November 22nd to November24th
Our last few days in Australia were so divorced from the rest, it felt like a different country in itself. No campervan and a whole different lifestyle. Our day in Melbourne consisted of getting the campervan handed back and getting to the train station ready for the night train. No cabin we were too late. However we did get to see double decker trains.
Next morning we each got going on our own activity to see Sydney. I went on the bridge climb booked for me by Ashley as he wanted to do his Harley Davidson ride.
The bridge climb was fantastic with so much history thrown in. The bridge was a massive effort linking the two sides of Sydney. It was built in two halves that had to be carefully joined whilst suspended by cranes. Complicating this was the expansion of the metal as the sun heated the bridge unevenly.
We also heard two stories about the opening ceremony, a massive event with virtually all of Sydney attending. The ribbon was ready to be cut by the New South Wales Premier, Jack Lang. Before Lang could cut the ribbon and declare the bridge open, Francis De Groot, a member of the ultra-right-wing New Guard group, rode a borrowed horse out of the crowd and slashed the ribbon with his cavalry sword. He was arrested and the ribbon rehung and cut by the Premier. De Groot was fined £5.
The other story is about Lennie Gwyther, a nine-year-old boy who rode his pony, Ginger Mick, over 1,000 km from rural Victoria to Sydney in 1932 to see the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. His incredible solo journey during the Great Depression captured the nation’s heart, earning him the nickname “Lenny the Legend” and a hero’s welcome, culminating in him riding across the bridge in the official ceremony.
Meanwhile Ashley saw the bridge from a different perspective riding along it and around the area.
It’s lovely when you can visit someone after a rough night on the train and know they’ve seen you even worse after nights bush camping. So next we went to Bondi Beach where it was lovely to catch up with John G from our trip on the silk road.
John was a wonderful host plying us with olives cheese crackers and wine before taking us to the RSL for dinner. As a self confessed wineoholic he insisted we tried his wines, which we did, whilst watching his travel films from some of his trips, in particular, Tasmania as we had just been there and Iraq, I want to go there now! He does these carefully edited films to show to local friends and raise money for charity.
Next day we left Ashley at a local cafe and headed off for a walk to Bronte beach.
For the occasion John specially got out his world map shorts, a familiar sight from our travels and posed for some pictures to share with our fellow travellers from then.
I also heard some of the history of Bondi Beach. When John’s grandparents moved there it was a working class area with a bad reputation. His grandfather didn’t want his daughters brought up there, but grandmother held firm and said it wouldn’t last forever and it was convenient for the city. John now lives opposite where his grandparents lived & his parents lived next door to each other Now of course Bondi Beach is very different.
The walk took us along the coast with the wonderful views.
We went to Douglas Bay for a late lunch and views across to the skyline of Sydney.
We had already heard about John’s White House rug. Apparently it was a joke at work that he was Mr President so he brought it to his home as a theme. To get the rug made he had to get special clearance from the White House which included checking out his security clearance. He had to agree to lend out the rug if the president was ever in the area and needed it, which almost happened once.
All to soon our brief visit was over and we left for New Zealand. Thanks John for a great stay.
Catch up with John’s travels as he aims to get to every country in the world, 193 UN recognised countries.
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