My last stop in Oz... Sydney!

Let me try to remember the last 6 days! Early wake up in Melbourne for a 6:15am flight to Sydney! Landed at the Sydney airport.. took the train to Circular Quay and then ferried out to Manly.. when I met a new friend named Haley from the UK. We were both at the ferry terminal.. I had my backpack.. she had a backpack.. we both just came from the airport and both headed to Manly.. sweet!

While I was in Melbourne, I had booked a last minute place to stay in Manly. In Melbourne, I was staying in a guesthouse where I barely got any sleep and water pressure in the shower heads were non-existent so I thought that a treat to a stay at the Manly Sebel would be warranted! The room that was reserved was their most economical but it was fine since I would be across the street from the beach. Well, I arrived at 10:30am, my room wasn't to be ready until 2pm. Bummer!! Anyway, went to the bathroom and got changed since I was to meet Hayley at the beach at 1pm... gathered my stuff for luggage storage and the receptionist, Adelaide said the magic words..."your room is ready.. you've been complimentary upgraded!" I was so happy, I could have cried! Excited and thankful, I took my key and up to my room. I had been upgraded to one of the top floors.. beach front.. balcony over looking Manly beach... seriously?! Leaving Melbourne a day early and staying a night here was one of the best decisions ever made! Life is good!! Not even a seagull pooping on my beach bag can ruin the mood I was in! And yes, a seagull actually did!

So much more than just Sydney..!

Manly is such an awesome place! Great beaches, many beaches to choose from, just enough stores to keep you interested, showers at the beaches, water at 70F and food was reasonably priced! First day was all beach and then the second day, Haley and I rented bikes to ride up to North Head. The bike guy told us it would take 45 minutes each way.. we got there in 25 minutes.. hm. I was sad to leave my room at the Sebel the next morning to head into the city but what a great way to start my Sydney leg of the trip!

Left Manly late afternoon after beaching at Shelly Beach with Haley and Danny and headed into Sydney where I met up with MG for dinner, a friend I met while in Kona for the IM Worlds in October. He gave me the low down on the world of tri in Australia and the rivalries and what not. Interesting and funny to say the least! Next day, took the Opera House tour which is something I would recommend to anyone and everyone, such interesting history of the building that took 7 years to build! The Opera House and the Harbor Bridge was the highlight of the day..neighboring the two icons is an area called The Rocks, love the architecture of that area!

Next up, Bondi Beach! I didn't have high expectations for liking Bondi Beach since it was such a tourist attraction so to my surprise, I understand why!

I've been to a lot of beaches, around the world. The Dalmation Coast off of Croatia, The Costa del Sol off of Spain, The Algarve off of Portugal, The Amalfi Coast and the Mediterrean Coast off of Italy, Hawaii, Thailand.. off all those beaches.. Krabi Beach in Thailand is what I considered to be the best BUT Bondi Beach has the nicest softest white sand my feet has ever stepped on! Great beach, must beach, an entire day was spent there because I just didn't want to leave :-)!

Yesterday was my last full day here, I went back to my beloved Manly and also to Watson's Bay, a cute fisherman's town with a nude beach for those interested! Sydney is a great city.. not too big of a fan for the city center and the actual city but love the city surroundings and the suburb areas. I am sad to leave Australia.. such a great place with nice people! I look forward to coming back!!

At first glance, Melbourne kind of reminds me of San Francisco..

Where did I leave off..? Yes, I was sadly leaving Noosa on a Friday morning to head to Melbourne.. took the bus from Noosa to the Brisbane Airport which took about an hour and a half.. flight from Brisbane to Melbourne was just short of 2 hours.. arrived in Melbourne and the day was almost gone but nonetheless, I strolled around the neighborhood, South Yarra, I was staying in after checking into my guesthouse.. charming little guest house and a good value.. would have been better if the showers had pressure and not a light mist :-(. Well, Melbourne adventure begins!

Woke up the next morning after sleeping in and headed down to the CBD (central kind of like downtown if you will)... walked and walked.. took in all the sights and restraunts, train stations, train buildings, Christmas windows, just took in the city! Food galore everywhere! What stood out at me was "Lord of the Fries" which is exactly what it sounds like and a place called "Little Cupcakes" .. I can get used to having afternoon tea time.. it's almost like my afternoonm Starbucks breaks at work! Speaking of which, Melbourne has 7Elevens like we have Starbucks! Wonderng where Woolworth is? It's in Australia!

Melbourne.. sort of like San Francisco in many ways..

Second half of the afternoon, I took the bus out to Brighton Beach, home of the little colorful cottages which did not disappoint!There were about 70 or so distinctly colorful beach cottages.. all sitting pretty by the beachside.. and even a wedding going on at the end of it.. which sort of ruined my photo opportunity but at least they didn't take up the entire beach! That would be tragic for my camera!!

Next day.. explored another suburb neighborhood, St. Kilda, markets, Luna park, restraunts, more city culture of Melbourne. AND then I needed a little down time with all the city atmophere so I popped into the cinema and watched...... wait for it... wait for it... "New Moon"! I never read the books and I never understood the hype but after catching "Twilight" during the flight out from SFO, I had to catch the next one! LOVED it! Not sure if all Aussie theatres work this way but the movie I caught was scheduled for 3:15pm.. I walked at 3:35pm because the woman said I had 5 minutes.. but it didn't actually start until 3:50 or so.. so btwn 3:15 and 3:50.. it was all previews and commercials.. it ended up being about a 3 hr movie sitting which was fine by me but strange! By the way, did I mention that flies in Oz.. they bite and I got attacked! Mean little suckers!!

The next day, I took on the Great Ocean Road to see... what else? The 12 Apostles! The Great Ocean Road is a lot like Highway 1 back home.. drive along the coast.. beach.. beach towns.. greenery.. it's nice! At first glance, Melbourne reminds me a lot of San Francisco! The weather, the restaurants, the downtown, the little suburb neighborhoods, the parks, the museums (the Ian Potter Museum is a great one!), the diversity of personalities and individuals but then when you take a closer look, it's similar in many ways but not as much as I had thought. I won't go into the details of it but I can say one thing, folks from Melbourne are quite competitive with comparisons that of Sydney! They want more people living down (down 500k vs Sydney), they purposefuly build a bigger, taller bridge and they're very vocal about comparisons as much. The three Melbourne natives that I did meet did not waste anytime in down talking Sydney which was all very funny to me.

I decided that 2 full days of city touring Melbourne and 1 day of the Great Ocean Road was enough of Victoria for me. Luckily, I was able to move my Virgin Bluepass Flight up a day, got a refund for one night at the guesthouse I was staying in and made a last minute reservation for the extra night in Sydney... Off to Sydney I go!