Day 108 - Sydney

Whew, haven't written in a while, been busybusy.

On Tuesday I went to visit Mike and Ayako, uncle Mike's brother-in-law and his wife. They were very nice and fed me sushi - yum. It's always fun to meet new people - Gran said she would give me the address of one of her old friends, who lives in NZ, so I can visit him and his family while I'm there.

My last day in Perth I went to Fremantle, a town near the sea (really a kind of suburb of Perth) and explored, sat next to the harbour, drank lots of coffee etc. Then I hung around the hostel in the evening with some of the people I had met, watched some naff movies and tried to use up my food (omlette-on-toast, niice). At about 11 I got a lift to the airport then caught my Virgin Blue flight to Sydney. It was a bloomin' 4 1/2 hour flight, which got me in about 7.30 (time difference)... so another night of no sleep!

Yesterday I mainly slept and wondered around Redfern, the area that my hostel is in. Not very exciting. Today I got the train to Central Quay to get a look at the Sydney opera house. Must say it was a bit dissapointing - smaller than I imagined. I had more fun watching the entertainers lined up along the harbour. One guy was inexplicably dressed up as a donkey, and just stood there doing nothing. He didn't move except to fidget in the half hour I sat there eating my lunch, so I couldn't work out what he was meant to be doing - maybe just a crazy person. I also explored the rocks area - which is across the cove from the opera house and the location of Sydney's first European settlement. Once a home of prostitutes, convicts, whalers and street gangs, now it's a very clean, historical area with cobbled streets, old colonial buildings and lots of naff shops and cafes. So, ooh-ing and aah-ing over with, now I'm going to go to Darlington Harbour and Chinatown and have a look around there...