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Published: February 19th 2011
Hello everyone,
After more than a month I thought it would ben nice to share some new experiences with you.
On Tuesday 1 February we went to the State Libary, I worked on my travelblog, booked a tour for the MCG(Melbourne Cricket Ground) and the Eureka Tower (highest tower in the Southern Hemasphere) At 2.45 pm I did the MCG tour. A guide showed me around in the biggest Cricket and Australian Rules Football Stadium in Australia. He showed me the pitch, the fitness area, the training facilities, the changing rooms and the different stands. After that we went back to the Library and I booked my ticket with Air Asia from Bangkok to Yogyakarta and the Greyhound bus from Melbourne to Canberra. Half an hour before sunset we went to the Eureka Tower to go to the Eureka Skydeck for an amazing view over Melbourne during daylight, sunset and evening. We made plenty of pictures ofcourse.
On Wednesday 2 February I woke up early, because at 7.35 am I got picked up by True Blue Tours to go for a day trip to the Great Ocean Road. This was the best day I had so far since
I started travelling, because the things I saw during this day were absolutely fantastic. The great Ocean Road starts just outside of Melbourne in a surfers place called Torquay. This is were the surf brands Quicksilver and Ripcurl come from. We went to a beautiful and famous surf beach called Bells Beach. We saw two beautiful National Parks during the day, which were Great Otway National Park where we fed parrots in the wild and saw koala’s and Port Campbell National Park where we went into Maint Rest rainforest. Other beautiful things we saw were the Twelve Apostels, Loch Ard Gorge and London Bridge. We were all the day with a very nice guide, who really enjoyed her work and knew everything about the area and I met some other nice people: an Irish couple we would see again in Sydney and a guy from Singapore that I will see between 26 and 29 July when I will go to Singapore.
On Thursday 3 February we had to check out of the hostel again before 10 am. Always when we check out of a hostel we have to bring the pillow covers and the sheets back and we give
the keys from the rooms and the lockers to the staff and then we get our deposit back. After our hot pancake breakfast (last time), we checked out, lef tour backpacks in the hostel and went to the Queen Victorian Market in the city. This market is huge and is every day except Wednesday. You can buy all sorts of things there, for example fruit and vegetables, meat and fish. After that we went to the State Library to book our Greyhoud Bus from Canberra to Sydney. Then we went back to the Ritz to have dinner and to get our bags. After that we went to the Southern Cross station where we took the Greyhound Bus towards Narrandera South where we arived at a petrol station at 00.45 am. We had some food there and took another Greyhound Bus from Narrandera South at 1.50 am and arrived in Canberra at 5.55 am.
On Friday 4 February when we arrived in Canberra we were really tired, because we couldn’t sleep very well in the Greyhound Bus. We walked towards the YHA Hostel which was close by and we dropped our backpacks there, because we didn’t want to carry them
around all day in Canberra. Then we walked around Lake Burley Griffin and over the bridge towards the Library and the National Potrait Gallery. We went in the National Portrait Gallery and saw a lot of nice paintings. Then we continued our walk and passed the Naional Archives of Australia and finally we arrived at the Parliament House. We did a tour there which was really interesting. After that we took a bus back to the city, had lunch in Glebe Park and took a short nap. Then we walked towards the War Memorial and ended up in the worst weather we had since we came to Australia. Heavy rain suddenly came down while we were walking in the middle of nowhere. We tried to find shelter under some big trees, but it didn’t really help and finally we ran towards a guy who stepped into his car and he gave us a lift to the YHA Hostel, where we changed clothes, ate our noodles and met up with the Irish couple I met during my Great Ocean Road trip. First Eefje and me went to the cinema to the movie Black Swan and when we came back we went
out together with the Irish Couplet o a pub where we played some pool and had some beers. When we came back Eefje and me had to take the Greyhound Bus at 4 am towards Sydney.
On Saturday 5 February we arrived at Sydney Central Station at 8.10 am and again we didn’t sleep very well in the bus so we were very tired. First we walked to the Sydney Harbour City Hostel near Kings Cross that Eefje booked for 4 nights. She checked in, we dropped our backpacks and we went to a park close by where we slept for a few hours and got bitten by ants. When we woke up we went to the supermarket to get some groceries and then we went to Bondi Beach. It was 41 degrees that day and it was weekend so it was really busy on Bondi Beach. Around 6 pm my friend George, where I was going to sleep called me that he was done with work (accountancy). First we went back to Eefje to shower and we changed clothes. I got my backpack and arrived after a 25 minute walk around 8.30 pm in Bridgestreet(close to Circular Quay
and Sydney Harbour Bridge).
George is a friend of my friend Ed in Dubai and he came over to visit Ed in Dubai during the World Championships Golf and the Rugby Sevens. George introduced me to his wife and then we went for dinner in a place called the Royal George. George was only 3 weeks in Sydney and they lived temporarily in Bridgestreet, but where moving all their stuff to an appartment in Neutral Bay on the north side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
On Sunday 6 February when he and his wife were buying new furniture and moving stuff, Eefje and me walked through the Botanical Gardens, went to the Opera House, passed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Circular Quay, did grocery shopping in George Street and went to the State Library of New South Wales. Both library’s where we have been in Melbourne and Sydney are the state library’s. They are beautiful buidings and the internet is for free. After that we ate noodles at Eefje’s hostel and then I went back to George’s appartment in Bridgestreet.
