"Happy New Year!" a Sydney Travel Page by SharrieShaw

Jan. 10, 2005.

I was in Sydney the last 2 days of the year (Dec. 30 & 31, 2004) & the 1st day of the New Year but not the last night of the year.

"Stay awake, Sleeping Beauty!"... hehe, that's the echoes in my mind on New Year.

After the most awesome & spectacular New Year's Eve of my life (& it has nothing to do with men :p! That I'm sure will improve with time ;-) & no offense to you, Brad.), I was on the streets of Sydney the entire New Year. Alone.

Imagine this. I woke up at about 8 am (though I was still in bed until 10.30 am) in Grace Hotel on the 31st knowing full well I'll not get any sleep until the next day at 10 pm (not am!) at the earliest (that's the time of my flight out of Sydney homebound). So, that works out to about 36 hours of sleeplessness.
& it has nothing to do with amnesia.
The bed at Grace was fantastic as well. Really one of the most comfortable around.

After having breakfast at the airport upon returning from Antarctica, I parted ways with Brad (he's luckier, he has got a sister in Sydney with a bed reserved for him!) & headed back to Grace to have a change of clothes & to leave my stuff before venturing & discovering the streets of Sydney.
I walked & walked ... almost the entire city center! ... from 9 am to 6 pm (except for the 1 hour I was having my lunch at a Vietnamese Restaurant).

Beginning from York & King Street, I headed for Darling Harbour, had a nice frozen yoghurt & then up to Chinatown. Had a wonderful time there checking out the chaotic atmosphere (Do you ever realised that Chinatowns in the world are always more chaotic than the rest of the cities?!) before having my lunch.
After lunch, I walked towards Hyde Park & then all the way to the Botanical Garden & Sydney Opera House.

Sydney Opera House... the very icon of Australia.
I had been here once on a tour but it's been many years ago.
& by this time, I really was not thinking straight, anyhow. Wake up!!!
So, I ended joining the tour (A$23 for an hour tour of the world renowned architecture). It was a well-executed tour, but $23?! That's tourists' $$$. But then again, that's the privilege of the tourists. Anyhow, it's New Year & I really need to stay awake! (I think it's cheaper to go up CN Tower! & more exciting too. I love heights! Should have gone bridge-climbing instead! That'd surely keep me awake!)

Well, after many hours of walking around the city, I got a very good glimpse of Sydney & must say I like it a lot better this time round.
It's finally time to go to the airport...
Thank God, I finally got my sleep!
Guess what, I slept another 15 hours when I got home on Sunday morning!

Happy New Year!!! :-)))