd have started crying like a little girl, but I manned up and rode it out. Occasionally, my focus was broken by Miranda letting out yelps from across the corridor, though interestingly they diagnosed a bad stomach, and water retention, all from touching her feet (which she's now very proud of, pedicure on the joint account...).
The next day we chose to see some of the city via an open top bus tour (you can see most of it in under an hour, as everything is in easy reach). Electing to jump ship at the main commercial area, Orchard Plaza, where we roamed the shops (if you like malls, Singapore is for you) for a while before heading into a food hall, we settled on a place called Teppenaki - Beef chilli stir-fry, vegetables, rice and miso soup for £5. Around about this time I realised these chilli's were particularly warm, actually, that does them an injustice, they were like a rocket up the arse! Thorough dehydration occurred in the form of head sweats and watering nose, luckily it was a good eat! Miranda got off more lightly with a similar dish with John Dory, but, with less chilli :-)
Earlier in the day, we were walking in the 35 degree sun, so we thought we'd head to the Raffles Hotel, for, guess what? Yep, a Singapore Sling! After they'd relieved us of £12.50 a piece, we headed off... Far too rich for our sort!
So, Singapore in a nutshell, alcoholic drinks are expensive, very expensive. Food is reasonable, and of good quality. The city is clean, and the people friendly. Ultimately, for me, it just felt a little disappointing and not something I can easily put my finger on. It just wasn't in your face enough to be memorable, nor did it have any obvious trace of it's roots. There's things we didn't see, but I saw enough to know it doesn't (for me) have the same appeal as London, or a lot of other places we passed through since October.
Today, we took the 6 hour bus ride to Kuala Lumpur, and after guessing an anonymous Wifi networks password (1234567890, tut tut), was able to bring you an update. Much the same for KL really, I've heard it's more of a 2 day place than somewhere to get comfy - Thailands beaches beckon!
For those not in the know, we uploaded our Skydiving photos yesterday, proof we did (despite Miranda's trepidation) jump from a plane.
In other news, big congratulations to Katy for becoming a mum, to her baby girl Isabel (9lb 13oz). Well done!
Speak soon, bye!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Gweat Bawwier Weef
We're in the process of uploading our most recent shots, the Great Barrier Reef. Yesterday we visited Saxon and Hastings reef, which, thanks to our new purchase a waterproof sleeve for the camera we managed to capture (some) of it's magic.
We both had a great day yesterday, snorkelling for several hours, and doing some SCUBA, which we both also loved, more on that later though! In Thailand I'll be getting my PADI so I can do a whole lot more diving, I hear it's $200 in Tland, versus £350 at Stoney Cove... ha!
Right now, I'm looking at a means of converting and uploading about 100 video's you've yet to see, so hopefully I'll have a chance to get some of those up too.
Oh, and we'll try and get some of our Skydive photos on the go!
Finally, log on to your Skype this weekend, we have free (thank you jesus) unlimited broadband at this place, so we'll try and catch some of you online - mornings and night time are most likely due to time difference.
Anyway, take care, we're going for a spot on lunch, then to the lagoon!
We both had a great day yesterday, snorkelling for several hours, and doing some SCUBA, which we both also loved, more on that later though! In Thailand I'll be getting my PADI so I can do a whole lot more diving, I hear it's $200 in Tland, versus £350 at Stoney Cove... ha!
Right now, I'm looking at a means of converting and uploading about 100 video's you've yet to see, so hopefully I'll have a chance to get some of those up too.
Oh, and we'll try and get some of our Skydive photos on the go!
Finally, log on to your Skype this weekend, we have free (thank you jesus) unlimited broadband at this place, so we'll try and catch some of you online - mornings and night time are most likely due to time difference.
Anyway, take care, we're going for a spot on lunch, then to the lagoon!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Brisbane
***This was written yesterday by Miranda. We've since safely gotten to our digs in Cairns***
Hello
I know you must all feel like you're getting the silent treatment but believe me this lack of wifi is so irritating for us too. The good news is we arrive in Cairns tomorrow from Brisbane at around 9am our time 11pm Tues yours and our hostel has wifi so we can hopefully catch some of you on Skype then.
