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It was almost dark by the time we got into Katoomba. The sun was dropping gracefully behind the outlines of spider branches, and among the now flickering neon motel vacancy signs and deserted main street, we were on the hunt for some food, finding only a narrow, dimly lit restaurant with the typically Australian rule of BYOB.
Our Singapore Airlines jumbo jet skirts along the eastern most reaches of the Indian Ocean and then swings all the way across the full width of the Australian continent to grasp New South Wales. The seven hours from Singapore were breezy ones, and soon we’re touching down on a bright spring morning at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport.
It’s ANZAC day. I walked around Darling Harbour and watched as drunken Aussies played “two-up” to celebrate their war dead. Most of the city was closed off to traffic, so street performers took advantage of the crowds. Australian flags hung from every lamp post and building, while the streets were littered with ticker tape and rubbish.
I am having a great time here in Sydney. I’ve seen a lot, done a lot, experienced a lot. This is what living is all about. I’ve chatted with a multinational variety of cool people in the hostel, explored the surrounding area, and utilised my free transport to ride the convenient train and bus systems and travel downtown as much as possible.
I took a day out of the city, on my Birthday, to join a tour of the Blue Mountains along with several English tourists and a Scottish guide (who incidentally hates Scotland!). The ‘Mountains’ lie 70 miles outside Sydney and are named so because of the blue tint that rises from their peaks on the release of eucalyptus oil from the surrounding forests.
I wake up in the haze of early afternoon, and suddenly have the momentarily paralysing thought that I’m in Australia! It’s daunting, but I need confirmation. I decide there is no better way of doing this than to visit the very symbol of the country itself, the embodiment of what it means to be this far from home. So I set off.
We left a now darkened Hong Kong, and flew south for 10 hours over the equator to reach Sydney. But it would be a very brief stop in Australia this time. Our destination was still a further three hours across the Tasman Sea in Auckland. We boarded a packed Qantas Boeing 747SP and headed for the last country on earth: New Zealand.
We spent three weeks with relatives on the Queensland Coast, taking trips out every few days to nearby towns and beaches, as well as to Hamilton Island. Memories from this portion of the trip are significantly improved – some of my fondest ones coming on beautiful beaches by the water, making sandcastles, running away from the tide and feeding Kangaroos.
