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Published: February 26th 2008
Ok ok ok.... so Australia !!! Sorry this has been so long coming (that’s if you’re not sick of receiving the updates email yet!).
It took a few days to get to Sydney from Kota Kinabalu in Borneo. I had to fly from KK to Johor the southernmost state of Malaysia on the Peninsula, and then take a bus to Singapore. This is only a short journey by distance, but it includes taking one bus to the Malaysia border, disembarking to clear Malaysia customs, taking another bus along the causeway which links Malaysia to Singapore, and the disembarking for Singapore customs, and then taking another bus to the centre of Singapore. It's just bloody awkward, that's all. I had to stay a day and night in Singapore before flying to Sydney. I had plenty to do, organising a parcel to send all the stuff I don’t want to carry to Oz with me home, and other things to prepare myself for the next part of my journey. I stayed in an area known as 'Little India' which was a really busy part of Singapore, a little too busy when you come from the laid back pace of life in Borneo.
Sydney Harbour Bridge (4)
View from Sydney Opera HouseThe flight from Singapore to Sydney was just under 7 hours and I arrived at 6am local time. After finding my way to the hostel, and a failed attempt to get some sleep (thanks to noisy roomies), I set off on a walk around the city to get my barings. Well Sydney is HUGE, and I spent a whole day walking around maybe a quarter of the city. State capital of New South Wales, there's so much to do. Unfortunately though, being the main tourist destination, prices are inflated and my budget wouldn't allow me to spend more than a couple of days there. There's a real nice atmosphere about the place though.
First full day in Sydney. I set off for some of the main sights. I organised a climb of Sydney Harbour Bridge for the following day at the tourism office, and then walked on to the Aquarium and Wildlife World. This was all in Darling Harbour which has been nicely developed and is full of activity. The aquarium was very good; it had good sharks & rays (my favourites) and a huge sea lion enclosure with under water tunnel. Wildlife World was very interesting as
A real Australian Ute
As seen on Neighbours... Pronounced 'Yooooote'!! it gives information on all life to be found in Australia, from giant ants, to the worlds largest cockroach, to sleeping Wombats (Of course they're nocturnal), and Kangaroo and Koala you can pet & cuddle (I wouldn't suggest trying to cuddle a 'roo!).
Walking on towards Sydney Harbour Bridge I found a crowd staring at a giant TV screen. It was the new Prime Minister Rudd doing what the previous four PM's had failed to do and apologise to the Aboriginal people for the stolen generation. Between 1910 and 1970 up to 100,000 Aboriginal children were taken forcibly from their families by Australian authorities and sent to church or state institutions or fostered by white people. As a mark of respect the Aboriginal flag was flying on top of Sydney Harbour Bridge alongside the Australian national flag. This is the first time the Aboriginals have been recognised as equal with Australian people, and long may it continue.
Next day I set off for the Bridge Climb. Good job I set off early as it took me forever and a few wrong turns to find the starting point for the climb. This is a half to full day activity.
The whole event takes 3 & 1/2 to 4 hours, but it is a lot more than just climbing a steel bridge frame. There's a training program on safety climbing, a hell of a lot of equipment to put on and a lot of information during the climb about the bridge, how it was built and how it works. The bridge was built by the British in the mid 20's if my memory serves me right and took about 6 or 7 years to build. It connects Teds Point in the Rocks (Southside - where the city is) to Milsons Point in north shore area. There are 6 main lanes of traffic and two further where there was formerly tram tracks, making it the widest long-span bridge in the world with the highest steel arch standing 134 meters above the harbour. The bridges main support is four pylons, two at each end. Amazingly only 16 deaths occur in the building of the bridge, and just seven of those actually on the bridge. I think only 3 were from falling from the bridge itself. There were no safety harnesses, and the wind can pick up at that height, as we found
out. So how there were so few deaths escapes me. Anyway, that's enough of the history lesson. We began the climb at one of the pylons on the south side and looked at where the strength was in the bridge. Most of the rest of the framework on view is purely cosmetic. After climbing a few ladders we found ourselves suddenly above road level and with a view over the city. As we continued to climb the arch the view became more and more spectacular. There was a history lesson from the top on how and where the British landed there and where the first colonial camps were set up. Amazing to think that where the city now stands just a couple of hundred years ago was just bush land. Although we were not allowed to take cameras there was a dodgy souvenir photo session from the top, I've scanned mine in and you can see just how dodgy I look. Once we were back at the start point we were given free entry to the pylon museum which gives more information on the building of the bridge and some of the other designs that were offered. There is a
lookout area at the top of the pylon which was where I was able to get some good photos of the city. So anyway with that done all there was for me to do in Sydney was to check out the famous Opera House. It's far different up close than what I imagined, but a fantastic piece of architecture. I didn't do a tour or anything, just took a few snaps.
