Wednesday 15th October – Saturday 18th October
Sydney, Australia
Exploring the city, Sydney
We arrived in Sydney early on Wednesday morning. It was chilly and windy – the end of a nasty storm that had blown through the area for the previous couple of days, causing floods and even snow in the Blue Mountains. We spent a bit of time on Wednesday exploring the area near our hotel – lots of Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese restaurants and plenty of shops, including in the beautifully restored Queen Victoria Building (or QVB as it’s known to locals).
The weather was brighter on Thursday, so we took ourselves to Circular Quay and the Rocks, to get our first views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House and walk through the beautiful waterfront Royal Botanic Gardens.
We finished the day by meeting up with an old friend from Hull, James, for an after work drink. James moved to Sydney a few years ago and it was great to catch up and pick up some tips from a local.
On Friday we explored the city centre some more with the help of an excellent free walking tour. We dealt with our hunger after the tour with a fantastic Vietnamese meal at Chat Thai.
Darling Harbour, Sydney
Saturday started with a walk around the Darling Harbour area.
We ended our walk with a visit to the Sydney Fish Market for a taste of home – fish and chips! However, there was plenty of more exotic fare being prepared.
Just for Laughs, Sydney Opera House
The highlight so far in Sydney was Saturday night. We were really keen to experience the Sydney Opera House as it should be: by seeing a show. We’d looked at what was on before we left home but couldn’t see much we were interested in.
But a check at the box office on Thursday revealed that a Comedy Festival had since been announced and none other than Eddie Izzard was hosting a number of international and Aussie stand ups! There were just a few tickets left, so we went for it!
Eddie Izzard was, of course, fantastic, but the rest of the line up was also great. It included the surreal Reggie Watts, a fantastic Aussie comedian called Sarah Kendall and (in readiness for our trip to New Zealand) Rhys Darby, otherwise known as Murray from Flight of the Conchords.
The Concert Hall itself is huge (it seats 2,679) and it was great to see the inside of the Opera House. Particularly noticeable is the way the hall sits in amongst the concrete ‘sails’ that you see from outside the building.
Day of the Day
Tuesday 14th October. Thanks to crossing the International Date Line, we skipped 14th October. Does that make us a day younger than we should be?!
Striking Out 