We've been in Brisbane for five nights and it's been very chilled out. We arrived at the weekend and Brisbane at night is a small but perfectly formed bustling city. There's the normal central bars like you'd find in any city which host the spill from the offices in the CBD. Outside of this is 'the valley' a bars and clubs strip that would remind you more of Ibiza than a city. Our friends Nikki and Reece who we met in Florip live here so they were nice enough to take us around, showing us some good sights such as Mount Cootha for panoramic views of the city. The South Bank with Brisbane's artificial inner city beach, the Valley for a fun night out and a couple of hours up the Sunshine coast to the beach for some surfing lessons.
The beach trip started with a 6.30am pick up after a night out in The Valley (this is apparently a late start and beach trips usually go at 5am!). We dragged ourselves out of bed and started the 1.5 hr journey to a quiet beach. We got there at 8am and the sun was already scorching, no one even considers less than factor 30 here. Luckily my skin is finally accepting the sun so i'm now not like a lobster after 5 mins of sun with Factor 500 slapped on me. Reece took James out first for the lesson which he thoroughly enjoyed although now sporting a few bruises . I was next to go...having previously had a surfing lesson in Croyde Devon with my friend Caz, I was feeling quite confident. What I hadn't considered is that the board Reece had was not the huge giant yellow float i'd learnt on in Croyde and was much smaller and harder to balance on. Secondly was the size of the waves and the current. To cut a long story short it was so much drama even getting far enough out to start paddling, big waves breaking in my face for 10 mins and my bikini more suited to lounging on a beach rather than do anything sporty, I admit I was struggling. After 30 minutes of 'challenging' conditions I decided that was enough and retired to the beach. To be fair to James he stuck it out much longer than I did and was exhausted by the time he came out of the water.
Today we've been on a tour of the city - amusingly run by an english guy from Dudley. Being sub tropical means when Brisbane gets rain, boy does it rain and our tour was cut short when each one of us was drenched to the skin and there was thunder and lightning directly overhead. I have never ever experienced thunder so loud, it was something I wont forget.
We're now off to bed as we have to be up at 4am. Hope all is well at home and hopefully get to chat to you tomorrow.
Hello
I know you must all feel like you're getting the silent treatment but believe me this lack of wifi is so irritating for us too. The good news is we arrive in Cairns tomorrow from Brisbane at around 9am our time 11pm Tues yours and our hostel has wifi so we can hopefully catch some of you on Skype then.
We've been in Brisbane for five nights and it's been very chilled out. We arrived at the weekend and Brisbane at night is a small but perfectly formed bustling city. There's the normal central bars like you'd find in any city which host the spill from the offices in the CBD. Outside of this is 'the valley' a bars and clubs strip that would remind you more of Ibiza than a city. Our friends Nikki and Reece who we met in Florip live here so they were nice enough to take us around, showing us some good sights such as Mount Cootha for panoramic views of the city. The South Bank with Brisbane's artificial inner city beach, the Valley for a fun night out and a couple of hours up the Sunshine coast to the beach for some surfing lessons.
The beach trip started with a 6.30am pick up after a night out in The Valley (this is apparently a late start and beach trips usually go at 5am!). We dragged ourselves out of bed and started the 1.5 hr journey to a quiet beach. We got there at 8am and the sun was already scorching, no one even considers less than factor 30 here. Luckily my skin is finally accepting the sun so i'm now not like a lobster after 5 mins of sun with Factor 500 slapped on me. Reece took James out first for the lesson which he thoroughly enjoyed although now sporting a few bruises . I was next to go...having previously had a surfing lesson in Croyde Devon with my friend Caz, I was feeling quite confident. What I hadn't considered is that the board Reece had was not the huge giant yellow float i'd learnt on in Croyde and was much smaller and harder to balance on. Secondly was the size of the waves and the current. To cut a long story short it was so much drama even getting far enough out to start paddling, big waves breaking in my face for 10 mins and my bikini more suited to lounging on a beach rather than do anything sporty, I admit I was struggling. After 30 minutes of 'challenging' conditions I decided that was enough and retired to the beach. To be fair to James he stuck it out much longer than I did and was exhausted by the time he came out of the water.
