To Sydney and the Blue Mountains

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Well, this is it. Our final stretch in Australia. We are leaving Myall Lakes for Sydney. For once it didn’t rain during the night and it was nice and sunny when we got up. The benefit of this is that the tent and the ground sheet were dry for the 1st time whilst we packed them away. This was a good thing as we won’t be using them again for about 3 weeks until we get to Christchurch at the end of February.

The drive from Myall Lakes to Sydney was pleasant enough until we got into Sydney proper. We were merrily driving along looking at the scenery when all of a sudden the road we were on turned into a toll road going over the Sydney Harbour bridge. Now this at first wouldn’t seem like to much of a problem, so you have to pay a toll but you get to drive over the world famous sight. The only trouble was that this toll road didn’t have any booths where you could pay. It all worked of E-passes and E-tags, basically electronic tags on your car that automatically deduct money off it when you go through a toll. This is great if you live in or around Sydney and have one of these electronic gizmos but if you happened to pick up your car in another state you are plum out of luck. The toll signs clearly state that you cannot pay with cash and with no means of getting off the road we anxiously proceeded to cross the bridge. We had visions of us getting halfway over the bridge, rolling up to the barriers and causing the biggest of all blockages as we sat there unable to pay the toll. Fortunately there were no barriers on the bridge so we didn’t make the Sydney evening news.

Our 1st stop was the hotel to freshen up, grab a bite to eat, unload the car and then we thought we would head over to the Sydney Olympic Village and see the stadiums. With my trusty and faithful navigator by my side we headed back across Sydney. With our route determined the trusty navigator directed me to Sydney’s famous Olympic park. When we arrived, if I am honest, I was a little bit disappointed. We arrived at what was obviously the aquatics centre but it was nowhere near as grand as I had envisaged. There was very little parking; no other stadiums on sight and it looked more like a local social swimming club. As we drove round to find parking it dawned on my ever diligent, faithful and trusty navigator that this was in fact not the Sydney Olympic park but was in fact a local swimming club. The real Olympic park was about 10km away. With renewed gusto and revived spirits we headed over to the correct location. The Olympic Park takes up quite a bit of space. There are a number of stadia, warm-up arenas and plenty of open spaces. It was very nice walking around all the stadia and venues we had previously only seen on TV. We weren’t able to get into any of them but we could see through the windows what the insides looked like.

As it was still only about 15:30 and the sun was out and blazing we decided to make the most of the opportunity and headed over to Bondi beach. On the way to the beach we ended up on another of the aforementioned toll roads. Only this time it wasn’t a bridge we were going over, it was a tunnel we were going through. Same story, no cash booths, only this time there was a sign that said if you haven’t paid the toll you needed to phone a number or go to the website. We arrived at a glorious Bondi beach. The sun was shining, the water was crystal clear and the waves were great. The beach was very busy but we couldn’t complain. We spent the next hour or so frolicking in the waves and enjoying the wonderful setting. I caught some waves and I think that there was a general consensus on the beach that I had the best waves of the day. Before leaving we got the obligatory ice-cream and headed back to the hotel (mmmm chocolate and maple and pecan!!)

Later that night, once the sun had set and it was proper dark, we decided to head back into the city centre to take some night time photos as we had recently discovered new settings on the camera. The camera we have had for about 5 years. We went to the botanic gardens that overlook the Opera house and the Harbour Bridge and took some pictures; it was a nice evening trip out.

The following day we had dedicated to going to the Blue Mountains. We headed out and quickly found ourselves on yet another toll road. After travelling over 4000km and not seeing 1 toll road all of a sudden it seemed as though we were surrounded by them. At least with this one you were able to pay cash. We went through the toll and after about 15 minutes we came up to our exit which, would you believe it, took us onto another toll road but this one didn’t have the option of paying cash. We decided we had had enough of tolls and would take the more leisurely and scenic route through the back roads. We were heading for a town called Katoomba which is in the heart of the Blue Mountains. The drive up was very nice but you will have to take my word for it as my trusty, sleepy navigator was in a deep slumber the whole way (not the entire journey - how rude) We started our Blue Mountains experience at Katoomba Falls and the various lookouts located around the rim of a massive gorge. The views were spectacular and we had fun taking pictures of the falls with the new settings on the camera. There is a cable car that goes across the gorge so that you can get unique views and vistas of the gorge and the falls. They also have the world’s steepest funicular which will take you to the gorge floor. We decided to give these a skip as they seemed to be nothing but pure tourist traps. We spent the rest of the day going along the rim and soaking up the scenery and the various lookout points. We walked to a rock formation called The Three Sisters before deciding to head back to the hotel to get an early night as we had an early flight the next day.

We had decided to treat ourselves to some pizza at Pizza Hut for supper but when we got there it was a take away only and we felt like sitting in. We found a nice little Thai restaurant around the corner and went there instead. The food was great, I had the green curry, and Sandra had some unpronounceable barbeque dish. We stuffed ourselves but didn’t even come close to finishing the food. I think our stomachs have shrunk since we started camping. We got back to the hotel and packed our bags. In the morning we fly to Fiji via New Zealand. We leave at 7am Oz time and get there at about 6pm Fiji time and have 4 hours in New Zealand in the middle.

We really enjoyed our time in Australia, we weren’t quite sure what to expect before we came but it was definitely an eye opening experience. We saw some amazing sights and animals but we also missed out on a couple like the Great Barrier Reef. I think we have some unfinished business here and will have to come back at some point to do the things we weren’t able to do this time. All in all it was a great start to our trip but I will be honest and say that I am looking forward to 2 weeks in Fiji relaxing and not listening to dreaded sound of rain on our tent. I am not sure how much internet access we will have in Fiji so this is bye for now but we will post updates when we can.

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Comments

[Hayley Bruton]

some really grreat shots guys.....I am impressed!

[mom]

hello
Sounds lovely. Sandra you have done well at navigating - I know it isnt easy! Hope you having a relaxing time in Fiji.