G'day from Sydney!

By Kenneth Tristan André

Our 16 days in New Zealand passed by so fast and suddenly we boarded a plane with destination Sydney, Australia.
New Zealand was great fun. We did a lot of adventurous activities like rafting and skydiving and along the way we got to know a whole bunch of awsome people. Some was kind enough to give us a place to sleep like Wade in Auckland, Peter in Hamilton and Ian in Christchurch. Thanks a lot guys.
Other people we got to know we spent a few days with and some we even got to catch up with on our way down south, and some we will see again here in Australia.

After getting out of bed at 04:45 in the morning, two tiered vikings from Norway landed in Sydney made our way through the city to meet Maya, a friend of Danielle, in Chatswood.
She was to be our host the next few days while we where in Sydney. At her place we also got to meet Lee or Mr Darsey as he was nicknamed. He had taken the big step of moveing to Australia for a year to try to find some work here.
Danielle was also staying at Mayas house while we where there, and they arranged a BBQ lunch for us when we arrived. This was a great opportunity to meet a few of their friends and also the "aussie wildlife".

Later that day we went downtown to have dinner and see BRIEFS, a Dragsircus show, in Parramatta (a subburb). Great fun ending of a very long day.

A nother day, another exploring.
Lee, Stian and I went walking by our self for a few hours as Maya and Danielle had other things to do, so we took the train closer to the city and walked over Sydney harbour bridge and in the Old town of Sydney, The Rocks.
Danielle caught up with us here and it was time to walk over to the famous Opera house. Here we also found our "place" for the night, El Loco bar. A few beers later we where joined by more friends of Danielle and Maya. Maya also took us to a small hidden bar called Bulletin Place. I liked it so much that it became "my spot" while I wad in Sydney.

Since a few years back now we have had the possibility to watch Rescue Bondi on norwegian television, so we had to check out the infamous beach in real life, but first a little shopping. I needed some new flip-flops and swimwear, and lots of SUNLOTION 50+++
Had painfully discovered the lack of ozonlayer and burning sun in both New Zealand and Australia.

The day started with sunshine, tempratures over the 20's and not a cloud in the sky, but when we got to Bondi the sun was replaced by clouds followed by thunder and lightning and rain. But hey, it was still warm outside compared to back home so we didn't mind.
At Bondi I also got to meet up with Fredrikke, whom I know from Stavanger. It was fun to see a familiar face from back home, and it turned out that this was not the last time we hang in Sydney.

Yet another little shoppingspree as the weather was not with us yet again.
Danielle was in need of some jeans that fitted her so Lee (who used to work at Levis) draged us there, and I also ended up with a pair that fitted my skinny assless body aswell, and they where a bargain compared to back home.
Later that day we took the ferry from Sydney harbour to Balmain for some beers and food. Aurelio from Brazil, whom Stian and I got to know in Rotorua a few weeks back had arrived in Sydney aswell so we desided to catch up again.
We then ended up at a bar called The Friend in Hand to watch a crab race.
My crab qualified to the final but got stagefright and ended last :(

The time had arrived for yet another goodbye, this time to Maya and Danielle.
After backing our bags, Maya dropped us off at the trainstation and Stian, Lee and I took the train downtown to walk around in the city by our self.
Aurelio joined us aswell in our excurtion of Sydneys dodgy subburbs.
After a few hours of walking we ended up meeting Danielle for some food before our train left for Melbourne.

I wanted to spend some more time with Fredrikke in Sydney, and also let Stian catch up with Joel in Melbourne a few days alone, so two hours before we where to leave Sydney I desided to stay behind and send him alone. Fredrikke had arranged a place for me to stay at the same hostel as her in Sydney. After checking in to the hostel we went out to have dinner and drinks before heading to bed.

A new day came and with the heat and sunshine, Fredrikke and I desided to go to Manly and relax on a beach there. Aurelio joined us aswell this day.
A few hours baking in the sun and swimming in the ocean we heard the yellyfish alarm go off at the beach. Portugeese warship as we call them in Norway had made their way to the shore. They are not deadly but their sting is painful and can put you off for hours.
Back in Sydney Fredrikke and I wanted to check out the Australia Hotel restaurant near our hostel. They had aussie wildlife on their menue as kangaroo, crocodile and emu.
Interesting.....