I left Phuket very early in the morning and had a few hours to wander around the airport in Bangkok. I am going to admit that I was fairly impressed with the airport. It was very clean and there were plenty of shops. I had my last Green curry at the airport and spent my last Baht. I was very sad to leave. It meant that my trip was heading towards an end.
The flight to Sydney was uneventful. There were some amazing views of the sunrise over Sydney in the morning and my first views of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge were from the air. Yes, as you can imagine, I took photos.
We landed very early and upon the advice of my Roman, my Slovakian friend, took the train towards Central station. My hostel was about a 5 minute walk from the station. I was very early so my room wasn't quite ready. After a wait and some juggling of dorm rooms, I headed to catch up on some sleep, though I did manage to lock myself out of the room in the first half an hour. The manageress didn't seem too fussed so I assume that it happened quite regularly.
After a few hours sleep, I headed out to explore Sydney. I had arranged to meet Roman a few hours later so my sightseeing plans changed and I headed back to the station to meet him. We headed in the direction of Chinatown, which was great as I had felt sad to leave South East Asia. The fresh fruit and vegetable market made me laugh, everything was one dollar - even though it was one Australian Dollar. I was feeling a little sentimental so I had a coconut milkshake.
After getting some washing done, I headed towards the Opera House, I had been in Sydney a day and hadn't done too much exploring. It was a beautiful sight, the Opera House all lit up in the evening.
Next day was earmarked for some serious sightseeing as it was my last day in Sydney. I headed in the direction of the Opera House, stopping in the numerous Chinese owned shops along the way. They all sold the same sort of stuff I had seen in China, just at three times the price. After travelling so cheaply for the last three months, it was a shock to be back in a first world country with first world prices.
At the Harbour, I stopped to listen to a didgeridoo being played. I was sorely tempted to buy some aboriginal music but was holding out for a boomerang and my cork hat. I jumped onto a 2 hour coffee cruise of the Harbour. It was a lovely day and no surprise, I got sun burnt. Sydney Harbour really is beautiful. After the cruise I headed towards the Opera House. It really is quite something to see. It was such a lovely day, I pulled out a book and sat on the steps and read in the sunshine for a while.
Next stop was the Botanical Gardens. Very pretty but I was more fascinated with the flying foxes - very large fruit bats. It was heading towards dusk and they were just waking up for the night,
I walked through Hyde Park - yes, Hyde Park. I was still feeling a little sentimental about SE Asia so dinner on the way was a Vietnamese beef rice noodle soup. It was an early start the next morning to the airport for Brisbane so I headed back to the hostel to pack.
