Sydney Side

Here we are a blogging, well not quite. I’m writing this in word because I’ve got no internet access, and there are no wireless access points in range of where I’ve set the Mac up, so I’ll write this here and then maybe put it on a flash drive and take it to a cyber cafe, if I can find one!! (Okay so I never managed to find one, and my cousins PC which I did manage to get some internet access on was a 98 box, don't get me started)

2-01-06

The flight over was really, really good, thank you to all those who prayed, it was really smooth and I wasn’t sick which was good. Because of the heavy weather when we were leaving, after we’d checked in and were through customs, they announced that they weren’t taking any more check-ins while they worked out what to do because they’d already exceed the maximum safe weight they thought they could carry. A few minutes later they announced that check-ins would proceed because they had a solution in which we may fly to Christchurch and refuel before flying on to Sydney. I was NOT impressed!! (I hate landing the most) However by the time we got on the plane the weather had cleared up again (Praise God) and we flew direct to Sydney.

3-01-06

We went for a drive today out to the Burragorang Lookout where we had “morning tea” and took some photo’s. On the way we drove through Camden and they had the tiniest round-a-bouts that I think I have ever seen. People complain about the small round-a-bouts in Dunedin but these were WAY smaller than our smallest one’s. From the Hilux it looked like they were just a circle on the ground, but when we traveled back in the car you could see that they were raised, albeit a very little bit.
I prefer to travel in the Hilux instead of the rental car because the Hilux is air-conditioned, the rental is not. (The Hilux has also just had its aircon fixed, which is a good thing.) The seats in the back of the Hilux however are quite uncomfortable because there is no floor well like there is in a car and so you feel like you’re sitting with your knees around your ears. (By about halfway through the holiday we'd managed to cook the rental (not quite but it was over-heating all the time and leaking water) and so we got a slightly newer replacement, the new one was a little more comfortable (execpt on winding roads, I'm sure the back shocks were done) but still no aircon, however the weather didn't get as hot as expected so it wasn't really a porblem.)

4-01-06

I probably shouldn’t be writing this now because Delta is trying to sleep off a headache but I’ve been using the light from the monitor to see to get ready for bed because there is no lamp in this room and the main light WILL wake Delta.

Today we were going to go up to Blue Mountain but we rang up to find out what the weather was like out there and it was no good so we decided it would be better to go on a fine day. Instead we drove to Campbell Town and then got a train into Town Hall in the city. We wandered around Queen Victoria Mall and bought a few things. We also stopped to watch a really funny animated clock strike. After that we went outside and had lunch next to the Town Hall before we went into the Cathedral for a look. It was really, really cool!! Then we decided that we would catch the Monorail out to Darling Harbor. I quickly (which turned out not to be so quick) popped into JB HiFi and bought a new memory card for the camera cos I’d managed to fill the old one up already (was only 8Mb). When we arrived in Darling Harbor we went and got tickets to the IMAX Theater and went and saw 3D African Safari, which was very good!! After the movie we wandered around Darling Harbor some more and then caught the Monorail back to Town Hall and then the train back to Campbell Town. On the way back we passed a car yard full of imported cars and trucks, waiting I presume to go out to the relative dealers. It was several kilometers long and must’ve had over 1000 vehicles. We also passed an Agricultural High School, (right up there with your centre for Arts & Crafts, Captain Blood) which was surrounded by a barbed wire fence.


7-01-06

I was going to write this down last night but when we got home I couldn’t be bothered. We spent most of Thursday (5th) shopping because again the weather was no good for going to Blue Mountain. We went to McArthur square which is a MASIVE shopping mall. We split up into groups (I went with Delta) and looked around the shops we wanted to look at. I got some really good bargains but spent FAR too much money.

Yesterday, we went up to Blue Mountain even though the weather wasn’t all that good. We went to the 3 sisters lookout and then went down the giant staircase onto one of the sister’s rocks. It was kind of misty and we couldn’t really see much. After that we went up to Govvet’s Leap lookout. It was starting to clear up and we went on another walk down to look at the Bridal Vale waterfall. After Govvet’s we went to the Hydro Majestic, which wasn’t as flash as it used to be. Apparently there used to be a balcony that you could go out on to look down the Mega Long Valley, but it’s all been closed off and you have to pay to go on a guided tour to see it. Then we went to Scenic World and went on the world’s steepest railway. (There was a really funny sign that said something about not leaving infants on the seat because they would fall off, when we got on the train (which was on a slope) it felt like you were just sitting back comfortably but when we stopped on the flat at the bottom they seats were leaning WAY back like a deck chair) By now the mist had cleared up and we got a really good view of the 3 sisters. We went on the walk through the rainforest around the mine and it started to rain again. We got on the cable car (also the world’s steepest I think) and went back up to the top. Then we left for home and got fish & chips for tea.

This morning we went to Narellan Square and did some more shopping, (it is Saturday after all) and then came home and had lunch. After lunch, Delta & I watched the Santa Clause 2 DVD that we bought this morning. Tonight we are going to a restaurant for dinner to a surprise birthday party for my cousin’s niece. Apparently they expect us to dress up. Just as well I bought a shirt eh??

