Living the 'Glamarama-rous' life...

Thursday 3rd - Monday 14th December

The sadness I felt when we were at Auckland airport leaving New Zealand was soon forgotten as I remembered where we were going - I have dreamed of going to Australia for many years, and here I was at last on my way for a 3 month adventure!

To get our Sydney visit off to a perfect start we were met at the airport by Scott (a very good uni friend of Frank's who he was best man for 5.5 years ago) and promptly whisked back to Scott & Lynsey's apartment for a BBQ in true Aussie style, with plenty of beer and wine! It didn't stop there though, we were thoroughly spoilt for the next 11 days. A proper bed after 2 months in a campervan, a shower and a gorgeous view from their balcony overlooking Tamarama - or 'Glamarama' as it is known locally , and we soon found out why, it's the next beach along from Bondi and the beach is a second home to the many body beautifuls strutting their stuff!

Not only did our hosts entertain us of an evening once they had got back from a hard days work, they acted as fantastic tour guides at the weekends shipping us around all of Sydney's hot spots! Initially we were only planning to stay in Sydney a few days, but with such persuasive and very kind hosts, we decided we had little choice but to extend our stay to just past Frank's birthday! So during our time in Sydney we went to some fantastic places, to name but a few...

On our first Friday night in Sydney we hit the Opera Bar, sitting in the shadows of the Opera House and overlooking Sydney Harbour Bridge. As we arrived at Circular Quay station I was like a very excited small child on the way to the fairground, and couldn't wait to get round the corner to see these two iconic landmarks. As we stood around sipping our drinks, I was more than content with the view, but as if it wasn't enough, out of nowhere came a huge fireworks display right in front of the Harbour Bridge a la New Years Eve! I just couldn't believe my luck (and nor could Scott who was hysterically speechless!) We still have no idea what they were in aid of, we were just glad to be in the right place at the right time!

We were taken to the home of Home & Away where we lazed on Palm Beach, got our piccie taken outside of the surf club and climbed up 'Stewarts Point'! At the Hunter Valley we started the day at a champagne house (where I can still taste the most amazing sparkling port - sounds disgusting but it's beautiful, just imagine a glass of Christmas Pudding - delicious!) and then were guests of the Powell's at Keith Tulloch's vineyard. This meant that we were given special VIP treatment with big wine glasses (rather than the small ones the general riff-raff get served in) and we were able to try wines not listed on the tasting menu. We also had a trip to the outdoor cinema, where unfortunately only Scott & I seemed to enjoy the film (the remake of Fame), now admittedly it did lack any kind of story line, but for me it was about the overall experience of the picnic, the wine and the film combined! We had a trip to the infamous Blue Mountains where found a beautiful walk to a waterfall with some stunning scenes of the mountains.

We also explored some of the iconic areas on our own, including several beautiful golden beaches where we could cool down in the sea (telling myself there's no need to worry about sharks, they have shark detectors in the harbour!) We were typical tourists getting the ferry across to Manly, doing the Manly Scenic Walk (note to self, don't do a 10k walk on a sweltering hot day in Birkenstocks, you get blisters), walking over the Sydney Harbour Bridge (although unfortunately the actual bridge walk over the top of the arch was a little too expensive for our budget), and of course taking a gentle early morning run around Bondi and 'Glamarama' to make sure we really fitted in!

To finish our time off in Sydney, scott, Lynsey and I gave Frank a real treat for his birthday. Scott & Lynsey started the day with a treat for us all, a Thai massage where all four of us lined up in a row to get pummelled! Quite bizarre turning to see us all together, but strangely relaxing! We then took Frank on a 'surprise' kayak trip around the harbour, stopping on what we pretended was a deserted beach for a picnic, and finally out for dinner at a gorgeous Nepalese restaurant.

After 11 days of luxury, compared to what we were used to, we had to tear ourselves away from the flat as it was time to get on our way. We only had 3 months to see the rest of Australia and had set ourselves quite a crazy itinerary as you'll see in future blogs. It's such a huge country and which until you get here you really don't appreciate the miles you need to put in to get around; we really struggled to know where to go next and what to do, so we booked a couple of flights, reserved a couple of seats on a train, hired a car, and set off for Sydney airport, bound for Coolangata on the Gold Coast...