Today we've been on a tour of the city - amusingly run by an english guy from Dudley. Being sub tropical means when Brisbane gets rain, boy does it rain and our tour was cut short when each one of us was drenched to the skin and there was thunder and lightning directly overhead. I have never ever experienced thunder so loud, it was something I wont forget.
We're now off to bed as we have to be up at 4am. Hope all is well at home and hopefully get to chat to you tomorrow.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Sydney Australia
After arriving in Sydney three days ago and checking into the most expensive hostel in the world ($88 a night for 2 dorm beds!!!!) we started to explore the city and find out why everyone raves about it.
Much like Auckland there's a lot of English culture here, the street names are all familiar, Liz is on the currency and the food is a million miles from S.American gourmet treats such as the cow's heart served up in Peru. The difference between Auckland and Sydney is scale; there are so many people and I like it!!
We were based in 'The Rocks' area which is very central so spent our first full day exploring this part of town. First stop was The Sydney Opera House. After meeting some Germans the previous night who described it as looking like 'a public toilet' up close, our expectations had certainly been lowered! Actually getting there and seeing it's scale was quite something. The roof isn't smooth and whiite as you might imagine, it's almost a shell effect and reminded me of an armadillo. The building juts out into the harbour and from aroud the back of the Opera House are wonderful panoramic views. We enquirer about seeing something and got very excited when I saw La Traviata was on (Claire-Louise and Noodle will realise why)! But alas it was showing after our departure.
Next door are the Royal Botanical Gardens which are FREE (are you taking note Kew Gardens?!?) and sit right on the water's edge. Less impressive are the plants; it's the inhabitants which make it a worthwhile trip. As we walked through the grounds we saw a cockatoo flying overhead, then another. We moved across the grass to where they were landing and within a couple of minutes there were over half a dozen on the ground around us. James decided to go all 'bird man' on me and get amongst them. I on the other hand found their large wingspans and low level flying a bit unnerving and retreated. Next up the bird man went in pursuit of more living things, this time big bats! There are literally hundreds of them and you can see them clearly in the city sky at night. I was less bothered by the bats than the cockatoos as they stay high but I was mildly concerned about a big bat shit bombing me. Thankfully this did not happen.
After a day of pounding the pavement we made our way back to the hostel. It's stated as the 'best hostel in Australia'. I would say not for the rooms which were new and ok but for the huge roof terrace with uninterrupted views of the Harbour. In our room were six beds; mine and James', a Chilean brother and sister who further support that there isn't an unfriendly Chilean on the planet and finally a guy who's name I didn't even bother to find out as I hated him already who we'll just call 'world's loudest snorer'! Now I know that a dorm is a bit of a lottery regarding room mates but snorers should be banned. This guy was some sort of snoring ventriloquist with the unique ability to sound like was lying next you you and aiming his snorts directly into my ear! His abilities put my Dad's snoring to shame and that's saying something!
Day 2 we made our way to Bondi Beach. After an expensive bus journey we arrived at the beach and it was quite beautiful. We were supposed to be meeting our friend Farooq from Florip but he named a place, didn't give an address and after a long walk in the sun up and down the beach we realises he'd got the name of the bar wrong as the locals had never heard of it. We abandoned looking, went down to the busy beach, found a square of sand and spent a lazy afternoon in the sun...bliss!
Day 3 we had a bit of a panic as realised it was our last day and there was still so much to see. So we covered at least 100 miles on foot (this may be a hyperbole but it did seem really far) and saw 'the most beautiful shopping centre in the world' the Queen Victoria Building which was architectually stunning, then walked to Darling Harbour where we visited the Aquarium. Incidentally this was really good-very well managed, big clean pools for all the sharks, dugongs, crocks and HUGE tropical fish. After a few hours there we walked from the harbour to Chinatown which definitely transported you to a different world. Almost bought a lovely Omega watch in on of their jewellers and James the same with some Prada sunglasses until we remebered we have no money for such things (the downside to travelling is definitely living like a student!). Then went to Paddy's Market which reminded me a lot of the markets found in South America. After the extravagant purchase of some cashew nuts and wasabi peas we left and headed through the main shopping street 'George Street' in order to get to the Harbour Bridge. Unable to resist a bargain, I bought some lovely new sandals in the sale for a very good price. They currently hurt like hell (I'm hoping this will go after a few wears) but these got the thumbs up from James and I quote 'even your trotters look nice in them'.
