my first few days in sydney

Sorry I have been slow at starting this blog for you guys! I know some of you must be curious as to what I've been up to on the other side of the world... so I better get to it! I'm quite a few weeks behind so please bear with me, I will be posting updates in chunks to break up the past 6 weeks of events to catch you all up!

My first few days in Sydney, the weather had been rainy and cloudy so I couldn't do or see too much and having gotten sick, the day before leaving, required me putting a lot more effort in, but being a trooper, I still got to see a bit of things... well as much as my body and weather would let me.

So, I left Calgary on March 17 mid-day, flew to LAX, had to stay there for about 6 hours but I got to break up the wait because my uncle came and picked me up and we went for a quick dinner and catch up. Got back to the airport to catch my Qantas flight to Sydney. I got to fly on the double decker - A380.

DAY 1:
Arrived on Saturday March 19 at 7:40am (about 18 hours ahead). I saw that is had been raining as I looked at the wet concrete out of my seat window. The rain stopped but there it was still overcast. I slept most of the 15 hour plane ride so I kind of reset my sleep schedule (I didn't really sleep the night before and stayed up since) so I slept when the Aussies slept. It took me an hour to get out of the airport, through customs and waiting for baggage problem free!

Shane greeted me at the airport and we went to his friend's, Jarrod and Kristy's, place in Land Cove. They let me use their shower to get freshened up and stuff, which was much needed after 24 hours of travel. Then we all went to have some breakfast in Mosman (a nice ritzy area in Syndey by the harbour). It's apparently a really nice spot where you can see the harbour and stuff. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the view because we couldn't really see the sights  due to the clouds and rain. Cute little place called Burnt Orange (http://www.burntorange.com.au/) I had a delicious eggs benedict, and I think it's one of the best I've tasted!

After breakfast we were on our way to Bondi Junction near Bondi Beach. We stayed in this apartment services place called The Meriton. (http://www.meritonapartments.com.au/sydney/bondijunction/). A great apartment rental place with a great view!

the view from our suite at the Meriton

Chilli Box in Coogee

We went out for dinner with friends from the morning and a couple others to Coogee (a trendy area in Sydney by the beach) had some Thai food at Chilli Box, which had really good pad thai!

Jetlag kicked in at about 7pm which is not that bad (about 2 am Calgary time). I got really tired after dinner plus I had a really bad cough that I caught before leaving Calgary, which didn't help either. So I had an early first night in Syndey.

Day 2:

I got a delicious fruit salad this morning thanks to Shane!

After breakfast we took the city bus to Circular Quay (http://www.sydney.com.au/quay.htm) and we went to see the Harbour Bridge and Opera house. Another rainy day so it was okay. I will have to go back to see it when it's nice and sunny! We went to check out the Market at the Rocks, we also went to china town to have some Pho at Pasteur and checked out Market City (kinda like a night market where they sell lots of cheap knock off stuff).

The sun came out in the afternoon so we went to Bondi Beach and then drove around to some of the other beaches close by.

Went for some thin crust pizza by where we were staying at Sven's. It was half "Ask - The First Male on Earth": SLICES OF DÖNER KEBAB FEFFERONI ROMA TOMATOES ONION SWEDISH KEBAB SAUCE and the other half was "Thor - The God of Thunder and Lightening" - FRESH CHICKEN BREAST FILLET FIELD MUSHROOMS SEMI-DRIED TOMATOES BASIL PESTO. Yum yum! (http://www.svens.com.au).

Stayed another night in Bondi Junction at the Meriton.

Day 3:
We checked out and headed to Manly (about 30 min drive from Bondi Junction) where we got to stay with Shane's uncle. We had yummy Kebabs for lunch (like a donair) at the Corso at Manly Beach. I just have to mention that the seagulls here are so much smaller than the ones in Calgary! The Calgary seagulls are like double these ones! Haha. Anyways, I felt pretty tired and sick this day, so I took a nap in the afternoon. His aunt made us dinner and we just chilled in, watched some rugby (footy), which is really big in Australia, and learned how the game works. Pretty similar to American Football but way more rough I would say.

Day 4:
Finally a sunny day! So we went to Manly Beach! I felt a bit better today. I sun bathed and Shane went for a surf. Hung out for a bit there, walked around the shops and the strip nearby. Went back to say our goodbyes to his aunt and uncle. I really like Manly, it's not as touristy of a spot as Bondi.

manly beach and the corso

And then we headed off to Central Coast (about an hour and a bit of a drive north of Sydney) to stay with another one of his friend's place, Mick and Lana. We arrived there, freshened up and we went to dinner at the local bowling (lawn bowling) club. It sounds ghetto but it's actually a really nice place for people to go have dinner and drinks, they have poker games there, slot machines and other entertaining activities.

Next post: the beautiful Terrigal Beach at Central Coast, a bit of Newcastle, and then off to the small beach town of Old Bar.