Sydney in December

My trip to Sydney was ridiculous: not horrible ridiculous more completely unexpected and overwhelmingly exciting (especially when I think back to a year ago,  I had no idea what I would be doing towards the end of the 2015). 2 weeks is such a small period of time to travel to the other side of the world, but I guess some friends are worth making the effort. I hadn't seen Sian since July, she is on an exciting adventure (of which I am quite jealous) so we really made the most of the 2 weeks that we had together.

Sian had already been in Sydney for a couple of months so she had her bearings and already new some top tips (like cheap public transport on a Sunday) which made the trip even better. One of our first stops was the Chinese Garden of Friendship, a stunning garden in the centre of Darling harbour. It really had 'Secret Garden' vibes, especially as we were there before midday when it was still quiet. It seems bizarre that you can see ugly city buildings past all of the trees and beautiful architecture. We hired costumes and walked around dressed as Chinese warrior princesses to which we were mistaken for working and became somewhat of a tourist attraction as several people asked to have their pictures taken with us.

We really crammed a lot into 2 weeks, including some things that we hadn't planned. One night we had decided to go to 'Crab Racing' at one of the backpacker bars in town (it was very conflicting and we both felt bad for the crabs) we were just there to have a few drinks and a dance and to really find out what the fuss was all about...Sian definitely wasn't expecting to walk away with a free sky dive. Oh she was so excited that she booked it up the next day and did the jump 2 days later - I am pretty sure it was one of the best things Sian has ever done...the thought alone made me feel physically sick, but I was happy that she was happy.

For the first week of my stay in Sydney I slept in a spare bed in Sian's apartment and for the second week I had booked to stay at a nice hotel. The hotel was so nice in fact that for one entire day we decided to stay in bed, order room service, created make shift pavlova from some bits that we bought from the corner shop and managed to watch the entire first series of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Needless to say, that was a good day.

We did some more of the typical touristy things too: we visited Sydney Harbour and had a look around the Opera House, walked across the Harbour Bridge, travelled to Featherdale Wildlife Park to stroke some koala bears and feed the kangaroos, walked around the Botanical Gardens, took the ferry to Manly and we ate a tonne of tim tams.

We managed to check out 'The Art of the Brick: DC Comics' lego exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum, which was absolutely incredible (I was particularly impressed with the fact that the artist, Nathan Sawaya, added in measurements of how many burritos it took to finish each piece). We checked out some of the shops in New Town, Sydney including some incredible book shops.

One Sunday, when Sian was at work, I took the train to North Sydney and went to Kirribilli Art, Design and Fashion market and had a wander around Luna Park. Although I didn't buy anything it was nice to wander around the market and see what people had created, plus all of the food stalls were amazing too. The strangest thing was probably how hot and sunny of a day it was but Luna park was blasting traditional Christmas tunes, as it was the season. I can't imagine what it must be like growing up with a warm Christmas especially when the a lot of depictions and connotations of Christmas are usually cold weather, gloves and scarves and eating lots of food inside where it is warm by the fire. All of the adverts on TV were of people having a Christmas BBQ by the beach - It did look nice, but it didn't look like Christmas to me.

I was amazed that after a 2 hour train journey to the Blue Mountains, we were still technically in Sydney (the place is huge). Hiking around the trails of the Blue Mountains was not the easiest of activities, especially when it was so hot - but we made sure we had our packed lunch and kept ourselves hydrated, plus no picture can really do the views justice. This is definitely something I would suggest seeing with your own eyes.

I definitely ate well while on holiday. I was super excited about all of the Japanese food and I didn't realise that Sian hadn't tried much of it before, so it was nice to show Sian some of my favourite dishes. The Japanese food in the UK just won't be as good any more (I need to plan a trip to Japan pronto). We also visited the Sydney Fish Market to which I can safely say I have never seen that many different types of seafood on display, to take home and to eat. We ordered a lot of different bits to try but my favourite might have been the soft shell crab: I had never eaten it before and I was kind of shocked, I mean it is what it says you can eat the whole thing, it was surprisingly delicious.

We still managed to do some of the things we would have done if we were hanging out together in Brighton. We went food shopping and cooked ramen together (with fresher tiger prawns from the fish market), we went to the cinema to see 'The Night Before' because...Seth Rogan, and we still found time to watch 'Whose Line is it Anyway?' and (a new one for me) 'Say Yes to the Dress'.

I bought us tickets (as a treat) to go and see Matilda at the Sydney Lyric Theatre, because Tim Minchin (Australian Comedian) wrote the music to the show. Although Sian and I may have been the only ones in the theatre who were not accompanied by their parents, we really enjoyed the show. The set was great, the lyrics were intelligent and witty and I have never seen a show with so many young actors and actresses - they really nailed it. 

Nothing can quite compare to having an incredible trip to a city that is not only culturally diverse, but exciting, fun and full of history...plus I had a pretty good tour guide. I certainly have some brilliant memories from this trip and I can't wait for some more adventures in 2016.