Feeling a bit tired by this point we knew we needed to get up to the Bridge and walk across it, then we could have dinner. The bridge is really quite high- you need to walk up a big hill, then a load of steps to get up to it but this makes the views stunning. Up on it is quite a noisy experience with the M25 running to your left and the train passing on the far side. The pedestrian area is no less hazardous from playing chicken trying to dodge all the joggers (seemingly the most active people in the world). At one point we almost broke into a run ourselves we felt so out of place walking.
Next it was early to bed as we needed to be up at 3.30am to catch our flight to Brisbane. To summarise our time in Sydney, I was disappointed to have left so soon after only scratching the surface. It's a city you need to go to with a bit of money in your pocket to fully experience their food and arts culture. Culturally it's so similar to London and had the same buzz about it which I really liked but with glorious sunshine and a very active, outdoors lifestyle. In conclusion definitely worth another trip when we're earning a wage again.
Mx
P.s in other news James has been suffering a bit with one of his wisdom teeth. Not wanting to risk dentistry in Asia, we've gone to one here in Brisbane. Turns out he's got some food stuck in it and a bit of an infection so a clean and some antibiotics later, he's doing much better.
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
Much like Auckland there's a lot of English culture here, the street names are all familiar, Liz is on the currency and the food is a million miles from S.American gourmet treats such as the cow's heart served up in Peru. The difference between Auckland and Sydney is scale; there are so many people and I like it!!
We were based in 'The Rocks' area which is very central so spent our first full day exploring this part of town. First stop was The Sydney Opera House. After meeting some Germans the previous night who described it as looking like 'a public toilet' up close, our expectations had certainly been lowered! Actually getting there and seeing it's scale was quite something. The roof isn't smooth and whiite as you might imagine, it's almost a shell effect and reminded me of an armadillo. The building juts out into the harbour and from aroud the back of the Opera House are wonderful panoramic views. We enquirer about seeing something and got very excited when I saw La Traviata was on (Claire-Louise and Noodle will realise why)! But alas it was showing after our departure.
Next door are the Royal Botanical Gardens which are FREE (are you taking note Kew Gardens?!?) and sit right on the water's edge. Less impressive are the plants; it's the inhabitants which make it a worthwhile trip. As we walked through the grounds we saw a cockatoo flying overhead, then another. We moved across the grass to where they were landing and within a couple of minutes there were over half a dozen on the ground around us. James decided to go all 'bird man' on me and get amongst them. I on the other hand found their large wingspans and low level flying a bit unnerving and retreated. Next up the bird man went in pursuit of more living things, this time big bats! There are literally hundreds of them and you can see them clearly in the city sky at night. I was less bothered by the bats than the cockatoos as they stay high but I was mildly concerned about a big bat shit bombing me. Thankfully this did not happen.
After a day of pounding the pavement we made our way back to the hostel. It's stated as the 'best hostel in Australia'. I would say not for the rooms which were new and ok but for the huge roof terrace with uninterrupted views of the Harbour. In our room were six beds; mine and James', a Chilean brother and sister who further support that there isn't an unfriendly Chilean on the planet and finally a guy who's name I didn't even bother to find out as I hated him already who we'll just call 'world's loudest snorer'! Now I know that a dorm is a bit of a lottery regarding room mates but snorers should be banned. This guy was some sort of snoring ventriloquist with the unique ability to sound like was lying next you you and aiming his snorts directly into my ear! His abilities put my Dad's snoring to shame and that's saying something!
