After our 1hr flight from Christchurch to Auckland, a 4hr airport lounge wait proceeded by a 3.5hr flight to Sydney we finally arrived in Australia and proceeded to follow our instructions to get to our new home for the next 7 days. Dave’s good friend Rob offered his flat for us both to stay in as he and his family were back in the UK whilst we were dropping by, unfortunate as we would have loved to have met up with them properly. He suggested we purchase a week long travel pass which allows the use of trains, underground metro, buses and boats at a very good price of $43 AUS.

A few train stops later and we arrived at the flat, received the keys and settled in to our home for the next week. The view from the kitchen was spectacular and with the sun setting over the Harbour bridge we made our way to the Sydney Festival 2012 First Night which included several free performances in Hyde Park and around the city. The streets were packed with people in the centre of the city and the music was pumping from Norman Jay’s 8hr big red bus.  Other performers included Washington and an energetic performance from rising World Music star Manu Chao, we were amazed by the fusion of sounds, genres and crazy dancing that was going on and the crowd absolutely loved him. This was all taking place in The Domain whilst Norman Jaye was pleasing the hard core fans.

As a free event to kick off a month long festival in the heart of Sydney it was great to see thousands of people turn out and enjoy the music and atmosphere. The queues for food and drinks were huge however we finally managed to find a smaller line for a plateful of Dim Sum which raised our energy levels ready for the journey back to the flat and a king sized double bed, its has been a long time indeed, luxury.

The next morning we enjoyed a well deserved lie in followed by an equally well deserved breakfast out at the local Kirribilli Cafe welcoming us nicely to our new city life. After travelling around New Zealand for two months in and out of the wilderness it was strangely comforting to be back in-between all the hustle and bustle that a city has to offer. Although it’s clear to see that people just aren’t as friendly as their rural neighbours.

Food shopping was required to fill the cupboards as we cannot afford to eat out all the time and we found a local Aldi as well as a deli to help us stock up. Items are cheaper to purchase here than in New Zealand. The Kirribilli Sunday market was also underway nearby so we had a look through what was on offer, no mens clothes unfortunately to help replace Dave’s ripped jeans!

We jumped straight into sightseeing mode and made our way across the Harbour Bridge en-route to Helen’s Uni friend James who just so happened to be getting married at the Rocks. We had a drink with the newlyweds and caught up on the Loughborough gossip. This was followed with a stroll around the Opera House followed by an impressive storm taking place later on and documented patiently by Dave. This was also the night we started watching The Killing (Danish Version), with 19 episodes to follow we were hooked instantly and knew it would have to be included into our daily schedule from now on!

(Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)