Muddle Through Memoirs

Enjoying Sydney Solo

My second and final week in Sydney had me moving into my third hostel, this time located in the Potts Point area, just along from Kings Cross station, and one of the first things I saw on my arrival was this beautiful mural which I think makes the perfect starting point for this post. Created for last year’s World Pride in Sydney, Dylan Mooney’s mural “Still Thriving” is reflective of his experience as a young, queer, indigenous Australian. I looked at it every day this week and loved it more every time.

To start the week I had booked myself on a day trip up to the Blue Mountains, where 20 tourists were packed cosily into a van with our slightly eccentric guide Tom at the helm. As we drove some of the soundtrack highlights included the Jurassic Park theme, Circle of Life, We Like to Party by the Vengaboys and Blue (da ba dee), so a fair mix of tastes.

We started the morning at the tunnel view lookout in the Blue Mountains National Park, Ngurra country. Tom led us on a hike through the bush pointing out all the various plants that are essential to keeping yourself alive such as a tree whose sap can knit together wounds and has anaesthetic properties. He also pointed out the resident Koala (Kevo) who generally sleeps 20-23 hours a day, wakes up to eat and promptly goes straight back to sleep. Sounds like the ideal form for my next life.
The views from the lookout were fairly incredible though we were aware of a fog fast approaching over the mountains.

After a quick bit of breakfast at Glenbrook we began our drive to our next location, and Tom devised an Aussia Slang and Trivia quiz for us to complete. Contrary to my pitiful contributions in Taylor Swift Trivia last week I led my team to a triumphant victory of 33-22 for which the prize was a pack of TimTam biscuits. One of the facts gleamed from this quiz was the reason the Blue Mountains are so named; the Eucalyptus trees in the area produce an oil which in the heat of the day evaporates to form a blue haze making the mountains and valleys appear much like the ocean.

Our next stop was the Wentworth Falls where we hiked first to a very misty lookout and then down the more than 400 “steps of death” which were slippery, steep and uneven on the way down and a humbling kick to your stamina on the way back up. I was very grateful at this point for mild, cloudy day as I definitely would have had to resign myself to making the park my home for the night had it been a hotter day.
Additionally, on the way back up I saw my first snake in the wild, a baby brown snake which I was told is one of the most deadly snakes in the world (made more so as the babies don’t know how to bite without venom yet and so can kill you in 30mins!) Needless to say it was probably the fastest I moved all day.

After this uncharacteristic feat of athleticism we headed to the Three Sisters Lookout for lunch and an attempt to see what we were in fact there for. However, throughout the day the thickest fog I have ever seen had descended and you could see absolutely nothing from the lookout. I’ve been to the Blue Mountains before when I was 14 so I wasn’t too devastated but we did have to laugh at everyone trying to squint and get pictures when there was zero chance of a clear shot. Honestly, the fog was pretty cool to see in itself, very eerie, atmospheric, and Edgar Allen Poe-esque.
This non-view was the same at our final stop, Lincoln’s rock, where some of our group took pictures with their legs hanging off the side of the cliff (something I did not do as one sneeze and you’d have ended up falling into the void of fog).
Despite the lack of views I had such a great time on this trip, with such a lovely group of people.

Tour aside I have spent this week almost entirely alone, something which may have put me off in the past, but sometimes solo travel really is you and your water bottle against the world and I actually really enjoyed the chance to wander about and please myself. As such I ended up at a lot of museums and galleries.

Some of my favourite parts of these museum visits were seeing the incredible Aboriginal art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the free and incredibly immersive audio tour of the Hyde Park Barracks (telling the story of the first fleets and convicts), the Garrigarrang: Sea Country and Wansolmoana exhibits at the Australian Museum and the brand new Qtopia museum in Taylor’s Square.
Additionally, one evening I took part in an after dark true crime walking tour around The Rocks, the historical home to convicts, thugs and general misdeeds. This made for a really interesting evening and came as a recommendation from a friend in one of my hostels last week.

Another running theme of this week was meandering around smaller suburbs and markets in a way my longer stay in Sydney permitted.
Newtown is a cool, hipster-ish student area complete with plenty of vintage shops, street art and amazing food places. It very much reminded me of Brighton, so I was naturally going to love it here. I had a really great lunch at Cairo takeaway and happily spent a few hours chilling in the Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, listening to my podcasts and watching the dogs playing.

Undoubtedly the best market I attended was the Glebe market on Saturday morning. This really is the ultimate collection of stalls: vintage clothes, books, records, plants, crystals, handmade crafts, jewellery, amazing food and live music at the centre. It was like a melting pot of Camden, Spitalfields and the Cambridge Folk Festival all in one. Truly the best deterrent for frivolous spending is having to carry all your gear around on your back. So, while I left sorrowfully near empty handed, my bank balance lives to fight another day so that’s something to be grateful for I suppose.

Post-Glebe markets my Saturday was largely taken up by camping out at the barrier for the Sydney Mardi Gras parade, an all-evening spectacular of LGBTQ+ celebration and joy for everyone in attendance. As I had no one to go with, I utilised one of the best features of booking through Hostelworld, the chats feature. It effectively set up a giant group chat for travellers throughout Sydney and having put up a message about the parade I was able to get together a small group of people to attend with and we ended up all getting on really well and having a great time, so it just goes to show putting yourself out there in a slightly awkward or embarrassing way can yield really great results. The parade itself was showstopping and so much fun, especially being right at the front where we had amazing interactions with many of those marching. It’s definitely a day I won’t forget.

For my final day in Sydney I hopped on the ferry over to Manly. I got the slow ferry on the way over and the fast ferry on the way back to experience both and honestly the ferry in itself is an attraction enough as you get fantastic views of the whole harbour. After a quick bit of brunch at the Manly Beach Shack (a lovely little family run cafe), I strolled along the length of the beach in search of the Manly Wormhole, a strange cave tunnel formation on the far end of the main beach. It’s definitely a hidden gem and a bit off the beaten track, in that the last section of the route is literally clambering across the rocks at the cliff edge, but it was well worth the effort (and it was a fair effort given that I’m hardly steady-footed and elegant at the best of times). After soaking up some sun and watching the beach volleyball I made my way back through the Manly markets (once again resisting temptation).

Sydney you beauty, you’ve been fabulous.

See you next time!