Sydney

Sydney is one of those places where you could quite happily stay forever. At least, if you didn't need to worry about work and other such inconveniences.

After our kayaking we went to see some sights, had great meals and just generally enjoyed the good life. We had a really nice barbeque at Andrew's place one night, and Andrew took me to see a local Rugby game (rugby league, not union - apparently there is a difference) another night. I only have a rudimentary understanding of the game, but as far as I can gather, a dislocated foot and a couple of near fights (the first on the field, the second amongst the fans) amount to a good game. In any case, much beer and fun was had.



Another couple of friends that we have made on our travels were also in Sydney at the same time as us, and it was really nice to meet with Jakki (who we met in Russia) and Zoe (Laos). It seems that everyone makes their way to Sydney sooner or later.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but on our first night in Sydney we went to a Bottle-O (off-licence) and found a Finnish "Pirkka" beer can in the chiller! This is the cheapest and nastiest beer you can find in Finland, and how it ever made it outside the country is beyond me. But there it was, and I just had to give it a try. Yes, you guessed it, it was rank!



We also managed to sort out the rest of our journey in Australia. We booked a van for a month to drive up the east coast to Cairns, and we found a fairly cheap flight from Cairns to Singapore (we still plan to do Singapore and Malaysia on our way home). We also checked the dates on our bookings (many, many times!) to avoid making the same mistakes as last time we tried to rent a van. I think we're ok.

We can pick up our van next Monday, so in the meantime we will visit the Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney, and then come back to Sydney for one more weekend, before driving up north.