On the morning of the 31st itself, I had a long lie before getting up for some breakfast. I spent most of the morning tidying up around my room then packing my rucksack for the day. Since it was supposed to be a beautiful sunny day, I packed a towel and suncream, as well as plenty of water. I met Alex and Jessica outside my flat around lunchtime and we headed to Woolworths to get some food for the day - we were expecting to be sitting outside for around 9 or 10 hours and we had no idea whether there would be an opportunity to get food once we had picked a viewing spot. After sorting our packed-lunches, we headed to Railway Square where we caught the bus down George Street towards Circular Quay. We knew that the group we were heading to meet were in the Royal Botanic Gardens, so we attempted to reach the gardens by walking around the harbour, by the Opera House. Unfortunately we had no idea that the place was highly controlled, so we eventually reached a dead end and had to make our way back to the exit again. Soon, we realised that there was only one way to enter the gardens and began walking in the direction which the signs pointed. When we eventually reached the entrance to the gardens, we found a rather large queue of people, but decided that, clearly, not everyone we could see was actually part of the queue. How wrong we were.
This is the scene which greeted us at the entrance to the gardens. This isn't even the whole queue, since it wound up the hill and around the corner too. We never did manage to see where it stopped eventually!
Deciding quickly that an exercise in patience and aversion to sunstroke was probably not the best approach, we asked a security guy what our best option was. His blunt response made our minds up, "I'll be honest, you're not getting in here." We chose to move on and find another spot. Time was now moving towards 3pm and we were aware that a second entrance to the gardens was to close at that time, making it a seemingly pointless waste of time even trying to go there. As we walked back towards Circular Quay, we noticed signs for the Tarpeian Precinct, which seemed to be a grassy hillside, just behind the Opera House. It was still open when we reached the entrance and after having our bags checked we found a spot on the grass to lay our towels out. Finally.
This was our view of the Harbour Bridge from where we were sat. Unfortunately this photo was taken after clouds had come over to block the brilliant sunshine we had enjoyed for most of the day.
The events for the evening started at around 8pm, not long after it was dark, but in truth there really wasn't much to see until the main fireworks at midnight. We spent the afternoon sunbathing, before the clouds came over and there was a brief rain shower! We couldn't believe it was actually raining again, after also raining on Christmas Day, but we had a laugh once again at the "zero percent chance of rain" quoted by the weather forecast the previous night. In total, we sat on the hill for 9 hours, between 3pm and midnight - only really moving to get food, go to the bar or the toilet. It was a long day.
As the clock ticked on, approaching midnight, people started to gather their things up and walk down to the front of the area to get a better view for the fireworks. We found ourselves in a really great spot to bring in the bells and it was the most spectacular display of fireworks I have ever seen. I think seeing the Sydney Harbour fireworks at New Year is one of those things which everyone would love to see in their lifetime and I was lucky enough to get to see it. It was simply amazing - quite surreal really.
The Harbour Bridge with some of the boats which were lit up on water.
This is best photo I could manage which caught some of the Opera House as well as the Harbour Bridge, which gives an idea of just how good a view we enjoyed.
After the fireworks were finished, we began making our way home with over one million other people, all seemingly headed in the same direction. For the event, the city is essentially shut-down and all the roads are closed to traffic. It was quite amazing to see literally thousands and thousands of people all marching up the middle of streets which you have become used to seeing busy with cars, taxis and buses all day, every day. I eventually got home around 1am, to be greeted by a pile of messages wishing me a Happy New Year from people at home. I got off to sleep soon after, it really had been a long day.
The first day of 2014 began with a long lie before I got up, had some breakfast and chatted to Mum, Dad, Kerry, Uncle Brian and Abigail on FaceTime as they brought in the New Year back home. After they went off to bed, I headed out to the supermarket with Claire and Jess to get some food for the flat, as well as some ingredients to make biscuits which my mum had sent me the recipe for. I spent the afternoon making those - and they were excellent, it has to be said - before chilling out and watching a film in the evening. At night, we heard there was another Iglu event on, so Claire, Jess and I headed downstairs to the common area where we had a few drinks and played cards with a few other people from different flats. There still aren't all that many people here at the moment, but one or two new people have started to arrive this week and the place should be full again by mid-February.
These are the biscuits which I made - they were excellent, even if I do say so myself.
