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Published: December 19th 2007
Me and Elise
Myself and Elise at Watson Bay, Sydney Harbour. The skyscrapers of Sydney can be seen in the distance.Sorry it's been a while, I have had hardly any time to myself these past two weeks and it's been difficult to keep up my diary. As most of you know I have been staying with Elise, my good friend and ex, about two hours out of Sydney by public transport in the small farming town of Camden, which has a very English feel to it. Elise has been my tour guide here and we have seen lots of places despite the gloomy weather evident in my photos. There have been frequent storms here in New South Wales for pretty much the whole time I have been here, with a few days of sunshine in between. I will attempt to list here as best I can the places we visited.
When I arrived in Sydney I was quite disoriented and sleep deprived after a nightmarish bus trip from Byron (two passengers were arrested at one stage) so I needed a day to recover. On Monday, when the rain started, we visited Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife Centre in Darling Harbour. I liked the underwater viewing tunnels best, from where we could see diving seals, sharks and turtles. I saw my first
Shark Pool, Sydney Aquarium
Some kind of huge stingray, at least a metre wide. cassowary at the wildlife centre, and all of the marsupials I had missed out on. I was actually quite surprised at the proportion of native wildlife that I had already seen in the wild.
Later in the week we drove to the Blue Mountains, where there was an amazing view from the car park - even on an overcast day I could see the blue mist from the eucalyptus trees which gives the mountains their name. The slightly tacky Scenic World provided a train ride down into the rainforest, completely different to those of northern Queensland, and a cable car ride out with more impressive views.
We spent two separate days touring Sydney Harbour on the Ferries. On Wednesday we visited Manly Beach, and had fish and chips on the promenade in the rain, just like at home. On Sunday we came down into Sydney on the river cat from Paramatta and took a picnic to Watson Bay. The storms lifted that day, and I got sunburnt walking along the gap, a former military base where perpendicular cliffs look right out into the clear sea.
This past week we have travelled further abroad. We spent a night out
Horn shark
A horn shark at Sydney Aquarium in Sydney, stayed in a hostel, and then travelled down to Canberra for two days, where Elise is at university. Canberra is a quiet place out of term-time, and has a lot of green space - it doesn't feel like the capital city at all. The streets were all pre-planned, and form sets of concentric circles around the civic centre, and the parliament house on the opposite side of Burley Griffin Lake (named after one of the architects who designed the city), and linked by straight roads. The layout can clearly be seen from the communication tower on Black Mountain.
On Thursday we went down to Kangaroo Valley to see former co-worker Rhianna. Kangaroo Valley is surrounded by really dramatic terrain, thick with forest and very cut off from civilisation. We stayed there for the night, and Rhianna took us to the headland at Geroa near the small town of Berry for fish and chips and a beautiful sunset on the beach.
So we arrived back in Camden on Friday afternoon, spent a sunny Saturday lazing around, swimming in the pool and preparing for my departure to Christchurch. Last night I had my last meal at the English
pub in Camden, and slept outside under the stars.
I will arrive in Christchurch at about 1.00 tomorrow morning. I've had a fantastic time here, and it's been great to see my friends again. I am very excited about living in New Zealand for the next few months, but a little sad to be leaving. I remind myself that I will be back in Australia next year, in the sunny north, for perhaps even longer.
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