So I left Brisbane after what was a great sending off, as I drove away in the mini bus the driver chatted away mindlessly to me but I wasn't listening, instead I sat and took it all in.I sat and looked out of the window at my city, for the past 2 or so months Brisbane had been my city, the valley was my neighborhood and my friends at bunk had been my family.I can't say it too many times that my friends at bunk (as well as a few others who didn't live with us) made my experience in Brisbane everything that it was, they were the people who greeted me for breakfast in the kitchen every morning, the smiling faces who would ask me about work when I got home, the people I dressed up as harry potter and a punk rocker with, the people who told me partial bed time stories and most importantly the people who were there for me whether they knew it or not.I was going to miss each and every one of them, but it was time and I was ready to leave.

So as my driver whizzed me to the bus station I sat and thought back about the past 10 weeks, the frequent highs, random lows and craziness in between and then it started raining.Now you all know how I sometimes see significance in the most random places and I know a lot of people see rain as mirror of sadness but this time I was pleased with the rain, to me it was the curtain falling on another chapter of my travels.

And so as the rain ceased my greyhound pulled out of Brisbane and I was on the road again, just me and my idea of the perfect round the world journey.Granted the bus journey its self wasn't the perfect start to this new chapter as I was still suffering from tonsillitis meaning that excess flem in my throat and nose made some unusual noises, that's right after months of being a healthy almost silent sleeper I was sick and therefore once again a snorer and not just any snorer but the loudest of them all on a silent coach L plus I had two 14 year olds sat opposite me who kept laughing every time I nearly choked and woke myself up, just another unavoidably embarrassing experience to add to my extensive portfolio.

So Sydney! I arrived after 17 hours on a grey hound, I was tired and not used to carrying my back pack anymore meaning I almost felt jet lagged and grumpy.But I found my hostel with ease, dumped my bags found the supermarket to get lunch and then finally was able to check in and have a much needed and uninterrupted nap.

Slightly more awake and a lot less groggy I decided not to waste the day just because I was tired and sick and instead I put my ipod on and went for a wander.If you follow my blogs you know that I really believethat to get the feel for a place the best thing to do is find the correct play list on you ipod and just walk with it, take in the views, the smells and the general experience of being some where.I found myself in the botanical gardens listening to cheery Nutini, walking along a well used path which follows the coast line.At one point as the sun broke through what was quite a cloudy day I decided that my feeling of being followed was not nonence as I first thought and so I turned to face my stalker to find a parrot, that's right a little yellow and white parrot who was walking in a zig zag behind me reminding me of a black bird who had become obsessed with jane in the koala sanctuary back in Brisbane.I stopped and sat on a nice patch of grass beneath a big old tree and waited, after a couple of minutes of musical statues the bird finally came close to me and thats when I realized what he wanted.As per usual (because obviously parrot encounters are normal for me) the parrot wasn't looking for anything serious, oh no he was here for one simple thing …. My tangerine!The cheeky b***** had been following me for around 10 mins and by distracting me by making me feel like I was going insane, had managed to stop me from eating my snack, which made me fume when he flew at my hand and then flew off my a freshly peeled succulent tangerine!
Luckily I had a spare and as soon as I was away from the cunning thief and his mates I enjoyed eating it in the sun on a patch of the botanical gardens which had a perfect view of the opera house and the bridge behind.I later found out that this was quite befitting as the designer of the opera house had once failed in attempting to describe the concept of the building and so eventually he pulled apart an orange and showed how although each piece was different and when thrown on the table they make an odd looking building at the end of the day they still make a sphere - which is true about the opera house, if you picked it up and rearranged it, it would make a perfect ball! Like a big white terrys chocolate orange!

The opera house its self is a lovely building, it juts out from the Sydney coast line with confidence just like an opera singer as she steps forward to below out the top note of her performance, she inspires, entertains and in some cases amazes the people watching her.However the building also reminded me of a building I saw in india called the lotus temple which had been and still is the one place in the world which made me feel like it didn't matter who I was or what I did just the fact that I was there was enough, I was the missing link?! And I felt this feeling of calm come over me as I approached the opera house, its another icon I have met up close on my trip but it was also another building which really had an affect on me, oh I don't know maybe it was the beautiful weather and my good mood but at the time there was no were else I wanted to be.

After my one on one with the opera house I kept walking, I walked all over the places taking in a lot of sydneys sights, plus I got to see the bridge from a couple of different angles, the bridge I would be climbing the following day and by god is it high! I got goosebumps looking up at it, I could see a group of climbers at the top, they were just little black dots in a line looking down over the city probably not even realizing I was watching them with interest.

