After a few very busy, lovely days at home, catching up with my family and friends, I was back on the road (or in the air, to be accurate) heading to Australia for the first time. I was not looking forward to the flight, from leaving the house to arrival in Sydney, my journey was an estimated 36 hours! Thankfully, there were no delays and the entertainment, food and staff on Quantas were very good, so I didn’t feel terrible when we flew over the Sydney Opera House and the famous Harbour Bridge..both a little smaller than I was expecting.
The main reason I wanted to make the trip to Sydney to catch up with some old friends and I have had so many laughs with them, we’ve spent many hours chilling by the water with delicious meals and several glasses/bottles of wine and taking long walks along the shoreline, talking and laughing the whole time. Isn’t it great when you see someone you haven’t seen for a long time and it’s like you were never apart?
When I’ve not been catching up, I’ve been wandering and exploring.. I’ve been to the famous surfer’s paradise of Bondi Beach and the much prettier Palm Beach (where Home and Away is filmed), I took a climb up the headland to the lighthouse there for gorgeous views, very much recommended (and the climb really gets your heart racing); I’ve walked along many of Sydney’s beautiful beaches (Coogee, Watson’s Bay, Manly, Bronte, etc) dipping my toes in the sea and catching a few rays; I’ve taken a few scenic ferry rides and I visited art galleries and museums and even made a visit to the zoo. Taronga Zoo is a not-for-profit organisation, which aims to help animals, not just show them off, and I really wanted to see some of the Aussie animals I’ve heard about for many years.. Koalas, kangaroos, echidna, platypus, wombat, etc. they were all there. Koalas are hilarious, they’re clearly just stoned from the eucalyptus leaves they eat all day and pretty much just sit staring or sleeping. A bonus for the day was seeing the chimpanzees, especially the new addition to the zoo..a five day old baby! One of the girls, Kuma, had just given birth and decided to show off her little one, very protectively. I was so impressed with the chimps, they are so intelligent – one of the males wants to be Alpha male and he needs to get the females on side if its going to happen, so he made a big show of giving a coconut to one of the little ones in front of its mother..Smart!
I also attended an APAF charity event, called Exposing Hunger. The event was to showcase a new documentary showing the impact of poverty in Africa and the work APAF is doing to reduce this. The film was shown in a contemporary cinema, where the seating is made up of mattresses and beanbags, very cool, and then we had a Q&A session, which was very insightful. It seems even when I’m on holiday I still feel the need to get involved in charity events.
Lovely introduction to Australia and now I’m off to the next stop, Western Australia, to catch up with another friend and see some of the beautiful sights she always photographs and makes me jealous of.
Ah, I’ve missed that laugh!
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