Day 21 From Seven Mile Beach to.....SYDNEY!!!

PS at the top not the bottom.....this seems like days away because it was!! I am catching up slowly so bear with me!!!!


Well hello it has sure been a while!! Bloody hell, we have been to some remote places in this land and had no problems connecting to the World but enter the big city and it all falls down!! Couple that with the fact that  for the last 3 days we have been out all day, walking our legs off and then getting home a little squiffy (sometimes after 10pm!!) its been straight to bed!  So the blog has lagged behind, I am truly sorry!  But as V snores rather gently in the background and I look out at an iconic view in my pj's from our latest gaff, it is time to hopefully get up to date...Now where did I leave it, Oh yes stuck in traffic on the M1 in fog.....

We were making good progress finally and the fog had cleared but the traffic reminded us too much of home (still got nothing on the M25 though) and as we closed in on our next and final leg of this adventure, the towns got bigger and more industrial and then we finally saw a sign for the great city of Sydney (although we were still miles away from anywhere that resembled anything everyone recognises about it).

Then, a glimpse of the skyline came into view and we knew the other iconic sights would not be too far behind.  Now at this point we had a campervan full of stuff that we would have struggled to drag across this city from the camper place to our apartment so the guy we were renting it from had kindly agreed that we could drop it all off before taking the van back.  Happy days.  We were staying on the north shore, Kirribilli (which i had been consistently calling killibilli) in an Airbnb place which boasted views of the main event in this town.  Which meant we would have to drive over the iconic bridge to get there.  Now I did this last time I was here and I have to say it gave me goosebumps, and as V was driving I hoped it would do the same for him.  And it did.  All of a sudden, through the crappy traffic and the high-rises came a glimpse of what we had been waiting for.  And then a glimpse became a full on panorama.  There she was in all her off white glory, to the right, the Sydney Opera House.  Eyes front again thankfully and the view of the upcoming bridge was also a sight to behold and believe me, to actually drive across it, the steel archways above casting shadows down like driving through a lane of trees, really is something.

We were then in the leafy street of North Sydney, spring blossom on the trees lining the streets of beautiful old houses and apartments blocks, old and new mixed together (but mainly old I have to say) showing why this is a really desirable place to lay your hat.  We found our block in Kirribilli avenue and made our way up the old staircase to No.20.  This was gonna be a quick drop and run as we had to get M&M back within the hour but when we opened the door and saw what faced us we just had to stay a little longer.  Full on frontal view of the opera house.  Boom.  Right there, the money shot.  Wow.  V was blown away, as was I (and ever thankful that I'd got it right!!)  The apartment was fab, just what we needed after 2 weeks in a van so after 5 trips up and down the stairs (how in the name of God had we got so much stuff??) we said goodbye briefly and headed back out.
Time to drive back to the outskirts off the city to drop off and say goodbye to M&M (she never did get properly named and I think because I had another human being to talk to this time round I didn't really get a connection to her, sad but true but in a good way some would say!) and we eventually found the drop off point in the middle of an industrial estate (as is always the case with my cheap rentals, you really do get what you pay for...) and ever hopeful for a quick getaway the bloke took one look at it and said 'well it's gonna need a wash'.  Now we had just spent 15 mins scrubbing the dead things off the bonnet and windscreen with a squeegee from the garage (not an easy task as most of the said bugs were the size of 50p pieces and had been on there most of the trip) but this clearly was not good enough.  The poster on the wall declared there was a $75 cleaning fee for the privilege so I told the bloke we would go find a jet wash and be back soon.  He seemed ok with this.

What ensued was a mad stupid drive around unknown streets to find a garage with said jet wash.  Only in Australia they don't have such a thing, they have separate car washes and with the blokes directions of 'up the road and turn right at Maccas' ringing in our ears we had a very tense and intersting drive until we did indeed find the Maccas and the jet wash.  It was timed and we only had four dollars and that translated to 4 mins of suds and water which was clearly not enough and neccicitated V finishing off the job with the windscreen wiper and towels whilst fending off a tirade of abuse from the bloke who pulled in behind us as I had inadvertently pulled off the jetwash brush when I pulled away hastly from the bay.  I stayed in the van....

Finally back and all handed over we said goodbye to M&M who had been our wonderful little home for 2 weeks, and had transported us for 2601km through some amazing scenery and even more amazing weather (bad amazing rather than good!) She had leaked and the door seal had fallen off the door every time you opened it but we had got used to our little routine and game of human tetras in  the mornings and evenings.  She kept us warm and we were gonna have fond memories of our little threesome....

And by the time we had walked to the nearby station via the motorway and some dodgy looking geezers, we were finally sitting on the top deck of a train heading back into the city to start our next (I still can't say final) leg.  Transport in this city it awesome, trains are spotless and everything else is done on the water and the ferries that run through and across this beautiful but larger than you think harbour, are the lifeline of the city.  We would be getting the Circular Quay to Milsons Point ferry (and vice versa) and we did so for the first time marvelling at the sights that those who live here just take in their stride in their daily life.

We didn't hang about as we wanted to get back to the apartment and chill for 5 as we had a date with the Opera House at 7pm so we took a few quick shots of the view, jumped on the ferry and headed up the hill to our gaff to settle in, change and head back out.  Refreshed and ready we walked back through the leafy streets to the ferry and soon we were back at Circular Quay and we headed straight to the Opera House as we had tickets to se The Eighth Wonder, and opera about the Opera House and its history, which would be performed outside on the infamous steps up to the entrance.

OMG it was awesome!!!!!! We entered on a red carpet, bought fizz and chips and ate them in the funky little bar area then donned our headphones and listened to the amazing spectical playing out before us.  It was silent opera (well not totally) so the orchestra were inside playing and the singers were singing but it all came through our headphones so when you took them off you could very faintly hear the performers singing.  It was truly brilliant and as it was all in English not the normal Italian it made it even better! I was funny and moving and brilliantly performed and even when it started to rain (and some of the rudest people I've met began to get up and leave) the show went on and the ponchos made a reappearance.  Magical.  We left full of it and walked hand in hand round the famous Quay, taking pictures of the bridge and opera house from every conceivable angle (I must have thousands by now!) grabbed a cheeky Hungry Jacks (Burger King to you and me) and headed back home contented and just a little squiffy for our first night in a proper bed for 2 weeks!!!!!!!!

And that was day 21.  I am now sitting looking out at the OH in glorious sunshine at the start of day 24, we have had 2 full days exploring this wonderful place and I will en devour to summarise those later.  But first I must gently wake the baby rhino with coffee and toast as we have another full day of wonder ahead of us and a meeting with old friends later.  So until then and until I get bloody WiFi (this is gonna be one mass upload for you lot) it is as always TTFN xxx