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Good auld Sydney

We arrived in Sydney feeling a little subdued having just handed back Larry (our camper) and the thought of hostel life again, but we soon got back into it and really enjoyed our time in the city.

The first day or so it was all business having to clean the van top to bottom, pack our rucksack, check our airline tickets, banking and do a little research on our next destination Auckland, New Zealand and so on… Once that was done it was time to relax and enjoy the city.

The easiest and most enjoyable way to see the city was via the open top hop on hop off sightseeing tour bus. We bought a 48 hour pass. Our first stop was the Australian Museum and the most striking display was the National Geographic Wildlife Photographs of the Year – wow! Jonathan, if you do make it down this far it is definitely worth a visit – awesome. Then it was onto the Maritime Museum and for about $30 you could explore the Vampire gun ship, Oslo the submarine and an exact replica of James Cook’s Endeavour.

On the third day we visited Manley beach and the world’s largest IMAX museum which was awesome. None of these activities come cheap but we managed to get almost everything half price with our fake student cards from Thailand .

In all we had a busy but relaxing time in Sydney and would highly recommend it as a city break. It so like London in so many ways but without the sheer number of people which meant you could sit back and just take it all in. Could definitely live here!

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Greater Blue Mountains Area

March 7th, 2009 | Posted by Davey in 11-Australia | UNESCO World Heritage Sites - (2 Comments)

Last week we visited the The Blue Mountains but just didn’t have much spare time to sit down and write a post, so here come a few updates.

The mountains officially start about 60 kilometres to the west of Sydney so it was an easy stop off before we handed back our campervan, Larry. The spectacular plateaus and epic gorges descend to over 700 metres below sea level and rise at their highest at over 1,000 metres. The majority of the Blue Mountains are listed in the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Area and is a conservation area that contains around seven national parks.

We had an amazing time bush camping and trekking and our days were easily consumed with tourists attractions such as Katoomba Scenic Railway, the steepest railway in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records, and originally part of the Katoomba mining tramways constructed between 1878 and 1900. The cable railway line descends 415 metres through sandstone cliffs, via a rock tunnel with a maximum gradient of 52 degrees. Also, the Scenic Skyway, a glass-bottom aerial cable car that traverses an arm of the Jamison Valley, and the Scenic Flyway, the steepest aerial cable car in Australia.

Pictured below are some great shots of the famous three sisters, which is well worth a visit, and all walks and scenic tours seemed centred on views such as these.

Most evenings we headed off into the wild, or the bush, for for much needed relaxation. As you can see I felt very at home building my fires and cooking outdoors. The parks were the best in terms of facilities that we’ve ever seen. Not only are you allowed to build your own fire, but wood is also provided and chopped in some cases – how mad is that! Sometimes I went a little crazy with the whole experience and built a fire that would warm the whole campsite, but we were on our own so no worries there.

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Surfing at last

March 2nd, 2009 | Posted by Davey in 11-Australia - (7 Comments)

Who said surfing was easy? I though I’d save us some cash and go down the self-taught route – sure it can’t be that hard – only to discover weeks later that I was getting absolutely nowhere, not even a knee on the board let alone my two legs.

So, while in Byron Bay Sam and I had a three hour surfing lesson on boards the width of an elephant, both of us stood up on our first attempt. Later I showed the instructor my board and he laughed and asked if they sold me a snorkel as well. I thought that cheeky f**ker I’ll show him. Determined to prove a point, I went out that same evening for a few hours and eventually caught a large wave and was straight up on the board. All the lads were on similar boards so if they could do it so could I – it just took a little longer!

If you’re piss’n around in training waves you have no hope of standing on a small board, but with the larger waves you get the speed and you’re away. It wasn’t all glory, I have far too many bruises and cuts to prove my efforts – the board doesn’t half hurt when you’re being tumbled with it like a washing machine.

Sam took these few pics when I first managed to surf and I’ve improved no end since which you’ll see in the last few. We’ve been to some 10 different surfing beaches along the coast to try out the different waves and swells. The best was Garie Beach in The Royal National Park (the last few pics), absolutely awesome. The waves were averaging 10–12ft and if you fell off it was hell – tumbled for a good 10–15 feet.

If anybody out there is planning on learning to surf, get some lessons and it will save you so much time and effort. I can now see why so many people are addicted, catching and surfing a wave is one hell of a buzz!

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