Luna Park, Bondi Junction, Oceanworld and Blue Mountains

In contrast to my last post, it has been a busy five days trying to get some last minute sightseeing in. The weather has finally picked up! I'm now moaning that it's too hot lol. Here's a snapshot of my week:

Monday - not much to report on here as I spent a good bit of the afternoon with my travel rep organising my East Coast trip. There's a lot to work out with the dates and hostels etc. so we had to map it all out. Collecting my tickets on Saturday so hopefully be sorted by then.

Tuesday - met up with Andrew (he's now my official tour guide) who took me on a trek from Circular Quay across the harbour bridge and over to Luna Park. Unfortunately it was closed but the walk through the bridge has some amazing views of the harbour area and opera house.

On the way we found the most stereotypical Irish shop you could imagine - leprechauns, tweed jackets, shamrocks and Mary Black albulms are just some of the items you can buy!

Before heading home we headed to the Sydney State Parliament and managed to sit in on two sessions - for someone not very political I was half thrilled I must admit.

Wednesday - I headed out to Bondi Junction for a spot of shopping - I heard several times from people that they had a great shopping mall and they weren't lying. It was feckin huge! I spent ages just wandering around and managed to get myself some shorts and sleeveless t-shirts (aka Wife Beaters) for the East Coast. Have to say though still not mad on the fashion over here. There's not a great choice at all and most sizes are very small - if they're not catering for the average sized man what hope does an overweight person have? It's probably because there are very few heavy people here. The Australians generally know how to live a healthy lifestyle in fairness to them. That night I saw Jackass 3D with my landlord Will - very funny but that last segment was just too gross!

Thursday - when I bought my tickets for Sydney Aquarium/Tower and Wildlife World I also got Oceanworld in Manly included for free. With the weather being lovely I headed back out to Manly beach for a second time to check it out and get my value! On the way I managed to offend a Jehovah's Witness when discussing Christmas - she said she didn't celebrate it. I asked why not? She explained. I froze up and didn't know what to say. All I could respond with was "But Christmas is great!" in an overly thrilled manner. I got a filthy look up and down before she stormed off. Oh well I don't like your religion anyway Mrs.!

Back to Oceanworld Manly - Unless you're doing the shark dive they offer it's a bit rubbish and very small. If included free, go if you're out there but otherwise I wouldn't bother. I took a stroll down the beach and found a nice little rock pool that's large enough to swim in. After dipping my toe in and out for about 15 minutes I took the plunge and it was freezing! But very refreshing given the heat. I ended the day at the beachfront in a nice restaurant eating garlic prawns with rice - yummy. Met up with John Power that evening for a drink - another Irish person I know who has moved over here permanently! Can't blame him..

Friday - went to the Blue Mountains with Liz and her sister Michelle who just arrived over on holidays. I did this tour two years ago but really enjoyed it so decided a second trip wouldn't do any harm. It's a long day though. I was up at 6am and didn't get back to my apartment until after 7pm - earliest start I've had in at least two months. One of the stops includes Featherdale wildlife park which is far more interactive than any other zoo in Sydney - you can feed the kangaroos, hold a snake or cuddle up to a koala bear. Nice!

They then bring you out to Echo Point where you can see a view of 'the three sisters'. This is a towering rock formation and its history is very strongly connected to the aboriginal culture.

The main event is a visit to the Blue Mountains where you get to take a cableway down overlooking the view where you can then take a walk through a timber boardwalk in a Jurassic style forest under a canopy of trees. The highlight for me was getting on the world's steepest incline railway with Indiana Jones music playing as it takes off!

Before leaving the driver dropped us off at a town called Leura to wander around and we found this very cute sweet/chocolate shop that had loads of stuff I have not seen in years e.g. Double Dips and Frosties! And lots of stuff I've never seen before e.g. Fanta Pineapple. I treated myself to a Kit Kat Chunky Cookies and Cream - release it in Ireland now please.

The final part of the day was a cruise back to Circular Quay - it was very pleasent but by this stage we were all wrecked and dying to get home to bed. I don't think I appreciated it as much as I should have done. Overall, would highly recommend this day trip if you are in Sydney at some point. But make sure you a good nights sleep the day before!

PS: I lost my sunglasses during the week - feck! That's two things now including my phone charger which I left behind in my hostel on the first week. Oh well, by now I should have lost at least two mobile phones, the camera, a bank card and possibly an ipod for good measure. So I'm not doing too bad :D