Sydney to Byron
We checked out of our Sydney hostel but still had a full morning in Sydney to enjoy. So we put our bags into the lockers and headed off on the free tourist bus into the city to visit The Rocks. This is Sydney's oldest area. Australian's seem to be quite keen on their historic buildings, albeit not that historic by UK standards.
Whilst there, we saw the under-side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and some brave people wandering along the railings about to embark on a climb of the bridge. It takes about 3.5 hours apparently. I can imagine you'd see amazing views but it is quite high, quite expensive, and in all honesty don't most people go to Sydney to see the Bridge!? And the Opera House of course, but you can see that from ground level.
We wandered a little bit further when I started to get a little dubious about where Chris was leading us, especially after our Kings Cross encounter yesterday. I should learn to trust his sense of direction though as we found our way to a little park near the Observatory and got some great views of all around the city. I'm pretty sure they'd rival what you could see from the bridge... maybe!
Time was running out so we ran back to the hostel via a food shop, cooked our lunch (spaghetti/beans on toast), made sandwiches for tea and then legged it to our train which was departing in 36 minutes (we needed to check in bags 30 minutes before) - we just made it although quite shattered and it was another hot day in Sydney!
When the time came we boarded our train, said goodbye to Sydney and then headed off to Byron Bay. It was to be another long night - we got on the train around 4 in the afternoon and we'd get to Byron at 5.55 in the morning. It was almost a relief when the train got held up and put 90 minutes behind schedule as a lightning strike had taken out all the signals on part of the line. We had to depart the train mid-journey to transfer to a coach. Annoyingly that was the point that I was just beginning to get some sleep! Anyhow, we eventually turned up in Byron around 7ish and walked half an hour to our hostel.
You could tell we were hitting a party town - all the coffee shops & cafes were still shut. Still, it was looking like it was going to be a nice day in Byron so I forgave them for not getting up early enough to serve me caffeine.
Whilst there, we saw the under-side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and some brave people wandering along the railings about to embark on a climb of the bridge. It takes about 3.5 hours apparently. I can imagine you'd see amazing views but it is quite high, quite expensive, and in all honesty don't most people go to Sydney to see the Bridge!? And the Opera House of course, but you can see that from ground level.
We wandered a little bit further when I started to get a little dubious about where Chris was leading us, especially after our Kings Cross encounter yesterday. I should learn to trust his sense of direction though as we found our way to a little park near the Observatory and got some great views of all around the city. I'm pretty sure they'd rival what you could see from the bridge... maybe!
Time was running out so we ran back to the hostel via a food shop, cooked our lunch (spaghetti/beans on toast), made sandwiches for tea and then legged it to our train which was departing in 36 minutes (we needed to check in bags 30 minutes before) - we just made it although quite shattered and it was another hot day in Sydney!
When the time came we boarded our train, said goodbye to Sydney and then headed off to Byron Bay. It was to be another long night - we got on the train around 4 in the afternoon and we'd get to Byron at 5.55 in the morning. It was almost a relief when the train got held up and put 90 minutes behind schedule as a lightning strike had taken out all the signals on part of the line. We had to depart the train mid-journey to transfer to a coach. Annoyingly that was the point that I was just beginning to get some sleep! Anyhow, we eventually turned up in Byron around 7ish and walked half an hour to our hostel.
You could tell we were hitting a party town - all the coffee shops & cafes were still shut. Still, it was looking like it was going to be a nice day in Byron so I forgave them for not getting up early enough to serve me caffeine.
posted by wobblepop at 11:50 pm
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