8-01-05

Last night’s dinner was very good. We went to an Italian restaurant. (left handed restaurant as I called it) They had the table’s all set out when we arrived. (with all the cutlery on the left hand side, hence it’s a left handed restaurant) One of the girls commented on the cutlery being on the wrong side and I said that they do everything back-to-front in Italy, they have the controls on the wrong side in their cars too. While we were walking to the restaurant, two police vehicles came speeding out of the street down the road (presumably where the police station is). The first was a ute thing with a cage on the back, (prisoner transport vehicle apparently) the second was a Ford Falcon station wagon. The Falcon driver almost lost it going around the corner, it was quite funny.

Today we went and visited my Aunty and then went to Kissing Point and caught the River Cat to Central Quay. We had lunch at the City Extra, which is a café that is done up as a news agency. The menus are printed on the inside of old newspapers and all the staff have shirts with newspaper articles printed all over them. Even the toilet doors have old newspapers printed on them (really old like 1920’s). After lunch we went to the Opera House and then to the Botanic Gardens.

12-01-06

Okay, okay. What’s been happening?? Well I’ve spent the last 2 days at the Planetshakers conference, which rocks!! You’ll be able to read more about it somewhere (stay tuned).

On Tuesday (10th) Delta, Mum, My Cousin’s wife & I went and climbed the Sydney Harbor bridge. It was LOTS & LOTS of fun and you could see for miles!! The only downside was that we were booked in for the 7:55am climb (to avoid the heat of the day) and so we had to be up at 4:30 to get ready to get the train into the city. The bridge climb took 3 hours but it was so worth it. If you’re ever in Sydney I’d highly recommend it. Delta was a bit freaked to start with but I think she really enjoyed it. As part of the bridge climb package, we got free entry to the Pylon Museum, which is in one of the (hollow) bridge pylons. It’s all about the building of the bridge. I’m glad I didn’t pay to get in because I would’ve been highly disappointed, but since it was free I can’t complain (much).

On Monday, we had a rest day, but everybody neglected to tell Delta and I so we got up at 7:30 and then wondered why no one was up (They had been talking earlier about getting up and getting organised punctually). When the others finally got up they told us that we were having a rest day and sleep in. Thanks Guys!! In the end we went shopping.

18-01-06

Well, well, well. What has been going on?? I’m going to try and write some stuff down here before I forget it altogether.

Planetshakers Rocked!!

Today we went to the Zoo, which was great fun, except that it poured & poured & poured, and then just for a change, it poured some more. It was nice & there were lots of really cool animals, but by the time we left everyone was soaked through. I brought a T-Shirt at the zoo shop and a sweatshirt and hat at circular quay and decided that it would be a good idea to put them on since they were dry (it’s the first time I’ve worn a sweatshirt since I’ve been here, but it was cold enough)

Yesterday we had a rest day since the weather again was not to flash. We went to the shops briefly and I picked up a new Xbox ROM drive that I had bought off a guy from overclockers

Monday, Monday. We went and visited my Father’s cousin in Toowoon Bay, Gosford. It was a very long drive getting there and we managed to get severely lost along the way. By the end of the day I’d just about had enough “Happy Families” to do me for a long time. After spending the day there we went to the beach at Terrigal and got very expensive Fish & Chips for dinner.

On Sunday we had another lazy day and went to the Camden bike track for a walk, which was nice.

Saturday was spent shopping, sleeping in & not going to Planetshakers. After dinner we took a drive to Brighton-Le-Sands to go to Bay Vista Gateau for desert. It’s a little café sort of place that specailises in Ice Cream. We got MASIVE Ice Cream dishes served in HUGE glasses (kind of shaped like wine glasses but the size of a small fish bowel). They were very yummy and very filling but again, very expensive. (I saw a T-shirt somewhere, which I should’ve bought, that said on the front, “After 2 weeks holiday I’m 2 Tired 2 return 2 work and 2 broke not 2”. Actually it’s been 3 weeks but you get the idea.)

23-01-06

And here we are at home again. On Thursday (19-01-06) we went to a wild life park. I wasn't happy because we were SUPPOSED to be doing nothing (& packing for the flight home). I'm glad we went though, it turned out to be a lot better value than the Zoo. It did however rain (I resisted the urge to say "I told you so" to my cousin's wife (it was her idea we go)) We got to play with a snake though which was VERY cool! (Especially because the snake decided that it liked me and when the handler lady went to put it away it didn't want to go with her and tightened it's grip on my arm)

The flight home on Friday was also very good, although the landing at Dunedin was very rough (but that's to be expected, I don't think I've ever managed a smooth landing there, it wasn't as rough as the last one I had there though, which was during a storm so I found out later)

I put the new ROM drive in my Xbox on Saturday (I drove into work to do it & realised that I'd left the ROM drive at home (doh!) so I bought all the tools I needed home and did it here) and was finally able to play SSX on tour, which isn't as good as SSX 3 in my opinion so I'm not sure it was all worth it, but I also got to play all of the other Xbox games I bought as well. (I told my cousin's youngest son that I should take all of this week off to play all the games I bought, but I'm looking forward to going back to work tomorrow so I don't think I will)