I got off to bed at a fairly reasonable time and set my alarm for 4.30am in order to get up and watch the football. When I woke up some hours later though, it was quickly apparent that I had slept straight through my alarm and missed the game. I hurriedly checked the BBC Sport website to find that Spurs had beaten United 2-1 at Old Trafford. Another poor result, so I went back to sleep. I had work later in the day, although just a short shift from 6pm until closing at 9pm, so I spent most of the day relaxing in the flat. My only activity of note was watching Pulp Fiction on Netflix - I never get tired of that film.
I had another quiet day on Friday; a long lie followed by a trip to the supermarket took me up to the early afternoon. I then downloaded some music before having lunch, getting changed and heading off to play football. At night, Alex and I decided to go to the cinema and see the new Anchorman film. We met on George Street and walked along to the Event cinema, near Town Hall, for an 8.30pm showing. We walked into the relevant screen and began finding our seats; there was only one other woman in the entire room and she was sitting on her own. I couldn't believe it when I discovered that our seats were sat next to her. The guy who selected our seats must have thought that was good banter, but I wasn't much impressed as the time awkwardly dragged on before the trailers started. The film itself was quite funny in parts, but not as good as the first film I thought - always the same.
I was working again on Saturday, which took up the majority of the day, but I was fairly pleased when my shift seemed to go by quickly. After heading home, I made dinner and chilled out for the night - I watched Peter Kay: Live at the Top of the Tower which I hadn't seen for ages and it did not disappoint! Properly hilarious! Eventually, I headed off to bed shortly after 1am, which proved to be the start of an awfully bad sleeping pattern for the next few days. Upon waking on Sunday around 11am, I checked my phone to see that Kerry had been asked to stay on at her Christmas job at New Look, which she is delighted about.
After getting showered and dressed, Claire, Jess and I decided to have a flat-excursion to do the Coogee to Bondi coastal walk. We caught the bus from Railway Square out towards Coogee beach where we began walking north along the cliff-tops towards Bondi beach. After stocking up with some water and an ice-cream, we set off. The walk took us around an hour and a half to complete and we saw some fantastic scenery along the way, as we passed coves, beaches and cliffs along the coast. Again, it's probably easiest if I just post some pictures which I took along the way.
Coogee beach from the start of the coastal path.
The rock swimming baths at Coogee beach.
Me at the cliffs between Coogee and Marourba.
Some people swimming in the bay at Maroubra, where there is an underwater nature trail, which is marked out by large chains along the sea-bed.
Concrete sunbathing areas, near Clovelly beach.
Clovelly Bowling Club, just after the beach.
Tamrama beach - often listed as one of the nicest in Sydney.
The swimming pool at Bondi beach.
After getting some food and then spending some time sunbathing at Bondi, we caught the bus back towards the city and headed home. The other exciting event of the day was that I purchased my ticket for Leeds Festival in August, which I am already very much looking forward to! At the moment, there is a group of around 8 or 9 of us going, so it should be a great weekend! It was time for an early night again after dinner, ready for the football at 3am. In some ways I wished I hadn't bothered to get up for it though, since the game was another shocker as Swansea won 2-1 at Old Trafford, dumping United out of the FA Cup. Back to sleep.
On Monday, Jessica and I were both off work so we decided to finally visit the aquarium in Darling Harbour - another item on the list of tourist attractions to see during the summer. We met outside Town Hall station and headed towards Zara where I had to return a t-shirt I bought, before walking down to the harbour. As we arrived outside the Sea-Life Centre, there was a huge queue - not anything like New Year, but still a lot busier than we had anticipated for a Monday. After waiting in the queue, we made our way inside and around the various glass tanks of fish - or fishes as Jessica liked to call them, in a deadly serious fashion.
Some sting rays, which still had their deadly barbs attached.
Most of the things we saw at the beginning were alright, but nothing really special, until we reached the first of the underwater tunnels. The first of these took us beneath a tank containing various stingrays, as well as two huge dugongs - which are essentially very similar to manatees. The second glass tunnel was a highlight of the whole aquarium though, taking us below the shark tank. It was awesome to see the huge fish up close, safely surrounded by the protection of the glass. They were just amazing, although they did prove quite difficult to catch on camera!
I think my favourite part of the aquarium was the final attraction though - a truly massive coral reef tank, containing many of the same kinds of fish we had spotted in the wild up in Cairns a few months ago. It was great to just sit and watch the various fish, of which there were thousands, swimming around and interacting. A great big fish tank is definitely something which would be included in my dream home, I'm sure.