Day 2 we made our way to Bondi Beach. After an expensive bus journey we arrived at the beach and it was quite beautiful. We were supposed to be meeting our friend Farooq from Florip but he named a place, didn't give an address and after a long walk in the sun up and down the beach we realises he'd got the name of the bar wrong as the locals had never heard of it. We abandoned looking, went down to the busy beach, found a square of sand and spent a lazy afternoon in the sun...bliss!
Day 3 we had a bit of a panic as realised it was our last day and there was still so much to see. So we covered at least 100 miles on foot (this may be a hyperbole but it did seem really far) and saw 'the most beautiful shopping centre in the world' the Queen Victoria Building which was architectually stunning, then walked to Darling Harbour where we visited the Aquarium. Incidentally this was really good-very well managed, big clean pools for all the sharks, dugongs, crocks and HUGE tropical fish. After a few hours there we walked from the harbour to Chinatown which definitely transported you to a different world. Almost bought a lovely Omega watch in on of their jewellers and James the same with some Prada sunglasses until we remebered we have no money for such things (the downside to travelling is definitely living like a student!). Then went to Paddy's Market which reminded me a lot of the markets found in South America. After the extravagant purchase of some cashew nuts and wasabi peas we left and headed through the main shopping street 'George Street' in order to get to the Harbour Bridge. Unable to resist a bargain, I bought some lovely new sandals in the sale for a very good price. They currently hurt like hell (I'm hoping this will go after a few wears) but these got the thumbs up from James and I quote 'even your trotters look nice in them'.
Feeling a bit tired by this point we knew we needed to get up to the Bridge and walk across it, then we could have dinner. The bridge is really quite high- you need to walk up a big hill, then a load of steps to get up to it but this makes the views stunning. Up on it is quite a noisy experience with the M25 running to your left and the train passing on the far side. The pedestrian area is no less hazardous from playing chicken trying to dodge all the joggers (seemingly the most active people in the world). At one point we almost broke into a run ourselves we felt so out of place walking.
Next it was early to bed as we needed to be up at 3.30am to catch our flight to Brisbane. To summarise our time in Sydney, I was disappointed to have left so soon after only scratching the surface. It's a city you need to go to with a bit of money in your pocket to fully experience their food and arts culture. Culturally it's so similar to London and had the same buzz about it which I really liked but with glorious sunshine and a very active, outdoors lifestyle. In conclusion definitely worth another trip when we're earning a wage again.
Mx
P.s in other news James has been suffering a bit with one of his wisdom teeth. Not wanting to risk dentistry in Asia, we've gone to one here in Brisbane. Turns out he's got some food stuck in it and a bit of an infection so a clean and some antibiotics later, he's doing much better.
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
Thursday, February 11, 2010
A very quick post
Hello peeps
We're being really pikey and using a cafe's Internet whilst stood outside so we can send this quick post.
After a few really good days in Sydney, we're off to Brisbane at some unearthly hour tomorrow which involves a 3.30am wake up.
We know we've been bad bloggers recently but hopefully we can do a proper post in Brisbane.
Hope all is well at home and we'll hopefully speak to you all soon.
Mx
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
We're being really pikey and using a cafe's Internet whilst stood outside so we can send this quick post.
After a few really good days in Sydney, we're off to Brisbane at some unearthly hour tomorrow which involves a 3.30am wake up.
We know we've been bad bloggers recently but hopefully we can do a proper post in Brisbane.
Hope all is well at home and we'll hopefully speak to you all soon.
Mx
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Photos (West Cost, Qtown)
Just another quick update, we've uploaded some more photos, including a rather spectacular sunset (which I know Miranda is quite proud of)!
We're in Twizel at the moment and will be planning to see Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo, before heading toward Christchurch where we hope to visit Banks Peninsula (Akaroa), to swim with (wild) Dolphins and do some Sea Kayaking!
Oh, and we hit the highest temperature in NZ yesterday, at 39 degrees!!!
Hope everybody at home is good, haere ra!
We're in Twizel at the moment and will be planning to see Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo, before heading toward Christchurch where we hope to visit Banks Peninsula (Akaroa), to swim with (wild) Dolphins and do some Sea Kayaking!
Oh, and we hit the highest temperature in NZ yesterday, at 39 degrees!!!
Hope everybody at home is good, haere ra!
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