G'day Sydney

When we arrived into Sydney the first thing we saw was a G’day sign at the airport. It was cool to be back in a native English speaking country and being able to understand all the random conversations around us (always good to nosy and eavesdrop!!). It felt very relaxing and stress free, a walk in the park from what we had been used to for the first 5 months.

My first impressions of Sydney were - WOW there’s a lot of Asians - very beautiful architecture - well organised and busy with people constantly on the move especially in the CBD (Central Business District). For the first couple of days we were sightseeing around the city. Highlights of course were the Sydney Bridge (Did you know that Crocodile Dundee worked as a painter on this bridge and this is where he was discovered?!!!) Sydney Opera House even though I think it looks more spectacular by night, botanical gardens were beautiful and full of wildlife, tons of cockatoo’s & seriously big bats!!!!, Hyde park, people playing chess, families and friends having picnics on the grass, just a lovely chilled setting in the centre of the metropolis. But my favourite district of the city was definitely The Rocks, full of musicians playing on the street, amazing old wharf buildings now converted into funky art gallery’s and shops, lots of cool bars and restaurants and just a great vibe about the area.

Found a statue doing the "Tierna Pose" in the Botanic Gardens

Big Ugg Boot!!



Tom is writing this post and has omitted his most important first impression of Sydney which involved a free BBQ/Introduction to Goon (very cheap box of white wine!!) laid on by the lovely Base Hostel that we stayed in!!! I didn’t make it as I was so jet lagged from the 27 hour journey to get there so I said I would go to bed for a couple of hours and then get up and go out that night!!! That night never happened as Tom was in bed ‘singing’ by 5pm happily experiencing the warmth of his first “few” glasses of Goon!!!!!! And by the look of things not too many snags were cooked up at the Barbie but the Goon was free flowing!!! So still wrecked from the jetlag I just went downstairs grabbed something to eat and went back to bed myself to the sound of Toms soothing snores in the dorm room!!!

Thanks Michaela…continuing on next on the list of things to do in Sydney was Party for Paddys and would you believe it Maire happened to be on holidays in her old neighbourhood and so we met up with her and her gang!! We had started early in the afternoon in Cheers Irish pub with a bit of lunch and some Magners Cider. There was some great characters in there especially an old man from Kilcoo, Co. Down who had a hat which Michaela took a fancy to and without a bother he gave it to her and then went into a deep conversation about his life story. He hadn’t been home in 5o years and sadly now couldn’t afford to go home. A true gentleman and he was taking a day trip down to do a tour of the pubs in Sydney for a bit of craic!!! After that we headed to the Rocks to catch up with Maire and the gang in a Hotel bar which had a ‘legendary band’ according to the music guru’s of Maire and Alana. The jury is still out on the band but it was a fantastic nights craic!!! Therese, another friend of Maire’s invited us to a good old Aussie Barbie for the Irish contingent in Sydney at Coogee Beach. It was a fantastic spread of food. We rolled out of the apartment. Home cooked food can’t be beaten!!

Then Round 2 of Paddy’s day came around as Sydney was organising a parade on the Sunday afternoon. We were all set wearing our county colours and when we got to the centre we discovered it had been cancelled due to rain!!!! We were gutted, that would never happen in Ireland as it would never be held!!! Determined as we are that didn’t stop us from partying. We headed to a local bar to watch a replay of the last six nations game Ireland vs. England and what a result. We did a tour of some great pubs around Sydney catching up with Maire and the gang again who took us to see the same legendary band. Lots of singers helped them along with the gig and it really was a cracking finale. Looking forward to that promised ‘Best pint of Guinness’ in Alana’s pub in Dublin when we get home!!!

So after a day of recovery we caught up with another amigo of ours, Sarah that we met on Amber on our tour of Patagonia. It was great to hear all her carnival gossip and she took us to a fab Vietnamese restaurant which served us a crazy sugary dessert…..yummy!!! Thanks a mill and hope to see you in Ireland some day.




Finally on our last day in Sydney the sunshine decided to make an appearance so we did an action packed day of sightseeing. We took the early train out to the Blue mountains and saw the picturesque 3 sisters, waterfalls and forests. Breathtaking scenery. In the afternoon we headed back to Sydney and got the ferry to Manly, had a lovely meal at one of the restaurants on the beach and then got a lovely night view of the Opera house and bridge on the way back. It definitely was a fantastic end to what was great stay in this city.