Travel Diary: Life as a Sydneysider

So it appears that living in Sydney is the same as living at home when it comes to post-Christmas blues.  In the blink of an eye every trace of Santa Claus was gone and before we knew it we were back to work. We are still working full time so it doesn't leave heaps of time for doing fun stuff.  Poor Shaun has to get up at 4.30am for work so after the gym and eating dinner there is only an hour or two before an early night.  Don't get me wrong I think the way of life here in Australia is so much better than in the UK when you do have endless hours of sunshine after work and pretty good weather most of the time (and I am certainly not missing the dark mornings and the snow).  We have promised to make more of an effort to see what Sydney has to offer over the next few weeks as we are back on the road on 12 March.  So what have we been up to ... We had a party at our friends place across the street playing Beer Pong and Ring of Fire on the balcony and staying up til God only knows what time. We went on an awesome boat trip ... well booze cruise.  A guy at work was DJing and bumped us a couple of free tickets so a group of us went to the Refuge at Sea.  It was a scorcher of a day, the music was pumping and after a few beers we were on the dance floor raving it up.  We had an awesome 5 hours cruising around the harbours.  It would have been even better if we had cruised down the river but the party itself was so good it didn't really matter.  The captain even let me drive.   Following a few more drinks at our place we got a taxi over to the after-party at the Burdekin.  The party was held in a really strange underground bar.  As it was pretty empty and the house music was pretty hard we ventured off to find another pub for a quick drink but couldn't get in.  Shaun didn't have his ID on him and the door staff do not budge so we had to call it a night.  They ID everyone.  Whilst we were stood there he ID'd a guy with wrinkles, now he definitely was not under 18!  Anyway we took stroll through Hyde Park on our way home as they were having a free music festival but they were at full capacity, it just wasn't our night! My work extended my contract until 15 February which is great as I really don't fancy working in a bar  (I work for a software company).  They are so good to me and said from the beginning they would treat me like a permanent member of staff.  In January all staff from the APAC region (Asia pacific) were in Sydney for training and we all got an invite for a team building afternoon.  Based on the team building events I have attended  before I was thinking this was going to be an awkward afternoon playing stupid games.  We all met at a hotel for lunch at midday and had to walk to an undisclosed location.  To my utter surprise we rocked up at the Sydney Bridge Climb!!  Yup we climbed the bridge!  It was brilliant and the team at Bridge Climb were great with lots of interesting stories about the founders of Sydney, the convict colonisation and building the bridge.  Shaun and I were planning on doing the climb together and with my parents but never mind I will just have to do it again! We also started our hunt for a vehicle for our road trip around Australia.  We know we want a 4WD as we will be going through Western Australia but we don't know if we want a jeep or a campervan yet.  The hunt continues. Monday 26 January marked the anniversary of the first Brits landing in NSW and proclaiming the land way back in 1788.  Australia Day nowadays consists of a day off work with a BBQ and a few tinnies; generally being Aussie.  Unfortunately the weather was pretty woeful all day but nonetheless Shaun and I had an awesome day at the Slip and Slide.  This giant water slide travels around Australia and was in Sydney for one day only.  It was so much fun!  We grabbed a rubber ring and threw ourselves down the 315 meter slide.  It's actually down a hill so you pick up some speed.  Shaun got a massive spin on and crashed into some random guy (his Go Pro footage is pretty funny)!  We wish we had bought the multiple ride ticket so we could go again but it was pretty cold standing out in the rain. PS do you like how I was rocking my Guernsey Tee on Australia Day #proudtobeaPOM! In the evening we met Vinnie and Megs (from Guernsey) for a curry at ours and watched the one tonne of fireworks explode in Darling Harbour.  Best firework display I have ever seen, even better than New Years Eve.  They also had a giant cockatoo on the pontoon with flames coming out of its head (mechanical not real), not quite sure what that was about!  And we finished the night we a few drinks harbourside. And of course, the blog underwent a big transformation.  When I sit still for too long I get itchy feet (not literally).  Even though we are 'travelling', we have set up home for a few months here in Sydney.  Being back at the old 9-5 isn't very inspiring so I thought I would vent all my wanderlust here into my blog and try and make it into something.  In the past it has always been a way of informing my family about what we have been up to.  I have now moved from Blogger over to WordPress, got my own domain name and got hosted (I feel very proud of my sudden technical ability (albeit with a little help from my techno-whiz brother)).  Now my site will be regularly updated with, hopefully, interesting travel content.  I constantly scour the internet for blogs about people travelling to get inspiration and local knowledge so hopefully I can now be one of those sources. And that about wraps it up.  We have an exciting February lined up with the Colour Run, the Future Music Festival and hopefully a camping trip in the Blue Mountains once we have a vehicle. A la perchoine Jodie and Shaun x Don't forget to subscribe

Leave Blank:Do Not Change:

Your email: