So, I\u2019m writing a blog. Not because I want to be a \u201cblogger\u201d (I think that\u2019s all a little overdone now, no?), or even because I think I have anything particularly interesting to say. I\u2019m writing a blog because I\u2019m getting too lazy to message every bugger on Facebook every week telling them what\u2019s happening over in Australia.\u00a0 It\u2019s repetitive. It\u2019s repetitive.<\/p>\n
As cities go, Sydney is not all that daunting.\u00a0 It\u2019s big, yes. It\u2019s busy. It\u2019s so expensive it\u2019ll make your eyes water (about \u00a36 for dry shampoo, and I don\u2019t even dare look at nail varnish). But it\u2019s sparkly clean, it\u2019s easy to navigate, the people smile, the sun shines, the parks are leafy and plentiful, the buses are air conditioned and chav-free, the harbour bridge noses into every panorama, and there\u2019s a real koala who sits in a tree in the middle of the city for whenever you need a little fluffy reminder that you\u2019re in Australia. It\u2019s a lot like England, but better at EVERYTHING (except accents and fashion).<\/p>\n
Sydney advertises itself as a city of villages, which is both endearing and accurate. We started our time in Sydney in Kings Cross aka The Cross.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard this place described in many ways. \u201cColourful\u201d is my favourite. When we told people we were living there most responded with raised eyebrows and a knowing smile, some let out a long exhale of air and nodded wisely, others just patted our shoulders sympathetically. It\u2019s 30% hostel, 10% kebab shop, 20% bar\/club, and 40% brothel.\u00a0 Venturing out after dark means a stream of \u201cyou coming upstairs sexy?\u201ds.\u00a0 The residents of The Cross all appear to be addicted to some sort of drug that gives them hollow cheeks, thin hair and sunken, staring eyes.\u00a0 Basically, it\u2019s a village full of sex-crazed Gollums.<\/p>\n
We managed nine nights in The Cross before making a break for the altogether lovelier Surry Hills. For every one of The Cross\u2019s sex shops, Surry Hills has a caf\u00e9, a bookshop or an indie bar (or a hybrid of all three). Australians are big on breakfast- and it\u2019s not greasy breakfasts like England- it\u2019s smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and avocado, or banana bread with ricotta, or organic yoghurt with honey and muesli. There\u2019re a lot of bearded men, emaciated girls and fluffy white dogs here. It\u2019s amazing.\u00a0 I\u2019M IN HEAVEN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, I\u2019m writing a blog. Not because I want to be a \u201cblogger\u201d (I think that\u2019s all a little overdone now, no?), or even because I think I have anything particularly interesting to say. I\u2019m writing a blog because I\u2019m getting too lazy to message every bugger on Facebook every week telling them what\u2019s happening […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.seansimpson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.seansimpson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.seansimpson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.seansimpson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.seansimpson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/travel.seansimpson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113,"href":"https:\/\/travel.seansimpson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions\/113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.seansimpson.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.seansimpson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.seansimpson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.seansimpson.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}