Afterwards, we headed around to Circular Quay in order to find somewhere to go for lunch, but got distracted for a while by a spectacular yacht which was berthed in the harbour, near the bridge. It was clearly privately owned and the occupants were out on deck enjoying some lunch with a picture-postcard view of the Opera House. Quite literally how the other half live.
Eventually, I remembered a beer garden which I had spotted a few weeks earlier whilst walking across the Harbour Bridge, so we went there for some lunch. It was a great little place, with a rooftop garden overlooking the harbour and the Opera House; we spent quite some time just chilling out in the sunshine, enjoying some food and wine. Afterwards, we moved on to the Edinburgh Castle Hotel for another drink, mainly in order to see if they served any Scottish drinks and for the novelty factor to say we had been. In truth, there was nothing Scottish about the place except the name. Finally, we went to our favourite Three Wise Monkeys pub for one last drink before heading back to my flat to watch Trainspotting. Another good day had, and bed was very welcome once again.
Tuesday was my last day off before working for the next three days, so I had planned on doing something worthwhile, but it didn't really work out that way. After the late night previously, I had a totally lazy day, watching Oasis interviews on YouTube and eating rubbish food, mainly. There have been a lot of rumours going around recently that Noel and Liam Gallagher have ended their feud and there is growing speculation that the band will be getting back together. I seriously hope the rumours are true; I would love to see another Oasis tour!
I was back to work on Wednesday afternoon, which meant a lazy morning followed by chilling out and doing nothing much at all for most of the day. After my shift, I got home and cooked a beef stew, which Mum cooks sometimes back home. It's fair to say that whilst mines was reasonable enough, it wasn't anywhere as good as the one she makes. I'll need to keep practising it, I think. Whilst eating dinner, I listened to an episode of the Chain Reaction radio show, where Kevin Bridges interviewed Frankie Boyle and it was truly hilarious. Even if you think that Frankie Boyle is a bit crude and too much nowadays, I would still encourage you to listen to it because he's completely toned down and normal during it. It was really excellent and I'll likely go back and listen to it again soon before it gets taken down from iPlayer online. Thursday meant work again, though I spent the morning somewhat productively by starting to write this blog post - although it has taken me another few days to actually sit down and finish it.
The usual afternoon game of football was the highlight of Friday, after starting work at 10am. I headed home after my shift finished and had some pasta for lunch - a really good choice for a pre-match meal I thought. I headed up to the college field around 4.30pm where some of the guys were already waiting. It was almost a relief when 8pm came around though and brought an end to our game since I had played terribly, missing multiple incredibly easy chances to score. Just awful. I trudged home, listening to my iPod, made dinner and watched some TV before bed.
Even though I haven't quite caught up with the events of the last few days, I'm going to end this post here, otherwise it will just be far too long once again. The next post will include the You Me at Six and Paramore gig as well as some other adventures hopefully!
Until next time,
Jamie
This is the scene which greeted us at the entrance to the gardens. This isn't even the whole queue, since it wound up the hill and around the corner too. We never did manage to see where it stopped eventually!
Deciding quickly that an exercise in patience and aversion to sunstroke was probably not the best approach, we asked a security guy what our best option was. His blunt response made our minds up, "I'll be honest, you're not getting in here." We chose to move on and find another spot. Time was now moving towards 3pm and we were aware that a second entrance to the gardens was to close at that time, making it a seemingly pointless waste of time even trying to go there. As we walked back towards Circular Quay, we noticed signs for the Tarpeian Precinct, which seemed to be a grassy hillside, just behind the Opera House. It was still open when we reached the entrance and after having our bags checked we found a spot on the grass to lay our towels out. Finally.
This was our view of the Harbour Bridge from where we were sat. Unfortunately this photo was taken after clouds had come over to block the brilliant sunshine we had enjoyed for most of the day.
The events for the evening started at around 8pm, not long after it was dark, but in truth there really wasn't much to see until the main fireworks at midnight. We spent the afternoon sunbathing, before the clouds came over and there was a brief rain shower! We couldn't believe it was actually raining again, after also raining on Christmas Day, but we had a laugh once again at the "zero percent chance of rain" quoted by the weather forecast the previous night. In total, we sat on the hill for 9 hours, between 3pm and midnight - only really moving to get food, go to the bar or the toilet. It was a long day.
As the clock ticked on, approaching midnight, people started to gather their things up and walk down to the front of the area to get a better view for the fireworks. We found ourselves in a really great spot to bring in the bells and it was the most spectacular display of fireworks I have ever seen. I think seeing the Sydney Harbour fireworks at New Year is one of those things which everyone would love to see in their lifetime and I was lucky enough to get to see it. It was simply amazing - quite surreal really.
