Day 67 – Sydney explorer!

Woke up and had breakfast, I’ve really got into sultanas and bran with milk. I never used to like any of those things and that is now my idea of a good breakfast. It’s funny that when I was in Auckland I couldn’t really seem to wake up until about 11 but I couldn’t sleep until late so for some reason my body was already on Sydney time, which has worked out perfectly as it means I wake up about 9am, so plenty of time to explore the city.

I walked from Crown Street through Hyde Park towards the Sky Tower, which is in Westfield shopping centre. I wandered around there for a bit and this place went into QVB, which stands for Queen Victoria Building, another shopping bit. The best thing about coming to Australia/New Zealand now is they’re leaving summer and going into autumn so all their summer clothes are in the sale, which is great for me, if only I could find something that I wanted!

Onwards and upwards! Well to Circular Quay which is the hub of Sydney harbour and where you get perfect views of the bridge and the Opera House. That view doesn’t get old, I remember the last time I went travelling and it’s still true now that when you stand there you have that ‘OH MY GOD I’M IN AUSTRALIA AND IT FEELS LIKE I’M IN A POSTCARD!’ moment. I walked the whole way around the outside of the Opera house and a little fact for you, did you know the concert hall’s grand organ is the largest mechanical version of this instrument in the world, with 10,154 pipes. Also, the building opened in 1973 so that makes it 41 years old this October, which is actually younger than I thought it was going to be.

I slowly made my way down George Street which is the longest street in Sydney if I remember rightly and there are more high rise buildings here than any other street in Australia. Back at Val’s we got some Thai for dinner from apparently the ‘Best Thai’ in Sydney… actually that’s just the name of the place but it was pretty good, not so sure it’s the best though!

Day 27 - Auckland city centre.

After yesterdays disaster, I walked into the main shop bit in Titirangi to find a proper cash point to get some money out. Success! Only down fall was it only dispensed $50 notes, so I went over to the shop to buy some water so I had change for the bus. Back in the UK if you handed over a £20 note for a £1 bottle of water you’d probably be glared at and asked if you had anything smaller but here it’s just the norm, which I find really weird and a little hard to get used too. I picked up the bus from the town and the first one that came along was the 173 being driven by Ray! He charged me a child’s price again and told me to treat myself with the change, what a really lovely man!

I went right into the city and wondered around a bit. Not really looking at anything in particular but just seeing what Auckland city had to offer. My first port of call was 2 degrees to see if they did a cheap sim, mostly so I can use the Internet, maps and all those kinds of things and not be charged extortionate prices from the UK! Luckily for me they did, I grabbed myself a $10 deal, which is a fiver for a months worth of stuff, pretty sweet. From here I could navigate myself to the Kiwi Experience shop, which is what I will be heading off to do, come Tuesday. I booked myself on the bus and I’m so excited for this adventure to start!! It’s a hop on hop off bus that is going to take me all over the north and south island. When Chrissy and I went to Australia we did the Oz Experience bus which all started because of the one in NZ.

I walked to the Sky Tower and watched some people jump off it, you can pay to do that, it’s not suicide or anything. It is a bit too pricey for my liking though, so I think I’ll just go to the viewing deck instead when I come back here before I leave to go to Sydney.

I walked to North Wharf as this is where the bank Stuart works in is. It is a little like Gunwharf waterfront with outside eating and they’ve transformed a number of old shipping containers into restaurants. Apparently it has only been open just under a year but it is a must do for a lovely evening in Auckland. You get great views of the city and you can see the Harbour bridge. We had a tour of the ASB bank, which was rather swanky and then ate dinner in an Italian place called Portofino.