We started off today with another walk through the botanical gardens, to have another look at the bats. Then we headed off to the Museum of Sydney. It was interesting, if a bit small.
In the afternoon we headed to Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art, where they had some interesting pieces from Sam Taylor Wood (people floating in mid air and men crying).
We went on a tour of the blue mountains yesterday. Our tour guide was impossibly tanned for a guy that was born in Glasgow. Even his lips were brown. He was so blatantly gay too, even though he pretended otherwise. The tour group were mostly OK, apart from an annoying, mouthy, racist South African that just wouldn’t stop moaning throughout the tour.
The views of the mountains were spectacular. You could just about see the blue haze that the mountain’s name comes from. It’s caused by eucalyptus vapour coming of the trees and mixing with the air.
We got to see some kangaroos in the wild too. They really are amazing creatures. I can’t believe I ate one for dinner a couple of nights ago (it didn’t taste very nice though I have to say).
On the way back we were all piled onto a ferry near the olympic park. The sun was setting around this time so the view from the harbour with everything lit up was quite nice.
In the evening we went out on Oxford Street. We started off at some greek restaurant. It was not an entirely pleasant experience. I cut into a piece of chicken and it was raw and bloody inside. We quickly lost our appetite after that and decided it was time to move on to the bar. We met a nice couple there, and after a few drinks they suggested that we try another bar down the road. It was interesting to say the least. Though I have to say bars full ofr men in leather fetish gear and chains hanging from the walls are not really my cup of tea. Needles to say we only stayed for a couple of drinks before moving on.
I woke up today with the hangover from hell. Andy didn’t look too good either. But we decided we should go out anyway, and so got a taxi down to Circular Quay to catch a ferry to the zoo. It was a much more pleasant experience than visiting London Zoo, even with a hangover.
In the evening we went to a restaurant around Circular Quay. It was rather disappointing though. The food definately wasn’t as good as the view.
We took the ferry to Manly today. I wasn’t feeling my best. It seems something that I ate yesterday was disagreeing with me. Manly was quite pleasant. It reminded me a bit of a small seaside town back home, only with nicer weather and less townies around.
We wandered around for a bit, then went for lunch in a restaurant in a hotel near the wharf. We got the ferry back to circular quay. The view from the bay was fantastic. This city really is beautiful.
Andy and I did the bridge climb today. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I was dreading it at first, but I was pleasantly surprised. The view from the top was amazing. You could see the whole bay from up there, and the blue mountains in the distance. I can’t say I was too keen on the jumpsuits that they made us wear though. As you can see from the picture below, they weren’t very fetching.
In the evening we headed out to the suburbs to go to a bistro that does an outback tasting menu. Some of the food was interesting, but some of it didn’t do a lot for me. We tried crocodile, which was quite dry and not very nice. The yabbies were quite nice, a bit like lobster. I’m not sure that I’ll be eating kangaroo or emu again though. Overall the meal was very good, and the staff were very friendly.
We started off today by heading over to JAL’s office to changed the date of our flight from Sydney to Tokyo. That way we get to spend a day in Tokyo on our way back to the UK. We spent pretty much the rest of the day shopping. The shopping centre in Sydney is like a maze. It’s just one shopping mall linked onto another, then another. I think we got lost several times.
In the evening we just went to the Thai restaurant next to our hotel. The food was very good, but the courses were huge though. This place reminds me of San Francisco a little, only with less whiny Californians around.