The Harbour Bridge with some of the boats which were lit up on water.
This is best photo I could manage which caught some of the Opera House as well as the Harbour Bridge, which gives an idea of just how good a view we enjoyed.
The fireworks themselves, complete with falling sparklers beneath the bridge.
After the fireworks were finished, we began making our way home with over one million other people, all seemingly headed in the same direction. For the event, the city is essentially shut-down and all the roads are closed to traffic. It was quite amazing to see literally thousands and thousands of people all marching up the middle of streets which you have become used to seeing busy with cars, taxis and buses all day, every day. I eventually got home around 1am, to be greeted by a pile of messages wishing me a Happy New Year from people at home. I got off to sleep soon after, it really had been a long day.
The first day of 2014 began with a long lie before I got up, had some breakfast and chatted to Mum, Dad, Kerry, Uncle Brian and Abigail on FaceTime as they brought in the New Year back home. After they went off to bed, I headed out to the supermarket with Claire and Jess to get some food for the flat, as well as some ingredients to make biscuits which my mum had sent me the recipe for. I spent the afternoon making those - and they were excellent, it has to be said - before chilling out and watching a film in the evening. At night, we heard there was another Iglu event on, so Claire, Jess and I headed downstairs to the common area where we had a few drinks and played cards with a few other people from different flats. There still aren't all that many people here at the moment, but one or two new people have started to arrive this week and the place should be full again by mid-February.
These are the biscuits which I made - they were excellent, even if I do say so myself.
I got off to bed at a fairly reasonable time and set my alarm for 4.30am in order to get up and watch the football. When I woke up some hours later though, it was quickly apparent that I had slept straight through my alarm and missed the game. I hurriedly checked the BBC Sport website to find that Spurs had beaten United 2-1 at Old Trafford. Another poor result, so I went back to sleep. I had work later in the day, although just a short shift from 6pm until closing at 9pm, so I spent most of the day relaxing in the flat. My only activity of note was watching Pulp Fiction on Netflix - I never get tired of that film.
I had another quiet day on Friday; a long lie followed by a trip to the supermarket took me up to the early afternoon. I then downloaded some music before having lunch, getting changed and heading off to play football. At night, Alex and I decided to go to the cinema and see the new Anchorman film. We met on George Street and walked along to the Event cinema, near Town Hall, for an 8.30pm showing. We walked into the relevant screen and began finding our seats; there was only one other woman in the entire room and she was sitting on her own. I couldn't believe it when I discovered that our seats were sat next to her. The guy who selected our seats must have thought that was good banter, but I wasn't much impressed as the time awkwardly dragged on before the trailers started. The film itself was quite funny in parts, but not as good as the first film I thought - always the same.
I was working again on Saturday, which took up the majority of the day, but I was fairly pleased when my shift seemed to go by quickly. After heading home, I made dinner and chilled out for the night - I watched Peter Kay: Live at the Top of the Tower which I hadn't seen for ages and it did not disappoint! Properly hilarious! Eventually, I headed off to bed shortly after 1am, which proved to be the start of an awfully bad sleeping pattern for the next few days. Upon waking on Sunday around 11am, I checked my phone to see that Kerry had been asked to stay on at her Christmas job at New Look, which she is delighted about.
After getting showered and dressed, Claire, Jess and I decided to have a flat-excursion to do the Coogee to Bondi coastal walk. We caught the bus from Railway Square out towards Coogee beach where we began walking north along the cliff-tops towards Bondi beach. After stocking up with some water and an ice-cream, we set off. The walk took us around an hour and a half to complete and we saw some fantastic scenery along the way, as we passed coves, beaches and cliffs along the coast. Again, it's probably easiest if I just post some pictures which I took along the way.
Coogee beach from the start of the coastal path.
The rock swimming baths at Coogee beach.
Me at the cliffs between Coogee and Marourba.
Some people swimming in the bay at Maroubra, where there is an underwater nature trail, which is marked out by large chains along the sea-bed.
Concrete sunbathing areas, near Clovelly beach.
Clovelly Bowling Club, just after the beach.
Tamrama beach - often listed as one of the nicest in Sydney.
The swimming pool at Bondi beach.
