Week 28- part 1 Sydney

Joey and I were staying with Chris, Sally, Sammy and Ben. Ben was there to let us in when we first arrived, he explained that he had the nasty job of cleaning up the cat sick. Sadly, Sally was in Cairns so we didn't see her and we only saw Chris that Tuesday evening as he was going to join sally the next morning. Sally's sister in law, Jane, popped in to offer to take us to dinner on Thursday but made the unfortunate mistake of thinking that Joey was me as he apparently looks like Sam. I cooked chili for dinner and we enjoyed the tennis. I also got to speak to my great uncle David on the phone and arranged dinner for the next day.

Having greatly appreciated getting clean, shaving and having our own beds we were a little late to rise. Joey and I walked down to the ferry to catch a boat into the city. The weather was great for seeing the harbor bridge and the opera house from the water before going into the opera house. There wasn't much to be seen so we went up the Sydney tower eye to see Sydney from above. Frustratingly, the opera house wasn't in view! I feel I was underwhelmed by it having been up the Eureka tower in Melbourne. They also had a post box claiming to be the highest in the southern hemisphere but having questioned the staff and then googling, it turns out the one in Melbourne is higher! I was also told by a woman not to have children. From there we headed to the aquarium, thinking that Sydney must have a very good one. Apart from a penguin viewing boat ride at 6°C it wasn't amazing.

Next stop Bondi! We quickly decided that it was too crowded and you had to pay to use the sea pool so we walked along the headland to Tamarama beach, stopping for more peanut butter and jam wraps along the way. After a quick swim and watching some guys jump off the rocks into waves (to be then thrown back onto the rocks!) it was time to get back as David and his wife Celia were due to take us for dinner. In theory it should have just been two buses to get back but one bus randomly tossed everyone off so we had to get a train too. We weren't late but our dinner dates were waiting when we arrived. We also met Sammy for the first time, a wonderfully bubbly girl with a sprained ankle from playing netball. Sammy drove Joey and Celia while I was instructed to go with David. There was much talk of family in car before reaching the Thai restaurant. Everyone was full of life so we had a fabulous time sharing stories and then Joey and I split a deep fried Ice cream for dessert. There was some discussion about what we would do the following day before David kindly offered to take us for the day (aged 80+!).

I had wanted to go to the Blue Mountains National Park but we couldn't as it was on fire. David had a full itinerary for us nevertheless. We first visited Balmoral and Clifton Gardens (both beaches) before going to see Sammy's school (where she was head girl). Our next stop was Manly Beach where Joey and I went body boarding for about 90min. It was quite hard work as you had to get through water up to my shoulders to get to the sandbank to catch waves. It was so much fun! Afterwards, David said that he had been speaking to the lifeguard and had told him that he had two Irish boys out there. The lifeguard responded ‘Are they the two pale ones wearing green shorts?’! Not long after we had reached a shopping centre to get lunch (once David had found HIS parking space). Joey and I introduced David to Burritos before we were off again to the Olympic park where David had volunteered at the 2000 games and met Sir Steve Redgrave. First we went to the hockey stadium, saw there was an open gate, left the car in the middle of the road and went down to the pitch. On our way out there was a security guard there asking if the car was ours and if we were aware it was in the middle of the road?! We then went to the pool and watched some amazing diving training, with all the boards going at once. They also had a display with famous swimmer's hands and feet in moulds. I put mine in Phelps's and Thorpe's. They were massive! We watched a small bit of archery before driving home completely worn out and full of amazing stories from David's life. That wasn't the last of the excitement as Jane then took us for dinner at the local RSL which is a returned servicemen club. Again, we had a fabulous time sharing stories but we were soon ready for bed.

The next day was Australia day. Joey and I walked down to catch the ferry only for Joey to realise he'd forgotten his travel card. He walked back to get it and I went into town. I first saw an aboriginal smoking ceremony and a didgeridoo performance before getting Australian flags on my face and setting up to enjoy the celebrations on the harbour. There was ferry and tall ship racing, the singing of various songs including the national anthem by choirs, a 21 gun salute from a massive navy ship and then a boat ballet. The ballet was basically a variety of boats moving in unison with various famous classical pieces being played in the background. It was actually surprisingly entertaining!

I then started exploring. I found some dancing, played some wheelchair basketball with the Invictus Games organisation, beat some children at other street games, walked the harbour bridge and then by mid afternoon returned home. Joey was already back and Sammy was preparing for a barbeque. When her friends arrived we played in the pool for a while before I, the Irishman surrounded by Australians, started to barbeque the meat! It was a fun evening (the daughter of the Australian ambassador to Iran was there) though we were a little shocked by some of their animal stories, mainly the attacking magpies and also arriving home to see hundreds of baby huntsman spiders on the roof of your bedroom!

Thankfully we didn't run into any such creatures and spent our last morning in Sydney jumping into the sea at Balmoral before Sammy drove us to the airport. We were flying to Cairns to do the barrier reef and it was at this point that Joey told me he was afraid of the ocean...

You can see all the photos from Sydney here.