Sydney

Coffee in Sydney is good too. I'm still to have one bad cup of coffee in Australia.
Today, Saturday, I took a long walk towards the centre that allowed me to find a relaxed, intimated, more humans in scale side of the city. Up until now, it all looked grand and big and new: the Bridge, the Opera, the Harbour -only at the museums, albeit grand as well, I could find gave some solace in their collections. Today, even walking around the centre, as I was making my way to the very tall Sydney Tower (spectacular view of the city), I spotted some very good XX century architecture, staring with the 1934 ANZAC memorial, dwarfed by the high buildings around its Hyde Park.
As in Melbourne, the best part of my visit to Sydney is seeing my friends here. As a matter of fact I'm staying with them, which gives me an insider perspective of living in this city.
I went to the Blue Mountains for a night and a day. Did some hiking -the most popular of the hiking tracks, but still stunning and not that busy, save for the Japanese and German tourists I crossed at times.
Other than that, I pursued very urban endeavours. Eating out, going for drinks, a great night out of clubbing that ended in one of those dark, sweaty after-hours that I like so much.
Over the weekend, thanks to this city's amazing autumn, we went to the pool and the beach (Bondi Beach). Just great.
Monday early (for me) morning, I'll hoop on a bus that will take me north, up the Gold Coast, for 10 days of surfing -haven't surfed since October, we'll see how much I have to relearn. Back to Sydney for a couple of days after that, before embarking in the second half of the Australian leg of the trip (national parks and open spaces).