A View to a Kill

"Night fall covers me
But you know the plans I'm making
Still overseas, Could it be the whole lot opening wide"

It's been a few days since my last update and in the meantime, myself and the dear little creature accompanying me have been settling into Sydney life just like locals. As such, nothing "out of the ordinary" has occurred.

To recap, it was time to check out of our luxury Meriton apartment on Friday and engage in a trek across the city to our new accommodation - Harbourside Apartments on the other side of the river. Amazing location, with incredible views of the Harbour bridge and opera house.

We revisited Manly on the ferry on Friday and had a quiet afternoon catching up on some reading. Finished a book called "Rare Traits" which I downloaded from Amazon which was ace. It has triggered a few ideas for the novel I'm trying to write myself. I explained a few potential plots to Anna - one involving a time portal and got the following helpful feedback - "you've got some weird s*** going on in your head". Yes, my dear I have.

Anyway, Manly has its own nice vibe, but having seen most of Sydney now, we both prefer other parts like Bondi, where we revisited for a night out on Saturday (really cool vibe). I was walking around with my imaginary surf board under my arm. Anna told me to "knock it off - you look like a weirdo". On the subject of weirdos - there are a few over here as well as lots of homeless in the city.

Yesterday, we made a trip to Watson's Bay, which we found picturesque but there wasn't much to do (maybe we're just becoming immune to the scenery).

Anyway, I think we have found a gem of a location where we are now - its a suburb of North Sydney called Milsons Point. It gives you a real feel of what it would really be like to live in Sydney, rubbing shoulders with the locals. It is clearly an affluent area and as such, the residents are older than say those at Bondi, but it has lots of cool coffee shops and restaurants.

One thing we have done a few times is go on the ferry. We never get tired of the ride under the Harbour bridge towards the opera house and into circular quay. The best views of both of these iconic landmarks are not in the city itself, but from the McMahon's point ferry terminal, right next to our apartments.

We have been back to the Rocks area on a couple of occasions where I bought Anna some Ugg boots for her birthday (much cheaper over here, about half the price). We have also done the Sydney Harbour Bridge walk both ways to "take it in".

So, we have pretty much "done" Sydney now and this afternoon we will chill out by the pool, weather permitting and enjoy our last full day. The views are just stunning with the river four feet away, against a background of the harbour bridge framing the opera house. It seems a shame not to take full advantage.

We have really enjoyed Sydney. Very different to Perth and Melbourne - bigger, more to do and totally different "vibe". Australia is bloody expensive though and the exchange rate is a killer at the moment.

On to Auckland tomorrow and another new adventure as we "dance into the fire" and enter the final third of our luxury tour of the developed world. Hope it isn't too miserable back home.