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We had
an awesome view of Darling Harbour, one of the points where the fireworks
are set off on New Years Eve so maybe we could have just stopped in,
rather than spent the night on the Majistic $5M Yacht! Not!
We went
to the Sydney Aquarium on our first day which was quite impressive,
although we both agreed that Cape Town Aquarium is still the best we have
been to.
The
actual night itself was breath-taking. We set off from our apartment in
Darling Harbour, boarded our yacht for the evening and as we set sail and
turned left out of Darling Harbour we saw the Harbour Bridge for the first
time, very shortly followed by the Sydney Opera House and Fort Dennison.
The thousands, probably millions, of people sat on any available piece of
land on the Harbour side and on any balcony vaguely pointing in the
direction of the harbour, was incredible. Especially as to get prime
seats these poor guys must have been out there in that heat from the early
hours of the morning! The amount of boats moored along the shoreline was
also unbelievable. Our yacht was one of only twenty boats allowed to move
around the harbour and pick where they wanted to anchor for the fireworks.
We had
no complaints about where we watched the spectacle from, we anchored
behind most of the other boats that were all decorated in lights, so we
could see them in front of the bridge and fireworks! The whole evening
was great, the food, free champagne, wine and beer, the band, the DJ and
the boats all decked out in lights, as well as the fireworks, was just
awesome.
New
Years Day was hot, thirty-nine degrees on New Years Eve was bad, but
forty-five degrees is insane because there was a wind that was the same
temperature! It was way too hot to start venturing out and about walking,
so we pretty much just chilled out and watched TV. Angela made one of
her, what should be world famous,
lasagnes
for us to eat whilst watching all the other countries, apart from New
Zealand that is, celebrate New Year!
The UK
brings in the New Year at 11:00am Australia time, whereas New Zealand
celebrates New Years Eve two hours before the Aussies. Hawaii does not
celebrate New Year until twenty-one hours after Australia, twenty-three
hours after New Zealand! Strange when you consider how relatively close
Hawaii is to New Zealand.
Apparently it was the second hottest day in Sydney since they started
recording temperatures! Then the following day it pretty much rained all
day! Bizarre!
Over
the New Year we visited the Opera House, walked over the Harbour Bridge
and went up The Sydney Tower, where we had a good view of Telstra
Stadium! (Where England on 22 November 2003 became the current Rugby
World Champions!)
We went
to the National Maritime Museum where we walked round HMAS Vampire, a
Destroyer, and HMAS Onslow, a Submarine, before later that day doing the
Harbour Bridge climb!
The
Harbour Bridge climb is something extraordinary! We did the twilight walk
and to see the city change, whilst the sunset, from day to night was a
great experience. The walk itself isn't as hard as people would have you
believe! The arch span is 503 metres and when you get to the top you are
134 metres above sea level. You start in the Rocks, walk up the eastern
arch (the same side as the Opera House) cross over the top and back down
the western arch heading back to the Rocks. The whole experience lasts
just over three hours and is well worth it.
Taronga
Zoo was another great day out. What makes Taronga really special is where
it is. It's on a hill along the waterfront, in one of the best places on
Sydney Harbour overlooking Sydney Cove, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera
House.
The day
after Taronga Zoo we headed to the Blue Mountains, which involved a 7:25am
two hour train journey to Katoomba. We then headed off to explore the
rainforest and see the Blue Mountains, the Three Sisters, Katoomba Falls,
Mount Solitary and the Jamison Valley. What was it like? No idea! The
mist was so thick and low we didn't see a thing! Well, actually we did
see the first sister, Meenha, but other than that we pretty much walked
through the rainforest getting wet! Well, it is a rainforest!
The
"scenic" train down to the rainforest however was awesome! It is the
world's steepest inclining railway! A whopping 52 degree drop and we were
on the front! When you sit in the carriage you fall backwards into the
chair and it isn't until you start to descend, to the sound of Indiana
Jones, you realise why you need to almost lie in the chairs to start. You
drop 250 metres whilst only travelling on a railway that is 450 metres
long, it also passes through a natural tunnel that is 80 metres long, all
adding to the "Indy" feeling! Apparently the cable-car that we travelled
back on over the rainforest has spectacular views of Katoomba Falls, the
Three Sisters and the Blue Mountains National Park!
Our final day we hung around until 3:00pm to go on the "Harbour Jet."
This is an incredibly fast jet boat that twists through 270 degree turns
and slams the brakes on, etc, etc, generally throwing you about whilst
playing rock music at huge decibels! Well, the engine blew up half an
hour before we were due to go on it! To console ourselves we went and had
a beer and that evening went for a sumptuous meal at the Sydney Sky-tower,
which we agreed was a great way for us to finish our time in Sydney and
Australia. |