I'm so happy to be able to tell you that I CONQUERED AUSTRALIA! Ahhh!
As most of the people that read my blog often might know, my family's trip to Australia has been years and years in the making! (See my previous blog). Ever since my parents went on their honeymoon to Australia it has been on their (and my) bucket list to go back and after nineteen years, we were lucky enough to be able to tick it off.
Our Australian adventure started with a 20 odd hour plane journey to Sydney and we stayed in a lovely apartment hotel on the 26th floor in Darling Harbour. Boy was I glad to get to that hotel! While in Sydney we went on some stunning day trips to places such as the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach, Manly Beach (a short boat trip from Sydney Harbour), along with some sights that the locals enjoy like The Rocks, an area of Sydney where the first fleets of ships landed and the slaves and poor people carved stone for buildings. We were also taught about the window taxes that buildings had. The more windows you had, the more tax you had to pay so people often bricked their windows up during construction to avoid having to pay. The tour guides were welcoming and their accents and dialect were very endearing.
In addition to this, I was able to achieve another of my dreams which was to go to the Blue Mountains. This is perhaps a less known area of Australia, but none-the-less one that is renowned for it vast landscape of trees, mountains and waterfalls. It also has the steepest train ride in the world at a 52 (correct me if I'm wrong) degree angled slope and it recently had a renovation for over $30 million (AUS). Another two of the attractions in the mountains were the cable cars and skyrails; these are some of the highest cable cars in the world so I think I can also say that I'm just about over my fear of heights!
In conclusion, Sydney was a wonderful welcome to Australia with its friendly people, culture and warm weather - although I understand that the locals thought it was freezing! Being a true Brit, I was walking round in shorts turning redder and redder by the day while they were sat around heaters and bonfires in winter clothes. The food was fantastic, the boat cruises and trips we went on were very well catered for and well planned and the atmosphere was friendly. I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to go there and indeed I would recommend a visit if there's ever an opportunity.
Arizona
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