I made it back to the UK but I had a really great time in Australia and I miss it already. Overall the people were great and I saw and did so many great things. The same with Singapore and although it was rather hot it was a really nice place.
On my last day in Sydney I left the hotel early to take some last minute photos before my 9am tour of the Sydney Opera House. I walked down past BridgeClimb to the area near the observatory, then down to Circular Quay to take some photos before collecting my ticket for the Opera House tour and leaving my bag in their baggage drop. This was perfect timing as there wasn’t much else I could do in the few hours I had spare and if I booked online in advance for an early tour it was less than half price!
The tour showed us all around the public areas of the Opera House including the lobbies, lookouts and concert halls. For copyright reasons we weren’t able to take photos inside the concert halls but were able to in the other public areas. Our guide, Troy, told us about the history of the building as well as the construction and also telling us who has played there. Something I was surprised at was Foo Fighters recently played a concert here – I guess I just didn’t associate it with anything other than Opera.
After the tour it was back to the hotel for a last minute freshen-up before checking out, leaving my bags with reception and going out for some more last minute photos. I went up the glass elevator to the walkway behind circular quay and there were some fantastic views and I don’t know why no guide books recommend it – if it wasn’t for the BridgeClimb guide I would never have known about it. After coming down I spent the last of my money on a CD of an Aboriginal musician that was playing along the quayside. Apparently he’s the one in all the adverts for Australia playing didgeridoo on top of the Harbour Bridge and was also the Aborigine that came out of the desert in that Priscilla Queen of the Desert movie. Random – but I shall have to watch it some time.
I went back to the hotel and collected my bags from the hotel (the woman that brought them was really short and thin I thought it was going to break her back) before waiting for my minibus to the Airport. I almost missed it as he parked on the other side of the road and down a bit so the scaffolding around the hotel was blocking my view but luckily I noticed him in time.
My flight was on time which was just as well as it would take me 23 hours to get back to the UK including the stopover in Thailand. We were there two hours and although we never left the airport I still class myself as having been there as we touched down on their soil. We had to go out into the departure lounge, come back through security and then re-board the plane. There was this woman from the UK that asked a cleaner where the flight to London was. He didn’t speak English so she said “Plane… London… where” loudly as if he would suddenly understand and it’s no wonder British people have a bad reputation.
Apparently I have lost weight these past couple of weeks too – my trousers almost fell down after taking my belt off to go through security but I guess that’s a good thing.
The rest of the flight was smooth too, except we had to rush to make our window over Afghanistan but we made it back to the UK on time where I met my Dad in Starbucks for a coffee before returning home. I was glad of the Starbucks after that flight. I had a few before I left the UK too as I didn’t think I’d see any more – but my hotel in Sydney was opposite one so I had some then.
I had a great time, and hope to return to this part of the world again soon.