Australia

Upon reaching Sydney and settling in to our new digs, Navita and I both realised that New Zealand, fun though it was, seemed like a blur. We were determined to try and 'live' Australia a little more, but quickly started to realise that we also wouldn't have enough time to get into the Australia that backpackers rave about. Time, or lack of, being a big issue once more, we decided that a camper van simply wouldn't cut it, due to the vast distances involved in going from Sydney to Cairns and the relatively 'different' landscapes that we'd be driving across. It just wasn't appealing. Therefore we took the rather harsh decision to fly everywhere, which wasn't great for our budget, but did get us to our key stops and most importantly to Cairns where we'd planned to dive on the Great Barrier Reef.

Sydney
As expected, Sydney delivers on the wow factor for it being a world-leading and class city. Our hostel was on the main high street of George Street and boy did we get to know it well! Due to it being the main conduit to get to and from the main attractions by the harbour (and pretty much all transport in and out of Sydney!), we roamed up and down the long George street at least 3 times a day. I wish I could say more about it other than there were of course the usual Westernised shops, malls and eateries but that's pretty much the size of it.





We'd arrived on an important public holiday weekend which centers around ANZAC Day on the Sunday. This day was to commemorate the many Australian and New Zealand soldiers of World Wars I and II, and as a result a huge number of outdoor events had been put on by the city, joined along by the very Aussie 'piss up' on every street corner! Clearly the celebrations started early as we took our first walk down to the harbour front in the early afternoon: many a sailor soldier, and air force man, young and veteran alike, mobbed the local bars some of which were guest list only. I reminded myself of how the Aussies 'like a drink' in the UK, and now I was on their home turf!!! Eeeek!
Sure enough, this lifted the spirits of everyone around, and Navita and I cheerfully marched on down to the Harbourfont to see one of the most renowned center-pieces of any city in the world.





The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Park
These two landmarks really are beautiful and are also located along popular launches to some of Sydney's suburbs, via boat or bus. The Opera House had been planned since the 40's and only completed in 1973. Whilst unique in design, it leaves something to be desired in the acoustics for performances, and this plus a few other shortcomings were probably down to the main designer not seeing it through to completion. Nevertheless, it's a wonderful sight against the backdrop of the blue waters of the Harbour and islands/landscapes dotted with botanical gardens, houses and some Australian bush.



We roamed around the harbour taking in some street performances, eating ice-cream, visiting the Rocks (site of the first settlers of Sydney), ambling through the arts and craft market and seeing the evening in and watching the bars and restaurants come alive with tourists.
It's in the evening when the iconic Harbour Bridge comes into life when it's lights are switched on.



Manly
It's recommended to recede from the down town core of Sydney and visit a suburb. We chose to spend one of our days in the suburb of Manly. This is one place in the world that seems an idyllic mix of city commutability, lovely ocean front, great climate, ability to snorkel, dive, world class beaches, great fish and chips (mmmm yes I had some)... the list goes on! Our journey there was via the commuter vessel the Manly Ferry, which gives you all the great sights of a tour boat, for a fraction of the cost.



We did the well-known Spit to Manly walk, which was a mix of small beaches and bush which took about 4 hours, winding in and out of residential areas, crossing fishing spots, family picnic and bbq areas and great lookouts onto the ocean and back to Sydney. Very jealous of anyone who lives here! It was here that we had the epiphany of how good weather / a guaranteed summer can really change how you access the outdoors life and dramatically improves one's quality of life. Something we'll miss back in England.

Back in Sydney, it was here we also celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. Unlike our previously lavish weekends away and such like, we settled for a Indian meal at a restaurant, gave ourselves a nice break from cooking in the hostel, and enjoyed a bottle of wine. Very modest celebrations indeed this time around but fun all the same...



A walk through the Botanical Gardens on the Harbour front one day showed us one particular side of the different types of wildlife to be found in Oz. We'd reserved the zoo experience until we got to Brisbane, but in the mean time a quick look up in to the trees in the gardens and a question from Navita as to which kind of birds were sat up there, or were they something else??...



Bats, thousands of them! Fruit bats, which are big, and I mean with bodies the size of pineapples. As we inspected the trees all around us, all we could see were these 'pods' hanging down from the trees. With a chill in our spines, I quickly took some videos and photos, and thus concluded our time in the gardens, it had rubbed us up the wrong way...



