Farewell to Sydney

Us at the Opera House

Hard to believe that it all came together in the end...months of thinking about it, weeks of preparing a plan and then within two viewings of the van and a mere 5 days of advertising – Lola was sold, and sold at a higher price than we paid all those kilometres ago!  It was bitter sweet; we love that campervan and were SO sad to see her drive away, but what a relief that it went without having to reduce our price, without having to put up ‘urgent’ posters at the hostels....just brilliant really!

Sunset View on the Manly Ferry

We had been house-sitting for one of my cousins in a suburb just outside of Sydney.  Just perfect for us sorting out the van, getting our return trip organised and for exploring Sydney.  Kay & Pete and their two children, Emma and Luke arrived back from their holiday the day after the van sold and very kindly let us stay for the remainder of our time in Australia.  It was lovely to spend time with the family and get to know Emma & Luke.  Emma showed us her amazing ballet skills and she performed on the recorder in a big concert at the Opera House while we were there; Luke found a new play friend with Chris and spent a lot of time playing draughts with him and showing off his toy car collection!  Kay & Pete spoilt us with cooking us meals, treating us to take away and letting us sample lots of Aussie wines!

Chris at Sydney Airport

After I finished my admin work and a couple of days doing after school care, we made some time for some sightseeing.  We went for a lovely walk with Pete & Emma in the Royal National Park there were some amazing coastal views.  Me & Chris had a day trip to Manly on the ferry across the harbour, it was just lovely and on the ferry back we watched the sunset behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge, it felt really special, I was even a little teary thinking about us leaving Australia behind.  We had another great day on ‘Pete’s Northern Beach Tour’ where we visited some of the beautiful beaches and view points north of Sydney.  We even saw where they film Home & Away!  Picnicing has become a favourite past-time and we had a couple lounging in the Botanical Gardens, it’s just so beautiful in there, could have stayed staring at the view for hours. 

Batu Caves

We left Sydney yesterday, backpacks packed again!  As glamorous as ever, we departed on Air Asia and landed in Kuala Lumpur.  It was really, really busy and then we realised why – for the 2^nd year in a row we are in Malaysia for National Malaysia Day!  Tired from the flight this Asian business was a little overwhelming, but fresh faced today, it’s not been too bad.  We’ve had a lovely day out of the city at Batu Caves, a large Hindu Shrine built into the caves.  It was a beautiful setting in the cliff side and fun to watch the mischievous monkeys stealing the religious offerings!  We headed to Little India for lunch and filled up on roti & curry for a mere £1.60 including drinks...we’d forgotten how cheap Asia can be.  Enjoying seeing all the little shrines dotted about again, the smell of incense and the food stalls...haven’t missed the sewage smells and the squat toilets though!

Off to Bangkok tomorrow.  Very excited for a curry & a Chang!

Miss you all, 3 months and 7 days till we’re home!

Kat & Chris xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx