Reflections on NYE 2012

This is a post that I started in January - but now with the new blogger, when I published it just now, its no longer in chronological order.  Oh well.  Here it is anyway:

Seeing that last year I was so dismal on the blogging front (a measly 6 posts!) I'm not really sure how successful I'll go with blogging 2012 style, but anyway, here goes.

I saw the New Year in with my dear friend Aga in Sydney, which was fabulous. Having never been to Sydney for New Years I didn't really know what to expect - sure, I knew there would be fireworks - I've seen them on the telly before - but I really didn't comprehend the magnitude of the whole thing!

You see, we arrived in Sydney a few days early, on the 29th, to a rather miserable day. I met Aga at the airport as she was arriving from Melbourne, and then we got the free shuttle to our hostel West End Nomad Backpackers in Pitt St. The shuttle was free because we were staying more than 3 nights - and actually, this should've been my first clue to how mad the city would be at this time of year, because when we tried to book our accommodation, there was really not much left at all, and that which was available had a minimum booking period of 5 nights, or 7 nights, or in many cases, 14 nights. Madness. We were lucky to get in at Nomads!


Anyway, we checked in to our hostel (or rather, we tried to check in but they told us we couldn't until 2pm or some silliness, so we left our luggage there in the very manky, very damp and smelly luggage room - the key to which had a huge bit of pvc pipe as its keyring) and then headed off for a spot of sightseeing - after a Starbucks, of course!


We decided to do the open top HOHO (hop on, hop off) bus tour, as then at least we could see a bit of Sydney before maybe meeting up with Uncle David later.  This actually wasn't so bad, despite the weather being a bit inclement - it didn't actually rain but it was overcast, although at one point (as luck would have it, when we arrived at Bondi) the sun came out and it was actually quite warm.  A good thing if you're at the beach in your togs, but a bad thing if you're decked out in jeans, as we were!  Oh well, it didn't stop us going for a bit of a paddle though!


In the evening of the first day we met with Uncle David for dinner, heading off to a place in Chinatown.  It was actually quite pleasant, and we wandered a little bit around the immediate vicinity first, stopping to get a $2 etching of our profiles (which actually looked nothing like us!), before enjoying our meal, which was lovely.   David was on fine form as usual, chatting with everyone we met, including tipping the street entertainer (who was really awesome, actually, such a fine example of excellent core body strength in his display) rather well.  


The next day he picked us up around 7.30am and we headed off for the Blue Mountains.  This was a fabulous day, even if it was quite cold.  I really enjoyed visiting the town of Leura, where we had a magnificent brunch, and a good stickybeak in the shops.  Then it was off to Katoomba, where after taking the obligatory pics of the Three Sisters, we headed off on a quick walk to see them.   There was a bit of a queue to get out to the ledge bit - but it was all worth it.

After this we headed to the actual Blue Mountains resort thing and did the skyway and the railway - the steepest rail incline in the world.  It was brilliant, we had a lovely time walking through the rainforest also - truly beautiful.

It was getting on a bit in the afternoon but we decided, rather than drive back to Sydney and hunt for a restaurant, seeing as David has a full picnic set and portable stove thing in the car, we might as well have a BBQ.  We went to Coles to get some meat - and I saw they had Kangaroo.  Aga, having never tried kangaroo, was quite keen on the idea - so we bought it, and had beautiful skippy steaks.  It was really a magnificent end to a lovely day.

The next day was New Years Eve - we got up late, did a spot of shopping (spot isn't really the word, Aga practically bought out Myers of its Ralph Lauren sheets and bedding) - had to take the shopping back to the hostel - then did the usual sightseeing things - Harbour, Harbour cruise, Opera House etc - before heading off to queue for our spot to see the fireworks.  Unfortunately though we didn't think to queue early enough, so all the best spots were taken - Lady Macquaries chair, the Opera House forecourt etc - and we ended up at the Observatory.  It wasn't so bad - Aga was disappointed though as she really wanted to see the Opera House with the Harbour Bridge behind for her photos.  But I knew if we left there, we'd lose our spot, and we quite likely wouldn't get anything else - so we'd totally miss out.  So I had to sweet talk her into staying.

It was wonderful though.  The fireworks were just magnificent.  I was so pleased to be in Sydney, with the Harbour Bridge behind, watching the fireworks and seeing in 2012.

After the fireworks we ended up walking all the way back to the hostel as there was no transport really.  Crashed into bed, then the next day, up and att'em - off for more sightseeing - before our wonderful Harbour Bridge climb in the afternoon.  It was fantastic.  I was actually quite scared when we started, because although I don't really think I'm afraid of heights - still when you're standing on a see-through grill high above the fast moving Sydney traffic - and you still haven't actually got on to the bridge yet - that's scary.  But once we actually got on the bridge, the 'floor' is fully enclosed - so you can't see cars and trains whooshing past underneath.  

We spent a wonderful 3 hours on the bridge, and then it was time to come down.  Headed off for dinner with one of the girls who'd been on our climb.

All too soon though our Sydney extravaganza was over - the next day, very early, Agnieszka had to head off to the airport for her journey back to London.  Sad to see her go, but boy, we'd had a great time!  Happy New Year!