n.b. This is Part Two of a trip diary in two parts. Part One was posted here.

The first half of my trip over, it was time to leave the skyscrapers and harbour behind, and to take the Western Line out to Penrith.

Day Five – Wednesday

I checked out of WakeUp early, and treated myself to their full English breakfast. The coffee was pretty good. Probably had more meat in it than there was on the plate, too. At least it was only A$12…

Off to the train station, cunningly hidden in broad view across the street, and onto the Penrith train. My aunt told me to sit on the top deck, on the right-hand side, for the best view of the Olympic Village from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. I sat exactly there, then got so engrossed in Chuck Palahniuk’s Diary that I not only missed the view, but only narrowly avoided missing my stop. Double-decker trains are cool though.

I met my aunt at Penrith station, then took a look around the town as we bought in some groceries and had a coffee in the mall. Penrith reminds me of a small-ish American town, and it was interesting how suburban Australia seems to feel more American than British in general, at least to me…

Home to a beautiful 5-bedroom bungalow, where even my en-suite bathroom was almost as big as the hostel room I’d been living in for the past four days. That’s more like it.

Back out in the car, to collect my uncle from work. I don’t think I had seen my uncle in 15 years.

I should backtrack a little. When I was a kid, my aunt and uncle in America were the greatest relatives a little boy could ever wish for. Of course my regular British relatives were all wonderful too, particularly my grandparents in Oxford, but they were all at the end of a long, stuffy, boring drive in the car with my parents and my brother. Are we nearly there yet? My aunt and uncle, on the other hand, were at the end of a flight, on an actual real-life aeroplane. A flight to America. Every visit was like a week or more of Christmas to my young self.

The journey was half the adventure – the sheer magic of flying, then arriving in the country where everything was bigger, better, and with 90% more sugar than I was used to. So after all that, when my uncle was the nicest guy in the world on top, he was a pretty cool guy to visit.

So it was odd, as a thirty-one year old man, to suddenly be back in that bear-hug. Odd, but awesome.

We got coffees on the way home, where we ate a fantastic roast dinner, and began to catch up over the past fifteen years. A few beers, and sleep.

Day Six – Thursday

A day out with my aunt – a trip to the Blue Mountains. A rest stop for a coffee and a hot cross bun on the way, and in no time we were at Echo Point, the perfect vantage point from which to snap at the Three Sisters – the three towers of rock standing out from the mountain.

I’d never heard of it, and was taken quite unawares by a pretty spectacular view. The sky was pretty grumpy-looking, with a lot of rainclouds, but that rather made things a little more atmospheric for me…

Down the mountainside to the old coal mines next, via a train ride along what must be the world’s most ridiculous incline. This photo was not taken at a clever angle – it was taken standing on flat ground, facing the track…

A nice walk around at the bottom, through the valley and around what was once a thriving coal mine. A good day out.

Over to the town of Leura next, for a little shopping, and a lot of pie and chips for lunch. Yum.

Indian restaurant for dinner in the evening, with friends of the aunt and uncle – everybody was a vegetarian except me, which meant I got the lamb madras all to myself. Superb.

Day Seven – Friday

Back into the city today, for a trip to Taronga Zoo. Everybody I’d spoken to about Sydney had insisted that I visit the zoo, and I can see why – a terrific day out, with a great view back across the harbour to the city.

Koalas first, irresistibly cute but also mostly sound asleep in places that made them enormously tricky to photograph well. This is probably the best of the bunch.

The bird show next, where all manner of feathered fellows swooped around the outdoor arena to cue – entertaining, and really good fun.

Afterwards, I spotted a Kodiak bear on our way from the bird show arena towards the gorillas, and took this snap – now featured in Schmap Sydney’s Twelfth Edition. Which is nice.

On to the gorillas then, who were rather a glum-looking bunch. It’s not clear from the photo, but this is only the small indoor part of their enclosure. They had a large outdoor space too, but I guess it was too hot for them on the day. They’re not locked up in a whitewashed room, which is what it looks like from the photo…

And it wouldn’t have been Australia without a kangaroo to round things off.

Pizza for dinner. I like pizza.

Day Eight – Saturday

Up early again, and back into the city, this time to Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The bridge is 139 metres high. And I was going to climb to the top of it.

Unfortunately, doing so means donning a particularly unpleasant boiler-suit, and leaving all loose items behind in a locker. Hence no photographs of this bit. Not by me, anyway. Here’s one from Flickr, instead.

It took hours, but wow – it was worth it. Breathtaking.

After the climb, a cold Coopers at the Orient Hotel, and another pie. I like pie.

A downer on the other task for the day – we took the bus out to Bondi beach, where the heavens opened the moment we arrived. We shrugged, and got back on the bus going the other way. A shame, but it’s only a beach, after all…

Thai takeaway for dinner. I always feel a bit silly eating Thai food in the West when the same dish costs me a dollar or less at home, but hey, I love Thai food. It was great.

One last sleep in Australia, before the journey home.

Day Nine – Sunday

I slept in until 11am (thanks guys!), packed my things, then we had a nice relaxing lunch in Penrith, just near the train station.

All done, I waved the folks off, and took the train all the way to the airport.

Australia couldn’t let me go without a reminder of Western bureaucracy, though.

At the Emirates desk, the check-in girl asked to weigh my hand luggage – I didn’t have any checked luggage, travelling light. Not light enough though – apparently I was over the limit. The bag weighed 10kg, when the limit is 7kg. The books were most of the weight, so she had me remove those, and re-weighed it. That took the weight down to 8kg. Apparently this was okay, although it’s still over the limit.

I asked her what I was supposed to do with the books – check them? No, apparently I could carry them on in one hand, and carry the bag on in the other hand. This made no sense. I pointed out that they still weighed the same, whether or not they were in the bag. She didn’t seem to understand.

Checked in, I staggered off shaking my head, balancing five loose books in the crook of my left arm, while carrying my bag with my right. I needed a carrier bag to carry the books in, so went to duty free.

There was nothing I wanted to buy at all, but I figured that since I was in Australia I should probably buy some Vegemite.

I tried to buy some Vegemite.

I was not allowed to buy Vegemite, because for the intents and purposes of airport security, Vegemite is technically a liquid.

I eventually managed to beg a free carrier bag from the shop assistant, who scolded me for “not packing properly”. Deep breath.

Onwards to the outdoor bar to smoke myself silly before the flight, and then, finally home.

I know I only saw a tiny slice of Australia this week, but apart from the annoyances that say more about me than they do anything else, I had an utterly fantastic time. Sydney is the first city I had visited since Bangkok (with Paris and New York before that) that made me thing that it could, just perhaps, one day be home.

I’ll be back.