In the couple of days I was in Sydney it did nothing but rain. I had to change my game plan of taking off to Manly Bay to laze in the sun for a few days as, well there was no sun. So instead I planned out a trip south to the country's capital city, Canberra. A lot of tourists skip Canberra, mainly because it’s so small. It's only four hours by coach from Sydney though, so I thought it's worth a visit.
Canberra is in Australia Capital Territory, the smallest of the six mainland self-governing territories. It's was designed on an architects drawing board with the aid of a ruler, compass and protractor. Roads here run in perfect symmetry, with two main ring roads at north
and south sides of the city, with Lake Burley Griffin sitting in the middle. Burley Griffin was the American man who orchestrated the building of Canberra, originally a town to hold 30,000 people, but now lived in by more like 300,000. The two ring roads are connected by a bridge which links the north and south sides of the city. There are a few things to do in Canberra, and it's worth a day or three. In my case I had found sunshine so I wasn't going anywhere. I was staying in a youth hostel which had sauna and jacuzzi with the smallest swimming pool I have ever seen. So the first day, after a walk around the city, I spent lazing around in the jacuzzi.
Next day I took off on a tour bus. I thought it was a hop on-hop off thing, but in fact it was a full day tour. We visited the War Memorial (which had many air fighters on display), National Museum, New Parliament House and Old Parliament House. It was a good day; I met a nice Canadian girl who I spent the day wondering around with.
There were a couple more
places I wanted to go and luckily I managed to squeeze two of them in the next day. In the morning I took to the National Zoo and Aquarium. It did have some interesting animals. Not least the ‘Tigon’, the result of a mix breed of a Tiger and a Lion. I can hear some people laughing when they read this because I've brought up the idea of a ‘Liger’ before! Now a ‘Liger’ is where the father is a Lion and the mother is a Tiger, and a ‘Tigon’ where a Tiger is the father and a Lion is the father. Thankfully, this breeding process is now illegal and is not done anymore. The Tigon at this zoo was rescued from a circus and is living out his days in peace. He will not be allowed to breed with other cats. Other interesting cats they had was a King Cheetah, which it says is not the result of mix breeding, but just a superior type of Cheetah. It has some really nice markings.
Now as this is such a great sporting country I wanted to visit the Australian Institute for Sport which was built as a training facility
for the country’s Olympians. Free daily tours are offered to the public and are given by current athletes and I managed to get on the last one of the day. The guy giving the tour was a high jumper, and hopes to be competing in Beijing in April. The facilities are amazing, but for the swimming pool which is barely used as swimmers like to train in their home states. Where the pool falls short is that it is not exactly Olympic length as the base was built at 50m but once the touch boards and other bits were put in it reduced the length of the pool by a good few centimeters, which may as well be a meter to a competing swimmer. Interestingly, all the coaching is done from below water level, the coaches’ watch through glass panels in the pool and talk to the swimmer via headset. All of the facilities are awesome, and it is plain to see why the Aussies are so good at sports. If the British had a centre like that, we might become less hopeless at the Olympics… and all other sports. But then again…
That evening I met a German
Sydney Aquarium (6)
Turtle lost his head. Aparently the jar their heads in rocks when sleeping to stop them floating away with the current girl called Maria who was staying at the hostel and on my last full day we decided to go back to the National Museum for a look around as we both felt we were rushed on the day trip and there were parts we hadn't seen. So we took off and spent the entire day pretty much looking around. The next morning we went together again to the National Gallery. My return bus to Sydney was just after lunch so I only had time for one of the exhibitions but it was nice to see the gallery even if just for an hour. I took off back to the bus depot and begun the journey to Sydney Airport...
Next stop... the Gold Coast!
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Emily
non-member comment
Hey Chris! Really enjoying your blog updates- very informative and amusing too. I'm getting itchy feet just reading about all your adventures. We'll definitely have to have a good travel stories session when you get back. I got your postcard, continue to enjoy enjoy enjoy, and looking forward to seeing you next month Emx x x