After Glebe, I moved to one of the central YHAs where I stayed in a reconditioned railway carriage on a disused platform next to the real station. Cute. But no picnic when trains came in and sat on nearby platforms revving up. That wasn't the only noise. There were 2 French girls in my 4-share room and from the amount and spread of their crap across the room, they had been there for weeks and thought it was their bedroom.. Coming in at 1.30 each morning etc etc. Having admonished one of them at 2.30am, I resolved to have it out properly with them in the morning and ask them if there might be ways they could reduce the noise when they came in (once a teacher, always a teacher). But before I got the chance to talk to them...I got up in the morning and one of them had brought a man into the (female-only) dorm and I don't think he was even another YHA guest. See what I mean - cheeky bitches. I didn't even care about being a nark and complained to the idiot on reception who took some time to process the information that there was an extra person and he was of the wrong gender. It would have been quicker and more productive to have stood on the platform and shouted 'fire'. Or, taking into account the hostel demographic, 'fight' or even 'free BBQ' would have resulted in some movement. The bloke had gone when I went back to the room but the girls hadn't - don't you get chucked out for putting up non-guests? I remonstrated with the one there and she agreed to be quieter. But I decided to move rooms anyway and ended up with a much nicer dorm with grown-up (mid as opposed to early 20s!) An undisturbed night's sleep in a tidy dorm. Marvellous. Thanks to Wanda for the translation services when I was considering speaking to them in rusty French (I asked her for individual words - 'noisy', 'bitches' and 'dead' and her replies helped me construct the marvellous phrase "You noisy bitches, I'm going to kill you." I didn't use it in the end, but that would have shut them up...surely).
I walked a lot round Sydney, revisited some places I liked and went on a ferry trip to Manly, where I went to the beach and saw lots of bronzed bodies (and many not quite so tanned or toned - all sorts! Quite encouraging!)
Went for a night to the Blue Mountains and spent a lovely couple of days wandering around Katoomba, another very small town, doing little walks around the National Park. Blissful, and fabulous photo opportunities. It's been so hot here that I haven't felt like doing much serious bush-walking - my typical thoughts in the morning go like this: it's so hot that I should take plenty of water in case I get stranded or lost...so I'll have to take my rucksack...but that makes me hotter and my back sweaty...and I'll need my whistle...and what if there's a freak thunderstorm? I should take my jacket...and my waterproof trousers...and insect repellent...and what if it cools down under tree cover in the valley? maybe I shoudl take my fleece...and a change of clothes in case I get wet...and my survival blanket...and emergency rations... By the time I've got it mentally packed, my rucksack weighs 15 kilos and the thought of all that on my back defeats me. In the cities I've covered a lot of ground - wandered all over Sydney for hours and hours on end and a 7km round trip to the Canberra information centre (though I didn't pass a shop and it was very hot and I was worried I would run out of water) :o)
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