Long long bus journey. There were periods of dropping off, I’d say I got about 7 hours sleep but it was all broken down into 45 minute to 1 hour chunks and so I don’t feel like I did well. The bus was only half full though so two seats was good. It’s one of the few times being tall is such a disadvantage. All of the shorter people curled into double seats looked so much more comfortable than I felt.

Music for the journey was Bon Iver, Bat For Lashes and Ryan Adams and some Michael Jackson. I have decided to give HIStory a couple of listens for re-evaluation purposes, I also had the passing thought that Invincible does too but don’t worry, that thought passed pretty fast. I also read three books yesterday which isn’t so good. I traded in a load for some more Robert B. Parkers. They are good fun but they fly by. The last one I read was about 220 pages and it went in just over 2 hours. Not really good value for money in some ways.

Now the plan for today is to kill another couple of hours, head to the hostel for a few hours sleep and then I’m off to meet Chris Breach for beers (a crawl has been mentioned, I may die tonight) and to see a little bit of the city.

Ohh speaking of seeing a bit of the city. When we were coming in and the driver was letting us know that we were 10 minutes out and not to forget our bits and pieces he said we’d be coming in over the Harbour Bridge. Now it’s hard to get a group of weary travellers enthusiastic about anything at 6.30 in the am but I was not alone in openning up the curtains and peering around. The bridge looked pretty impressive and I certainly want to walk across it and back at the least and then there below is the Sydney Opera House and so there are two thoughts. Firstly, that lovely travel feeling of hey, I’m in Sydney. This is a new place and this is cool. It’s literally enough to put a grin on my face (Okay I’m tired and I feel like shit and I’m sat in a Starbucks but still I’m in Sydney, how cool is that??). Secondly the Opera House is tiny! Now okay, it was still fairly dark and I wasn’t the most awake I’ve ever been and so it could be a case of perspective (Now concentrate this time, Dougal. These are very small; those are far away… ) but it looks so tiny! Also, of course, it looks pretty fucking cool. Certainly looking forward to wandering there with my camera.

However I would be remiss if I did not mention what must surely be the highlight of my travels to date. I caught merely a fleeting view from the coach but I have seen my first “Big Thing”. Yes that’s right, in Ballina I saw the one and (I assume) only Big Prawn.

Oh yes new beer to add to the list. Little Creatures Pale Ale. Lovely stuff, probably right up there on the preference list. It was however responsible for ensuring that I had the start of a hangover when I got onto the bus just before 7 last night.

Now I should wander and sit somewhere else where hopefully I can get a connection…

11.13 Sydney Australia Thursday July 24th.