Sydney is a nice city, but I have a feeling that the city its self isn't why people live here its probably more to do with its close proximity to the coast and some beautiful beaches? I mean the citys its self is fine, its clean, it has areas but its nothing special, the harbor is really cool but its just a drive way right? For a lot of locals the harbor is the weekend exit route to the sunny stretches of sand only 30 mins away.

Day one in Sydney had been lovely, I spent the evening in my hostel with some girls I had met and then went to bed early to catch up on much needed sleep.

My second and only full day in Sydney and I woke up excited! At 3pm I had my bridge walk but before this I decided to catch the tube down town to the markets, I managed to catch the train and got off at the right stop but then somehow I managed to come out of the wrong entrance and walk for around an hour before realizing I was in a suburb and around 2 hours away from the inner city markets.So I made my way back down a different route for a change and got to see the real Sydney away from the tourists - I saw the graffiti, the homeless, the local shops and stalls and I saw a city which was more homely and less plastic, a place to live and not just to visit - I just wished my camera hadn't died!
Anyway by the time I had made it back to central station it was actually time for me to catch the tube to the circular quay i.e. to the rocks an area at the bottom of the bridge.After double checking my map, making sure this time I was going in the correct direction I joined the crowds of people walking around the ferries, in between the street performers and big issue sellers and I found myself at the bottom of bridge and the entrance into the climbing reception.
After signing in at reception I was introduced to my group, immediately I stood out, I was the youngest and the only one doing it by myself.But luckily everyone was intrigued by this concept of round the world travel and someone so young doing it alone and before long I was friendly with my whole team who took great care of me and made sure I had a great time.

After half an hour of prep involving putting on a jump suit, strapping countless things such as radios, sunglasses, hankercheifs and fleeces to ourselves and then doing practice climbs on a simulator we were all ready and raring to go.I cant lie I was actually nervous because I didn't know what to expect but the nerves gave me a nice little giddy buzz and as we all one by one attached ourselves to a safety line and stepped out onto the under carriage of the bridge a smile appeared on my face.On the way up our lovely guide Bianca told us all about how the bridge was constructed like how all the stone for the welcome pillars at each end came from England, how only 2 people died during construction even though they didn't have harnesses, scaffolding or ladders and all about the intense moment when the two ends where joined in the middle and the bridge was finished.It was really interesting but as soon as the initial climbing was out of the way and I walked out to the outer arch of the bridge and started the easy walk up I kind of stopped paying attention to the tales Bianca was telling us, I was just completely involved with the view, my eyes darted from one thing to another not knowing what to look at first?.

The bridge climb itself is a crazy idea, it feels like there is nothing in between you and the elements just one cable stopping me from a hairy end but because I was surrounded by huge steel rods which look so sturdy I felt so so safe.The bridge is massive and provides an incredible view, on the way up It was daylight and the sun was still shining over the opera house.But by the time we got to the top the sun was setting and what a beautiful sun set it was! The whole sky lit up bright orange grey and purple and I felt like I was on top of the world as I took it in. Me and my team all posed for pictures on top of the bridge, evidence of our adventures in Sydney and also a great memento of an amazing afternoon.On the way down the sun had set and Sydneys night side was coming to life, lights began sparkling all of the city filling my eyes with that Christmas type image.It was beautiful!
At the end of the climb I was still smiling, its an expensive activity to do but well worth it in my eyes, how many times have you climbed the outer arch of Sydney Harbour Bridge? Seen the sun set over the city in a burst of orange light? And felt like you had just done something to be proud of?

That night, still buzzing I met Claire for dinner - Claire is a girl I worked with back at home until she decided to emigrate to oz with her boyfriend.I met her in new town straight after my bridge climb and after a lovely reunion we made our way to an interesting little Indian restaurant which was really like being back in India, the service was slow and rubbish the food when it eventually came was spicey and delicious but literally just thrown at the tin plates and the atmosphere was load and fun.Over masala dosas, butter chicken and chutneys we caught up on our lives over the past 2 years and after a bottle of wine we decided it was too late for me to go back to my hostel in the red light district and so Claire insisited I slept on her couch.It was so nice to hang out with a friend from home and Claire was so nice to me, paying for dinner welcoming me into her home no questions asked and insisting I just had to move to Sydney instead of going home.

But it was soon time to leave Sydney, Id seen some but not all of the sights and maybe slightly on purpose I had left my experience of the city open to improvements and so I can see myself coming back some time in the future.Sydney was my first step out by myself for a while and it was great, the bridge walk was most definitely a highlight of oz and therefore my couple of days in this iconic city were well spent.

But I have to keep moving and so Im now sat on an over night coach to Melbourne for a few days before I depart to snowy new Zealand!