A three hour flight from Christchurch to Sydney brought us a few steps
closer to the dreaded Australian customs. Guess Kimmy and I have been
watching too many episodes of 'Nothing to Declare' on SKY but once
again our fears seem unfounded as we breezed through. The
customs official (a SAFFA expat) quizzed me if I had done my
military service at home and then also offered Kimmy that he could
arrange for me to be returned to my more respectable passport photo
look ( no beard, shaved head) - Kimmy seems to favour the beard and
politely declined.
The differences between New Zealand and OZ are stark to say the least.
Maybe it's just Sydney but, you get an immediate feel of a sense of more
urgency, that this is more of a 1st world type of place. Organised
public transport, vast urban skylines and the people are definitely
more conscious of their appearance and what car they drive. SUV's,
'label' sunnies and posh looking eateries aplenty. Feels a little like
San Fransisco but without the historical landmarks like the Golden
Gate Bridge and the old tram system. It certainly has it's
own significant landmarks but, the Sydney harbour Bridge and the
iconic Opera House, have more of a 'new world' flavour about them.
For obvious reasons Sydney is a very well established budget travel
destination with an abundance of backpackers and associated activities
to choose from. We booked our spot online in NZ with one eye on our
bank balance and the other on anything different. The D'lux Hostel in
the 'Bohemian' Quarter of Kings Cross ticked both boxes...... I mean
really, how many dodgy Kings Cross' can there be in this world?
The answer is, two! Turns out that 'bohemian' stands for 'red light' in
OZ. Titty Bars, budget hotels, the smell of weed and some unique dress
code greeted us at our dorm but, at no point did we feel unsafe -
everyone just calmy went on with their business. D'lux had an
affiliation with a night spot that was giving away free supper if you
bought your own beer so we decided to test it out to see what the
catch was. Turned out to be your basic 'walkabout -type' spot that was
just looking to fill seats before ladies night.
The other significant change is in the weather. We've traveled about
2000 miles north eastish and it's 10 degrees warmer when you're not in
the shade. It's almost time to don a pair of boardies soon!! Post
blogging note: I have now ripped an almighty big hole in my jeans and
my affinity to go commando now as a few risks attached! Thank fully
it's starting to get warm enough to wear shorts.
We're flying out of Brisbane to get to Bali on the 10th of September
so our time in OZ is limited and we have to get cracking on planning
our Oz adventure making sure that we leave enough time to visit our
mates in the outback and the newest father and mother to be, Mac and
Gail.
The town the McLoughlins reside in, Katherine, is not
as accessible as we had hoped. Like the US, we've once again
completely underestimated the distances required to travel from A to
B. We've booked a 3 week tour of the east coast that will take us from
Sydney to Cairns, along the way the tour includes surf lessons, a 4x4
guided tour of Fraser Island, a 3 day sailing trip around the
Witsunday Islands, a rain-forest safari outside Cairns and a sail
around the Great Barrier Reef. We're looking forward to this route as
it will be the 1st time that we're not actually driving ourselves so
we should hopefully have more time to take in the sites.
Cairns to Darwin is over 2000km and will take a lot longer that
originally anticipated so we've decided to book flights to Darwin and
then back to Brisbane. Doesn't really make sense to us as Bali is
literally a stones grow away from the North of Oz but flights from
Darwin to Bali are more expensive then London to Cape Town! So it
seems that going back to Brisbane is our only option.
Looking forward to seeing Macca again and comparing our respective
receding hairlines. Wonder if living on Oz and the thought of
fatherhood has calmed him down at all? Somehow doubt it. Off surfing tomorrow - should be fun!
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