Sydney

12th November

Morning of the flight and it was typical family antics, getting suitcases and grumpy kids into the car & taxi, with their dogs running in and out and trying to get in the car with us.

Sunshine Coast airport was - indeed - very small and cute, with a quick bag drop and security, everyone wanted food, so we sat and ate breakfast and drank coffee until the announcement came for boarding. Then, somehow, John's friend disappeared. The kids were funny - they seemed the most anxious about the fact that they were calling our gate and were all up for leaving the guy behind. He re-appeared and fortunately it was a very short walk to gate 2.

I had a window seat and was sat next to a couple, the guy of which was originally from Clapham and had a very strong London accent, despite living in Australia for many years. He had a friend who was from Watford who also lived in Australia - small world.

Goodbye sunshine coast......

The flight was only an hour and twenty minutes. I said my goodbyes to the family then headed for the train.....they have double decker tubes here! 

I had booked a hostel for two days in Kings Cross - apparently this used to be the red light district.....I found out later that they had passed some new laws and cleaned it up a bit - I had also booked another hostel, just round the corner for a further two days - Don't ask!......I wasn't sure of my plans when I booked the first one. 

I also had booked to see Steven Wilson at the Darling Harbour theatre in Sydney on Sunday, as he happened to be touring Australia, and the dates matched up, and I thought it might be kind of cool! Consequently, I had booked a third hostel, 5 minutes walk from where the concert is for Sunday night.

When I dropped my bag, since it was too early to check in, the girl was a bit confusing. She didn't speak very good English and was going on about an age limit and there being no lift. I had come across the age limit thing before so wasn't too worried.......

Had a long wander around Sydney, through the botanical gardens and finding the Opera house & Harbour bridge

.........I took a lot of photos of the Opera House. Its one of those iconic places that you see on TV and it felt a bit special to be there.

I returned to the hostel, to find that actually, they weren't going to let me check in after all. They said they had a very strict age policy and because they had no lift in the building they could not allow me to stay. This was kind of laughable but also extremely annoying. Fortunately, the other hostel had space so I booked in there instead and paid for the extra two days.

I must admit, at this point, feeling tired and a bit emotional, I was thinking about just booking a flight home.......an early night sorted me out.