Bondi beach
On our last day, we headed to Bondi Beach to see what all the fuss was about! True enough, it was a great looking beach, the sand was uber clean, and the surf was plentiful. I can see how living close to here would have it's advantages, and be a great escape, but as we know with these things, if you lived here, would you really make that much use of a beach like this? The summer season was finishing, so it wasn't busy, but it made for a nice stroll. I'm thinking I may try surfing again somewhere in S.E. Asia, as it's fun but hard work. We headed back to base to meet Vijiti's sister, Priyanka, nattering and catching up over coffee.





Sydney was a fun city but we couldn't help thinking that we were better off spending less time in Oz and planning to re-visit at a later date - on a travellers' budget we're looking for bang-for-your-buck, and sadly, you'd need to work here, like so many young travelers do as they make their way across the country, or go all-out for a shorter stay and do the tourist thing properly. We fell somewhere in the middle, keen to save the pennies, but wanting to experience it all. I'd love to come back in the future and see Sydney again.

==========================================================

Brisbane



Next on our travels up the eastern coast of Australia was the large town of Brisbane. Close to the southern border of the state of Queensland, and getting closer to the warmer tropics, the heat and humidity was a welcome change from the cool clement weather we'd had in Sydney.





Alkesh was charmed by Brisbane - a small, self-contained town centre was well thought out with big squares, green spaces and the main characteristic feature of a large river running through the town centre. It was a little reminiscent of London on the Thames - brown water (!) and the green areas of south / west London. We got the best views from aboard the Sea Cat ferry shuttle that went up and down the Brisbane River. Along the ferry route, we went through the modern new buildings of the financial centre and then out to the green and leafy suburbs and the Queensland University campus.





The highlight of our stay in Brisbane was our day trip to Australia Zoo, 90 minutes out of town near a small place called Birwa. Lured in by the chance to hold a koala, we were also excited to see the weird and wonderful animals that are native and unique to the Australian continent. We went on a weekday to avoid the crowds and spent the whole day, seeing all the animals and shows until closing time.





We had a great day out! First up, we succeeded in holding a koala - well, Alkesh got to hold it and I stood next to him (don't worry, I got several favours in return for giving him that one!). He was so furry, cute and cuddly! Koalas sleep for up to 20 hours a day, hence why the photos shows him looking quite dozy! They are heavily endangered and the Zoo predicts that all koalas in the wild could be extinct in Australia in just 10 years! The Zoo is investing a lot of time, effort and money to do their best to breed the koalas in the wild.



During our day, we checked out several free shows where the Zoo keepers showed off the wonderful animals. These included jaw-snapping crocodiles, hand feeding elephants and magnificent tropical birds. It was good that the Zoo had so many interactive displays that made the day out so much more than what you would expect
from the usual zoo.



Seeing the crocodiles being fed chunks of meat was quite terrifying even though we were always a safe distance away - apparently crocs have the greatest jaw pressure of all animals so beware! Of course we saw many kangaroos and also wombats (which are big lumbering furry creatures the size of a pig!). We also saw some less well known birds unique to Australia like the common Ibis but more impressively the Cassowary - a brightly coloured, large flightless bird with a pre-historic looking bone horn coming out from its head.





Mum will be pleased (!) to know we saw lots and lots of snakes, many that were very poisonous, including a giant reticulated Python that was 7m+ long. Lovely! Finally, knowing that seeing Tigers in the wild was very unlikely, we were pleased to see 3 of the 16 tigers that the Zoo kept.



Whilst in Brisbane, I had the chance to meet up with a dear old school friend of mine, Sandy. We last met in 2003-4 but haven't been at school together in Jakarta since 1997. It was lovely to meet up after so many years and catch up like it had been no time at all. Earlier that day, we had roamed around the South Banks (see, told you it was like London!) - a lovely part of Brisbane with a fake beach and lagoon. It was Buddha's birthday anniversary celebrations and there were lots of dances, performances and food stalls to enjoy.



Our final day trip out of Brisbane was to visit Mount Coo-tha National Park. After a quick view around the Botanic Gardens (why oh why does every town feel the need to have them?!), we started on a 2+km walk to the summit of Mount Coo-tha. Along the way, we walked through Australian arid bush. There was a short detour to see some authentic Aboriginal art paintings along the way. At the summit, we were treated to some glorious views out on to Queensland, Brisbane centre and the surrounding mountains, Bay and islands.



Alas, our race up the East Coast had been thwarted by time and budget so we didn't get to see the smaller beaches, coastal towns and villages but we enjoyed what we had seen - after all, we are very grateful for all that we can see and do on this amazing trip of a lifetime!