After getting some food and then spending some time sunbathing at Bondi, we caught the bus back towards the city and headed home. The other exciting event of the day was that I purchased my ticket for Leeds Festival in August, which I am already very much looking forward to! At the moment, there is a group of around 8 or 9 of us going, so it should be a great weekend! It was time for an early night again after dinner, ready for the football at 3am. In some ways I wished I hadn't bothered to get up for it though, since the game was another shocker as Swansea won 2-1 at Old Trafford, dumping United out of the FA Cup. Back to sleep.
On Monday, Jessica and I were both off work so we decided to finally visit the aquarium in Darling Harbour - another item on the list of tourist attractions to see during the summer. We met outside Town Hall station and headed towards Zara where I had to return a t-shirt I bought, before walking down to the harbour. As we arrived outside the Sea-Life Centre, there was a huge queue - not anything like New Year, but still a lot busier than we had anticipated for a Monday. After waiting in the queue, we made our way inside and around the various glass tanks of fish - or fishes as Jessica liked to call them, in a deadly serious fashion.
Some sting rays, which still had their deadly barbs attached.
Most of the things we saw at the beginning were alright, but nothing really special, until we reached the first of the underwater tunnels. The first of these took us beneath a tank containing various stingrays, as well as two huge dugongs - which are essentially very similar to manatees. The second glass tunnel was a highlight of the whole aquarium though, taking us below the shark tank. It was awesome to see the huge fish up close, safely surrounded by the protection of the glass. They were just amazing, although they did prove quite difficult to catch on camera!
I think my favourite part of the aquarium was the final attraction though - a truly massive coral reef tank, containing many of the same kinds of fish we had spotted in the wild up in Cairns a few months ago. It was great to just sit and watch the various fish, of which there were thousands, swimming around and interacting. A great big fish tank is definitely something which would be included in my dream home, I'm sure.
Afterwards, we headed around to Circular Quay in order to find somewhere to go for lunch, but got distracted for a while by a spectacular yacht which was berthed in the harbour, near the bridge. It was clearly privately owned and the occupants were out on deck enjoying some lunch with a picture-postcard view of the Opera House. Quite literally how the other half live.
Eventually, I remembered a beer garden which I had spotted a few weeks earlier whilst walking across the Harbour Bridge, so we went there for some lunch. It was a great little place, with a rooftop garden overlooking the harbour and the Opera House; we spent quite some time just chilling out in the sunshine, enjoying some food and wine. Afterwards, we moved on to the Edinburgh Castle Hotel for another drink, mainly in order to see if they served any Scottish drinks and for the novelty factor to say we had been. In truth, there was nothing Scottish about the place except the name. Finally, we went to our favourite Three Wise Monkeys pub for one last drink before heading back to my flat to watch Trainspotting. Another good day had, and bed was very welcome once again.
Tuesday was my last day off before working for the next three days, so I had planned on doing something worthwhile, but it didn't really work out that way. After the late night previously, I had a totally lazy day, watching Oasis interviews on YouTube and eating rubbish food, mainly. There have been a lot of rumours going around recently that Noel and Liam Gallagher have ended their feud and there is growing speculation that the band will be getting back together. I seriously hope the rumours are true; I would love to see another Oasis tour!
I was back to work on Wednesday afternoon, which meant a lazy morning followed by chilling out and doing nothing much at all for most of the day. After my shift, I got home and cooked a beef stew, which Mum cooks sometimes back home. It's fair to say that whilst mines was reasonable enough, it wasn't anywhere as good as the one she makes. I'll need to keep practising it, I think. Whilst eating dinner, I listened to an episode of the Chain Reaction radio show, where Kevin Bridges interviewed Frankie Boyle and it was truly hilarious. Even if you think that Frankie Boyle is a bit crude and too much nowadays, I would still encourage you to listen to it because he's completely toned down and normal during it. It was really excellent and I'll likely go back and listen to it again soon before it gets taken down from iPlayer online. Thursday meant work again, though I spent the morning somewhat productively by starting to write this blog post - although it has taken me another few days to actually sit down and finish it.
The usual afternoon game of football was the highlight of Friday, after starting work at 10am. I headed home after my shift finished and had some pasta for lunch - a really good choice for a pre-match meal I thought. I headed up to the college field around 4.30pm where some of the guys were already waiting. It was almost a relief when 8pm came around though and brought an end to our game since I had played terribly, missing multiple incredibly easy chances to score. Just awful. I trudged home, listening to my iPod, made dinner and watched some TV before bed.
Even though I haven't quite caught up with the events of the last few days, I'm going to end this post here, otherwise it will just be far too long once again. The next post will include the You Me at Six and Paramore gig as well as some other adventures hopefully!
Until next time,
Jamie
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