Our time in Oxford: Sydney 24th

I arrived on the 24th April at around 6.00am local time after a 22 hours flight in Sydney. My friend Dany who moved last August to Sydney picked me up from the airport. It was nice to have a bit of “Home” on the other side of the world. I stayed with Dany and her flat mates Jade and Evan for the next three days in Sydney. Their flat is at a river with an amazing view of the Skyline and Kurt Russel owns a flat on the other side of the road. My journey has begun grey not like you would expect a trip to Australia.

Dany had to work on this Thursday. Although it was in the middle of the night for my body clock I only went to bed for 2 hours to get directly in the correct bio rhythm – and it works. I had no problems with a Jetlag – my colleagues are still suffering from it after one week ;)

I went at around midday to the city to explore Sydney a bit on my own. And it was amazing. The Botanical Garden is in the middle of the city and it seems so unreal to see this in front of the skyline. In the Garden I met the first exotic animals: Spiders, Parrots and Bats (here I first thought these are some kind of fruits).

No Fruits but Bats

First I was a bit disappointed of the Opera house. I approached it from the backside and it looks really small when you have the pictures in your mind that you always can see on the postcards. I saw the Harbour Bridge and people climbing on it – like my father in law told me one day before I left the UK.

Sebastian and I discovered that the best way to start a tour in a new town is to have a sightseeing tour by bus to get a rough overview and then definitely by foot. I tool to bus tours since it was part time raining. One tour which covered the suburbs and beaches and one Inner-City tour. Sydney is a lovely town. And it is true that Australians are laid-back people – Nobody is in a hurry and everybody is friendly – great!

Bondi Beach

The day ended with some Caipirinah at Dany’s place and a Australian pub food.

Friday was Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand and a bank holiday. Anzac Day is commemorated by Australia and New Zealand on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. We met at 10 am with Rouki one of Dany’s friends to go to the Blue Mountains National Park. It belongs to Sydney but is around 2 hours away – Nothing is close in Australia. It was a wonderful day and I was surprised how green this continent is. On a bank holiday in Europe and especially in Germany you will find all people travelling to one point and everything would be crowded but not here. At some points we were the only people and could enjoy the peace and harmony of this place.

Three Sisters

My stopover in Sydney ended with a lovely sunny day. Dany and I went to the harbour and the Rocks and enjoyed the sun, the people and the whole atmosphere. And we climbed the Sydney Tower to get an amazing overview of Sydney. At 7 pm my flight head of to Melbourne.

Sydney is a Major City with flair and a special atmosphere.