Sydney!

Sunday 15th
Sydney Baby!
After parking the van outside the train station in Campbelltown we got the train into the city, where we immediately found the closest tourist info stand and loaded up on maps, before walking to the hotel Annie was staying at (and, most kindly, letting us also crash in). We then walked around a bit (ie; we immediately went in search of the gay quarter) and found an awesome bar called the Beresford Hotel, where we started drinking and didnt stop until rather late. I dont remember what time we got back to the hotel, or any of the journey. Needless to say, we all felt rather delicate the next morning

Monday 16th
More of Sydney! Today we decided to do the tourist thing, and went to the Barracks Museum, Botanical Gardens, the Opera House and looked at the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
We also met up with some friends of Annie who forced us to go out drinking again... hard life we lead.

Tuesday 17th
Faffed in the morning, finally left the hotel for breakfast around 1030, then walked up to the ferry to Manly (where a shark was spotted about 3 days after we were there. eek!). Got a great view of the opera house and harbour bridge before reaching our destination, where we immediately headed for the nicest beach and caught some rays for the next hour or so, then met up with an old friend (The Lady, The Legend, Ella Kenny) who Annie and I (mostly Annie; my time spent playing at county level was limited) played hockey with about 10 years ago which meant we spent about 4 hours talking about hockey (much to barbaras delight). We stayed in Manly till about midnight then took the ferry back to circular harbour; going past the opera house and the bridge all lit up and pretty; got some excellent pictures which will eventually be posted on FB.


Wednesday 18th
Today was supposed to be alcohol free. That lasted until about 2pm, when we went to Ella's place of work to say hi (The Bavarian Bier Cafe) where she shouted us a couple of free drinks which was super nice of her! We also spent a large portion of our time staring at the very attractive and muscular Argentinian man working at the bar we were sat at. We've found that Sydney is just full of very good looking people. We obviously felt right at home.
We went back to the hotel after that to get ready for a trip to Newtown; this is where we ended up drinking a lot more beer (happy hour!), meeting some lovely people, watching some serious jelly wrestling and then barbara seemed to be suddenly very tired* and we had to escort her home. The Zanzibar club was pretty amazing. The bars and clubs in this place are all so so much better than Ipswich.

*drunk

Thursday 19th
With Annies time here coming to an end, it was up to her what we did today,and she chose to spend most of it at Darling Harbour, chilling out in the sun, chatting about everything and watching life go past.
Annie had booked a hotel near the airport so it would be easier the next day. We had to get a taxi to get there, and it ended up being the weirdest taxi ride I have ever taken. It started off pretty normal, until we got into a tunnel and the driver asked annie to hold her phone for her and dial some numbers then started making weird phonecalls to the Fiji police about how her sister-in-law had murdered her nephew. After 20mins of that she turned into a normal taxi driver again and told Annie that the hotel she had booked into was awful. Brilliant.
Turns out the room wasnt so bad, if you dont mind having no separate bathroom and a toilet and shower within touching distance from the bed. We immediately got ready to go out and took a train back into the city.
That evening we followed advice given to us by Ella and found some nice bars to have a few drinks in. We ended up going down creepy alleys and through unmarked doors down into a cellar where we found an awesome bar called Baxters, and on the other side of the block The Barber Shop which is an actual barber shop by day and pub by night. It was interesting enough to not be all the way pretentious, and they sold actual Aspall Cyder, from actual Suffolk. Awesome!


Friday 20th
Annies last day! :(

Tearful goodbyes etc.

We took the train back to Campbelltown and went to the nearest library to commence the jobsearch...  

...a few hours later...

*ringring*
"Hello?"
"Hi, its Annie. Um. I havent left yet. I'm actually in the hospital?"

One dodgy sandwich and 6 hours later, Annie is still in Sydney, now in a fancy pants hotel paid for by the airline and a flight rescheduled for the next day. So she called one of the new friends she made when we went out on thursday night.
What happened in the next 24 hours is an adventure that you should really ask Annie about, but needless to say, her last day in Australia sounds like it shaped up quite well.

The next day she finally got on a plane. We had a fantastic 3 weeks together, and though good times always come to an end, it will live on in our memories... and more importantly, on facebook.