Sydney Australia

My first impression of Australia was from the air, our flight was 8 hours long and after 4 hours we were flying over Australia, its big!  On the ground was pretty much nothing other than sand coloured mountains, and small mountains more like hills!
Approaching Sydney our captain advised us of high winds and duly our plane was pushed from side to side  and tossed around, soon enough we landed safely.  One thing to be said about the 8 hours on the plane, remember to take money or pre pay for the meal with AirAsia as they do not accept cards for food purchases, perfume yes, food no!  We arrived a little hungry.
We had two reunions at the airport, one was Prunelle after 5 months travelling by herself, the two sisters ran together and slid on their knees towards each other to embrace, very sweet! The second was our friend Amy whom we had met in Turkey at Bodrum EcoFarm some 11 months previous, she hailed from Sydney and had agreed to let us stay with her and her parents whilst we found a van to buy to start our Ozzie road trip. (Thanks Amy, Neil, Lorraine and Matt.)

CBD from the ferry

Family selfie

Sydney is a beautiful city, abet cold in the winter, and rather expensive. We caught a ferry down the river which would take us into Darling Harbour and then under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and dock next to the Opera House.  Blue skies the views were superb and the hype of the opera house was realised.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

City by night

Giant Chess in the park

Anzac bridge traffic

Sunset on the ferry

What struck us about Sydney was how clean it was, how unpolluted, maybe the benchmark had been left low after 10 months in India and Asia but all the same, a pretty good job.
We took the time to visit the iconic Bondi beach, which in my head was a massive stretch of sand that went on for miles and miles, it does not! Quite a small beach in fact, with cliffs on one side that give you great views.

Bondi Beach

Graffiti on Bondi beach

The world cup foot ball was in full swing, but with matches starting at 2 am you did feel you were the other side of the world from everything else, needless to say I did have a few late nights.
Our search for a van was a little frustrating with very few vehicles available in our price range, but we were starting to get the hang of what was out there and what it cost, in the end we settled for an older ford van, did a little renovation to the existing conversion and were ready to cruise.
Sandrine had an old friend living on Manley beach where we spent a couple of nights camping in the van and seeing people and sites during the day.
Sadly we had to say goodbye to our new friends and to Prunelle whom is staying with a lovely family close to Bondi and working as an au-pair.

Hasta Pronto Sydney!