Day 47 - Enjoying Sydney with the Campbell Clan

​I had a slow start this morning, enjoying the hotel breakfast before then wandering up to Queen Victoria Building. Not only did I find a load of caches on this part of my adventure, but I also got into the festive spirit with some carol singers and some very impressive decorations. I also enjoyed lots of little bits of history around the place, especially this wonderful dog statue of Islay, Queen Victoria’s favourite dog. 


I then met up with Alex, Isla, and Albie - friends from Haileybury (who moved out here but will soon be coming back to the UK). It was lovely to see friendly faces and to catch up. 

We caught the light rail down to Circular Quay in order to catch the ferry over to Lavender Bay. The ferry gave great views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge - views that would be surpassed by those from the land!


We had a delicious lunch at a Mexican restaurant (yay for nachos!) and then a wander along the harbour front and through Luna Park, enjoying the impressive views whilst continuing to catch up! Team Campbell also proved to be excellent caching allies.


We parted ways in the afternoon, and so I returned to Circular Quays to get an up close view of the Opera House and a wander around more of the harbour front. There is a big stage in front of the Opera House at the moment for a festival, so I couldn’t see all of it, but it was still very impressive! 


I gradually made my way back up to my hotel, taking in a Christmas market and lots more geocaches on my way. I have subsequently had a chilled evening, ready for parkrun and more time with the Campbells, including Stephen, tomorrow. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1 - It Starts……..

Image
Having been thinking and talking about this adventure for months, today rather crept up on me. As well being a little hurried in actually packing a rucksack for up to three months of travel (I had been organised with packing lists, just not the actually putting things in a bag bit), I was also a bit last minute in tying up loose ends at home, mainly the boring things, like sorting out my car tax that I realised expired whilst I am away. It was therefore also a bit of a late night doing the really important things, like finishing the hardback book I had no intention of travelling with, and downloading some shows to watch onto my Chromebook. But, after a bit of last minute re-packing (Do I really need that extra T-shirt? Probably not. Where did I put that charging cable?), my rucksack was ready to go, and I had sorted everything I needed to in my flat. I am pleased to report that I have not left anything in the fridge that is likely to be gross on my return. Then off through the rain to ...
Read more

Day 2 - Touristing it up in Brussels

Image
The Eurostar journey was pretty uneventful yesterday. Despite looking out of the window, I did not see any fish 🐠 as I crossed the Channel, and I made sure I was on the look-out for small boat crossings too.....  It was early evening when I arrived in Brussels. The metro system took me a few minutes (and one journey in the wrong direction) to figure out, but Google Maps did its thing and got me to my hotel safely. The hotel is near the Royal Galleries, close to the Grand Place, and it is pretty busy around as apparently this is a big weekend with Belgian National Day tomorrow.  An evening quest for food (success) was followed by a walk through said Royal Galleries and then a test of my photography skills at the Grand Place. It is, as the name suggests, pretty Grand. Pleasingly for me, there were lots of Geocaching AdLabs around for me to use to learn some history. My visit here was then followed up with some good wandering around, with the highlight undoubtedly the Brussels D...
Read more

Day 3 - Happy Belgian National Day!

Image
Yesterday evening was fairly quiet - a stroll to see Jeanneke Pis, all in the name of gender equality.... and then an ice-cream and soaking up some of the holiday vibes.  Today, in case you did not know, is Belgium's national day. I had read a bit about some celebration events, some of which I am hoping to see this evening, but I did not know that as I walked to find some breakfast this morning, within 100m of my hotel I would stumble upon the whole Belgian royal family arriving for the Te Deum mass at the St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral. Having previously sat opposite the Swedish royal family at a concert in Stockholm when visiting with Lizzy, I am starting to appreciate European royal families turning out for my visits.... Apparently it was King Philippe, Queen Mathilde, and their four children (Elisabeth, Eleonore, Gabriel and Emmanuel) who were there. You can read all about their outfits on the Daily Fail Online, if that's your thing.  Anyway, I enjoyed the experience, ...
Read more