Okay, so not, you know... SOON or anything... in fact not for another one hundred and thirty eight days, in March next year.But on the upside, I'll be spending at least part of my 34th birthday in Sydney.
It all came about because Ma went over to Melbourne... I mean the idea of Sydney was already there, and I had floated the concept of using my tax refund to partially fund a trip, but I think after Ma went to Melbourne she got the travel bug again. Then she spotted an article in the paper about Virgin Blue and CrapStar both having a sale on discount fares to various places...
As a brief aside, that whole "cheap fare" thing is a big fat joke... yes, you're only paying $89 per person for a ticket... but then they slug you with petrol changes and wear and tear on the trolley dolly's shoes and, I don't know... cream bun insurance... and before you know it, your supposedly $178 fare actually costs you $356 or thereabouts. Rudeness.
Anyway... where was I... oh yeah... so I'd had a look at the fares, had a look at hotels... and in theory it seemed doable. So we discussed it briefly last night after the movie and decided why the hell not.
So we're all booked... leaving on March 11, staying four days, three nights, coming back on my birthday on March 14.
Now all I need to do is track down a decent cheap hotel closer to the time... something either actually IN the city, or very, very close to the city, since I'll be travelling with Ma, who, although sprightly, is still a 60 year old woman (which is just scary when you say it out loud like that).
And that, gentle readers, is where you all come in... both those of you living in Sydney and those of you who've visited Sydney... I need ideas about places to go (when does that scupture thing happen down along the beach?), things to see (where would I find good street art in Sydney?) , things we totally HAVE to see, things or places we really should avoid, places to eat, places to shop (what's a really good gay bookstore?), any festivals or special events that might be on while we're there... and if anybody has ideas on hotels, feel free to mention them.
I'm kind of leaning towards the Devere Hotel right at the moment... you can get the rooms really cheaply on one of those "cheap hotel room last minute" websites, it's a three and a half star place (which I ASSUME isn't bad) and it doesn't seem THAT far out of the way, being in Potts Point, and they do single rooms with their own bathrooms... it doesn't need to be fancy, since if our excursion to Melbourne a few years back is any indication, we only really came back to the hotel to either drop things off, or else relax a little/sleep.
There are also one or two fellow Bloggers I will definitely be catching up with for an evening bevvie and a chat (with a possible side order of huggage or else slappage, I haven't decided yet)... you know who you are!
It also means that for the first time since I started blogging every day, I'll end up with a four day hole in my blog... although I'll probably take a journal with me, scribble all my thoughts down and retropost when I get back.
And because I'm the biggest dork this side of the Kingdom of Dorkness (I am Lord of the Dork, all lesser dorks bow before me)... I found a little "countdown clock" to count down my days and hours and minutes until I head off... so that's going to take pride of place in the left menu until March... although I have to be honest... I'm not sure how accurate the countdown is when it comes to the hours and minutes... it seems to be out somehow...
Just between you and me and the garden gate... I'm freakin out about this whole thing just a teeny tiny little bit. I'm not completely sure why though. Whether it's finding an appropriate hotel, whether it's just going somewhere that's UTTERLY unknown to me, or what, I don't know... but I'm this big mix of excitement ("I'm going to Sydney, I'm going to Sydney... WOOHOO!") and nerves ("I got flutterbies in my tummy"). And I have 138 days to think about this... oh great... I have 138 days to obsess... who's stupid idea was this?
So look out Sydney... yani's a'comin' (and Ma too)...
Current Moods:
8 comments:
Cool. Have you been before? Anyway, brain dump to sort of answer your questions:
Sadly the sculpture by the sea thing is november I think, but the Coogee to Bondi walk is good nonetheless.
Never heard of the Devere Hotel but Potts Point is gay central! You might be able to find a 2 bed appartment which is better value than 2 hotel rooms - try www.ratestogo.com for 2 weeks ahead or their sister site www.hotelclub.net which
The Bookshop Darlinghurst on Oxford Street is a gay bookshop, but it's a bit pokier and amateur than its website would make you think.
As for street art... no bloody idea! I'll keep my eyes peeled! :P
Oh my ... you two will be in the same town ... oh my... no pressure, guys, don't mind me... ;)
We love Bookshop Darlinghurst. Coming from Brisbane where there is no dedicated gay bookshop, Bookshop Darlinghurst was incredible. I'm sure you'd feel the same coming from Adelaide. :)
Sunshine, you're like a broken record player. :P
There's still time to change your trip and go to Brissie instead to beat him up Yani!
Tom: Woohoo for Gay Central... hehe... actually I should have known it was when I worked out that there's a gay escort agency three streets over ;P
I worked out the scuplture thing too... which is a pain in the butt (missing it I mean), but also means that I'll have to come back another time to see it.
I had thought briefly about the whole apartment thing, or seeing about a "suite" in a hotel (although maybe those things only exist in movies or really expensive hotels and would be out of our price range anyway), but the apartment idea could be worth thrashing out.
"their sister site www.hotelclub.net which"... which WHAT? Don't leave me hanging dammit... :P
I did find The Bookshop in my interwebnet searches yesterday but their site wasn't working, so I wasn't sure if the bookshop was actually still there. But it's going on the list. I've already told Ma that at some point I'm possibly dragging her down Oxford Street...
As far as street art is concerned, I think I'd possibly have to journey down to "The Land of The Other Andrew" in Newtown, since he seems to have all the good stuff down that way... not sure if that will happen this trip though (too much I want to see, and only essentially three days to see it all in).
Eddy: SERIOUSLY... enough now with the whole "you guys should blah blah" thing. Seriously. It's gone past funny and it's in the realm of uncomfortable now.
And yes, I'm sure I'll love The Bookshop too... hell, I went nuts in Hares and Hyenas when we were in Melbourne, so I'm sure this won't be any different ;). Must remember not to fill my suitcase to capacity on the way over though, so I have room for everything... hehe.
Oh, and no Tom, I've only ever been to Melbourne before, never to Sydney :)
oh yeah, oops... not that exciting anyway:
...which allows you to book more than 2 weeks in advance. I've used it in other cities and found it to be good, but never Sydney, as I live here!
Yani, you definately need to come to Newtown. Drinkage at "The Newtown Hotel" should be on your agenda for sure. Sadly "The Imperial" (as featured in Priscilla) is closed for renovations for around 6 months, but who knows, it may be reopened by then? Newtown is really good for shopping and general street culture, the sort of place that is very mixed with a high gay % (ie cute boys holding hands in the street is the norm).
I'd love to meet you when you're here, maybe we can have a sort of mini Blogger-meet so we can catch up while your here.
Yeah, we might have to organise something Andrew... you and Tom are the main people I want to say hi to though (hey, the pair of you have been on my blogroll the longest out of the Sydney Folk)... anybody else is gravy.
And I'm thinking Newtown could be a good option to do some shopping or at least wander about aimlessly and annoy the shop assistants by NOT buying things...
I just need to work out with Ma what the hell we want to do and how much stuff we need to cram in over the days... even though it sounds like four days, we get into Sydney at lunchtime the first day... then we leave at about 2pm on the last day, so there's only really the two days in the middle where I've got the whole day to play with. We'll see ;)
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