Tales of Trips

Upon first sitting to write this I realised that there was rather a lot to catch up on! Whilst I would like to blame terrible internet connections upon my move to Bondi at the end of January and my subsequent shoddy wifi connections now I'm in Melbourne, I think that making excuses is just a touch pitiful when you consider that reasonable internet could be found in any number of cafes around the place. Or I could just get my butt in gear and draft my writing on my trusty net book and upload it all when I can...which is what I'm doing.

I wanted to write about my last few weeks in Sydney and all the things I got up to, as well as to give my opinions on the things I've seen and done and reviews - to some extent- of the hostels I've stayed at as well. Just in case anyone reading this may have an eye for travel and want a few pointers, I know I've relied on more than one piece of friendly advice whilst I've been travelling.

 

(Above: a giant duck at Darling Harbour...just because!)

Whilst I was in Sydney a friend suggested that I look into an Annual Pass for some of the attractions there, and whilst I'm certainly not sticking around for an entire year, she suggested that it did actually work out pretty good value for money. She wasn't kidding. This annual pass would include the Sydney Aquarium, Wildlife Park, Syndey Tower Eye and Madame Tussauds, as well as other aquariums, wildlife parks and tourist attractions around Australia. When you consider that each attraction costs around 25-30 odd Aussie dollars each time, for $80 - a special offer at Christmas - I could visit all of these attractions as many times as I liked...it doesn't take a genius to work out this was a good deal. So if you enjoy watching animals and the like, and I always have done, then this would be my suggestion.

But what can one do at such places? Well... the Sydney Tower Eye is the tallest building in Sydney and offers 360 views of the city, I was really glad I did this towards the end of my visit as I could sit up there and spot loads of places that had memories attached. The bay where I went kayaking, the spot where the boys tried fishing and caught a little octopus instead - much to mine and Katja's amusement, the theme park I worked at, the buildings that marked the start of the Cross etc.etc. Even without the memories attached it was a pretty decent view, though I doubt I'd have gone up there if I'd had to pay the entry fee on its own.

The Wildlife Park at Darling Harbour was another venue that I don't think I'd have been willing to pay a separate entry fee for as it's pretty small. However, I did enjoy getting pretty close to the koalas, wallabies, roos and other creatures and I even went back a second time to watch their 6m male croc get fed. You can also see the brightly coloured and rather large Cassowary, a sleeping wombat, if you're lucky an echidna and the darkened cave where the sign assures you a tasmanian devil lives, as well as the usual snakes, spiders and lizards you'd expect. All the animals are Australian and it was filled with interesting facts, though as mentioned it was a fairly small place and without the pass you may be better off going to Taronga Zoo or something.

 

Madame Tussauds was inevitably smaller than the one in London, as the Wildlife Park, Aquarium and Tussauds all occupy one end of Darling Harbour it's perhaps to be expected. It's filled with waxworks of a number of Aussie stars and historical figures, like the one in London it's more fun to go with some friends so you can pull silly poses and generally lark about/imagine that you really are standing with Johnny Depp - not Aussie I know, but he seemed a fairly popular addition...can't think why.

 

The aquarium was probably my favourite of the Sydney attractions. Mainly because of one thing. The platypus. I was so lucky that I got to watch the little critter swim about, eat some lunch, clean itself all at the front of the enclosure. Apparently it spends a lot of the time hiding in its den and I imagine that even when it pops out it doesn't put on quite the full show I was privy to. It was smaller than I thought it might be and the small child in me instantly went, 'I want one!'. Quite what I'd do with one is another matter, but they've definitely won me over and become a favourite Aussie critter. The aquarium in Sydney also showcased a dugong, several sharks, hoards of fishies from the reef and rivers, several rays, Australia's little penguins - yep, I was surprised there were penguins native to Oz too - and more besides. I was a happy bunny as I really do love sealife centres and oggling the creatures of the deep.

Enough about tourist attractions! One of the key elements to my stay in Sydney was of course a job, now I didn't exactly find the full time, money making job I'd hoped. When I was first hired at Luna Park Sydney I was told that the end of December and January would see me swamped with shifts...reality gave me an average of two per week, enough to cover rent if I was lucky, the reasoning behind this I don't care to get into. Now I know that I could have looked for another job, but actually I enjoyed the free time and I loved the people I was working with. Besides, I came to Australia for a break and had enough savings to pull through - though I know others that really did struggle for work - it's a competitive market for backpacker jobs.


Anyhoos.... I really did enjoy my time with Luna Park and it was down to the lovely folk I worked with, I made some friends there that I have plans of staying in touch with for some time. At the end of January we had a pirate themed award ceremony, which also doubled as a last hurrah for the summer staff. With a terribly fancy spread put on (dates wrapped in pancetta anyone?) and free booze, as well as a generally fun spirit that you needed to get hired, teamed with pirate paraphenalia, we were soon having a great time. The GR department proceeded to several pubs and a good boogie in the city centre, not a bad way to bid farewell to everyone. So if you're in Sydney around Christmas and looking for a good group of people to work with try Luna Park, just try to get hired in the later 'auditions' to get a set roster and more shifts >_<

 

There is but one final thing to review and make note of. The hostel. Kings Cross Backpackers was my home away from home for a good few months and despite the funny faces everyone makes when you say you're living at the Cross, a place whose drunken and party loving/trouble making reputation precedes, it was a pretty good spot. At the end of a road off the main strip, things were a little quieter without being too far away from everything. It was an easy walk or train journey to the CBD and close to a pretty nice park as well. The hostel is also a fairly small one, housing round 70 of us when busy, so you got to know people pretty quickly. From that first paint party in my first few days there, through roof top bbqs, movie nights, a crazy Christmas party and more, I have no regrets about my choice of hostel. Across the Aussie summer more of us stayed on, becoming the long termers of the hostel - though never excluding anyone passing through for a few days that wanted to get involved. And despite disruptions due to renovations, a small kitchen, and any other qualms we may have made, it was the people that made this a great place to stay. I've made friends there that will last a while, friends that I've bumped into since in Melbourne and may well bump into again elsewhere in Australia, and maybe we'll even meet again back home, bringing new stories to share. That sounds quite soppy actually...I think we may need to move on, I have no desire to inspire some kind of quiant and cutesy ending. It was fun, I enjoyed it, made some good mates, I recommend it.

When the summer drew to its end the hostel began to empty of its long term residents, Sydney is a popular spot for Christmas and New Years, but there are other places to explore and for my final week in Sydney I made the move to Bondi beach for a week...a tale to be told in my next post.