On Monday 7 February Eefje picked me up at Bridgestreet and we did some more sightseeing in Sydney. We
went to the Rocks, Darling Harbour and I went in the Sydney Aquarium where I saw al kinds of sealife like: sharks, ray’s, penguins, eals, dugongs, platypus and many more. After that we met the Irish couple again and went to the National Maritime Museum where we went to an exhibition called ”planet Shark”. Then we walked to Chinatown and back to Bridgestreet where Eefje met George and his wife for the first time. We ate some noodles there and after dinner I helped George moving some stuff to his appartment in Neutral Bay. When we came back we had some beers and went to bed.
On Tuesday 8 February I walked to Eefje’s hostel and we went to an agency called Ducktravel (recommended by Christel and Ingrid). We booked a tour to the Blue Mountains for Thursday 10 February and also asked some information about sailing around the Whitsundays, diving at Magnetic Island and a 3 day tour around Uluru. After that we first dropped Eefje’s backpack at Bridgestreet and then walked to Circular Quay where we took the ferry to Manly. This is a beautiful area in the North East of Sydney. We arrived at 1.30 pm,
walked through some nice streets and went to Manly Beach. We took the ferry back at 5.45 pm and when we arrived in Circular Quay, we walked to George’s place, packed all our stuff and went with the bus to Neutral Bay where Eefje and me would stay until Sunday 13 February.
On Wednesday 9 February we took the bus to Taronga Zoo and we walked from there to Sydney Harbour National Park, where we did some nice walking tracks trough the bush. We arrived in Clifton Gardens where we had lunch while we were watching a group of school kids playing cricket. We continued with a walking track from Chowder Bay to Balmoral Beach, where we bought some hot chips and we took the bus back to Neutral Bay. Then I changed clothes and went to Paddington where I was going to meet Daan to play tennis. We played on real grass and it was more than a month ago that I played, but is was going quite well. Then we walked back to Daan’s place, had a shower and went out for dinner to a new Italian restaurant where we ate some good pasta and wine.
On Thursday 10 February we woke up at 6.30 am, beacuse we took the bus from Neutral Bay at 7.30 am towards Sydney Central YHA where we were picked up by Wildframe Ecotours for our trip to the Blue Mountains. We were lucky, because the tour was overbooked and we could join a smaller group of 4 people (a French couple, Eefje and me) and we went with a jeep, so we were able to drive much faster and see more of the Blue Mountains. It was a perfect day again with a fantastic guide who showed us the Three Sisters, the Jamison Valley, Grose Valley, Megalong Valley, Kanimbla Valley, Katoomba and Blackheat and told us a lot about nature and wildlife in the area. When we came back from the Blue Mountains we did some grocery shopping, had dinner, I wrote my blog and finally went to bed.
On Friday 11 February I walked downhill towards the harbour in Neutral Bay. After that I brought my shorts and the protection/rain cover of my backpack to a store where they fixed it, because a button of my shorts was gone and my protection cover was torn. Then we went
with the bus first to Bondi Junction and from there we took another bus to Bondi Beach where we did a beautiful coastal walking track from Bondi Beach to Bronte Beach. We stayed at Bronte Beach during the day where the current was very strong and the waves where high. We were invited for dinner and drinks at George’s place in the evening. We had kangaroo meat, sweet potatoes, bread and drunk some Dutch Grolsch beer. After dinner George and me went out in Kings Cross, where we met up with the Irish couple again in a pub called the Banks.
On Saturday 12 February I went to Sydney’s second biggest festival called Good Vibrations. Daan called me on Friday and could get us tickets for half price (75 Aud instead of 150 Aud). The festival was held in Centennial Park near Paddington where Daan lives. The festival took place from 12-10 pm, but because all the big artists came later from 4 pm onwards, Daan and me first went for a drink at his place, then some drinks in a bar called the Paddington Inn, because drinking at the festival was much more expensive (8 Aud for a
Tiger Beer). Then we went to the festival, where we saw Ericah Badu, Nas, Mike Snow, Mike Posner, Kelis, Faithless and Ludacris. After the festival we met up with Daan’s girlfriend and some of her friends at a restaurant, had some drinks there and then went to the Paddington In again where we stayed until I had to take one of the last busses back to Neutral Bay. It was a fantastic day.
On Sunday 13 February I slept till noon, then we packed our stuff already and cleaned up George’s appartment, went to the State Library, siad goodbye to George and Carina, thanked them for everything and took the Greyhound Bus towards Newcastle at 7 pm. We arrived there at 9.50 pm where Thuur picked us up with two Australian friends. We drove to campus where he lives, dropped our bags in his room and then went to the Greenroom (a room where all students meet) and played beerpong (you have to trow a tabletennisball in a cup of beer and if you throw it in the other one has to drink it. Every team has two or three players and nine cups of beer. The first team
that fills all the cups of beer up by trowing tabletennis balls in them (with or without a bounce) wins.
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klarisse
non-member comment
Wow ! That glass building is where I work hehe you found me :)