I have been trying to think up a worthwhile excuse as to why I have yet again taken a very long time to update, what I came up with was on a par with the famous ‘my dog ate it’ homework excuse, so I’ll just say I’m sorry. In previous weeks my excuses have been based on ‘If you haven’t got anything good to say, don’t say anything at all,’ you know, the sort of thing your primary school teacher used to say to you after you’d told poor Jonny that if he stole your crayon once more, he wasn’t coming to your birthday party. But after an amazing time in Sydney, I could not even consider using it.
Sydney is a city with a tremendous ‘buzz’ about it. Its appearance demonstrates a clear contrast between the old and the new. Skyscrapers spearhead the city skyline but next to them stand old fashioned, classical buildings. Of course, no trip to Sydney is complete without a trip to the Opera house. From a distance, it looks a magnificent pearl colour, but as you get closer it appears somewhat grubby (apologies to any Sydney based tourism company), nevertheless it is certainly a spectacular piece of architecture.
However, you could be forgiven for thinking that you may have got on the wrong flight and landed in Tokyo (or Hong Kong/Singapore/Any other major City in East Asia to avoid being branded stereotypically racist). The population, whether they be tourists or residents was strongly represented by East Asia; and as we all know, there is nothing they like more than a good photo. Which of course is not a bad thing, but their ‘eye for a photo’ seems to differ somewhat from mine. Examples of this include snaps in front of underpasses, train stations and by far the funniest example, on a train! Four men each took it in turn to photograph the other three; sat by a window on the train...I failed to keep a straight face and would have offered to take a photo of all four of them had it not been so funny.
Of course, the highlight of the trip was always going to be New Years Eve; in our case New Years afternoon. We headed to a park in Sydney, on the opposite side of the bridge to the Opera House. It was a completely worldwide party. I met people from Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, some fellow English, Spanish and of course Australians. The one thing we all had in common was that we all spoke English; of course, the English people had not the slightest idea about any other language which really says something about the ignorance of our great nation. It’s almost arrogance, but one we can get away with because English is such a necessity to other countries. But amongst all of these nationalities, I managed to bump into someone from Clevedon. Completely accidentally and just in general conversation, stranger still, I found that I work with his sister! Small world ey. It was weird enough seeing mates from school. This was of course planned but it is a very surreal feeling being 15,000 miles from home and yet being sat with two people you have spent a large chunk of your life with.
We definitely saw the New Year in with style! At one point, it appeared that none of us would get close to seeing the New Year with the rate of alcohol consumption but we all managed it; I’m very thankful we did! Having watched the Sydney fireworks on TV many times, I thought I had an idea of what to expect. Incorrect. Without a hint of exaggeration it was the most spectacular thing I have ever seen, better than Michael Owen’s goal against Argentina, better than the 1999 Champions League final, better than Jonny Wilkin....ok maybe the second best thing, behind Jonny Wilkinson’s drop goal. On a serious note, the whole show, the colours, the organisation was incredible and rounded off 2009 in style, you have to see it to believe it. (Videos on Facebook) In the days after New Year we decided to explore the Sydney nightlife in ‘hotspot’ Kings Cross. By Day 5, a well needed time out was taken by all and we headed to the Aquarium instead of the town. For a $35 entry fee I was expecting a guided tour of the Ocean, we didn’t quite get that. But, it was very good nonetheless, especially seeing the Duck - Billed platypuses. The American kid (I hate to keep picking on them but...) at the front did his best ‘Sid’ from Toy Story impression by banging on the glass at them as if he was expecting a Q & A session with them, but the platypuses followed the rest of the world’s (apart from Blair/Brown) and ignored him.
Day 6 signalled the end of my brief stint in Sydney and it was time to head back ‘home’ to Perth. I hit jackpot at the airport and managed to bag myself a seat with extra leg room. When they say extra they mean you don’t have to cross your legs but it was certainly more comfortable than the flight there. I slept the entire flight and was only woken by the plane touching down. I continued my hibernation when I arrived at the house, but sleeping a full day was sign that it had been a very good week.
Facebook is a wonderful invention as it allows you to know exactly what other people are up to, especially handy when you are thousands of miles from home. After the 225th person on my friends list had commented on the snow in their status I tagged on that maybe I was missing out. I now know for sure that I have missed out, everyone loves a bit of snow and it is very rare that we get as much as we have recently. Living in a house with two brothers you can imagine the carnage that snow causes, with extreme snow ball fights, (we can all throw quite well) so I am a tad disappointed.
But the truth is, everyone loves snow until they realise that it could well cause a few problems, the novelty wears off. A bit like a New Year’s resolution; giving up alcohol is such a great idea at first, until you realise that your mates 18th is in two weeks! Let’s face it, we are complete drama queens in England and panic sets in as soon as something slightly out of the ordinary happens. Panic buying, everything closed, even school children realise that maybe they should be revising for exams; it’s a good job we’re not Russian! I did however think about how cold I would feel if I went home today. Considering it’s been 30+ degrees here most days and is dropping to -15 back home (so I’m told), I realised that maybe I will stay quite a bit longer, a 45 degree difference maybe a little bit too much.
Today marked my return to work. I can assure you I haven’t missed it, summer holidays + Sunday + too windy for the beach = ABSOLUTE CHAOS. Hopefully I have only 6 weeks left until I fly east again, this time to Brisbane to play a bit of rugby. So the planning has already started. Anyway, I hope I have made up for my incompetence in the field of organisation with this rather long entry. Enjoy the snow, if you can. Happy New Year x
