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Published: January 20th 2008
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I've just arrived in Brisbane and I'm on a free computer so I'm going to try to catch up on writing entries...
Sydney was absolutely amazing. I went on a tour of the beaches on the first day, starting at Coogeee beach and ending at Bondi. I met a nice girl from Denmark and a guy from Wisconsin who thought I had a funny accent (he pronounces hockey "hacky" so who's the one with the accent I say).
The weather was a swealtering 29 and the beaches were packed. Coogee means bad smell in the Aboriginal language and got it's name from the seaweed that washes up on shore and rots. When the waves crash onshore they're brown with seaweed, it's kind of gross.
On the way from Coogee to Bondi we passed the Bali memorial at the old bathhouses. More Australians were killed in the Bali bombing than any other nationality, and it's a really big deal down here.
I also passed the largest graveyard in Australia. This may sound demented, but it was one of the nicest areas around the city, really tranquill, right on the ocean with palm trees lining all of the rows of headstones. I can't
think of a nicer place to rest.
Bondi beach is huge, and a lot of the people here are "muscle heads" on the beach walkway there are chinup bars and sit up benches everywhere, although I must say the people of Sydney are very fit.
The next day I had a free day in Sydney - as in everything that I did was free (with the exception of a trip to the aquarium that I couldn't pass up). Waking up early due to jetlag, I wondered down to the harbour and saw all of the boats coming in, there're hundreds of them! By 9 I was strating to get bored and the aquarium had just opened so I made my way over. The Sydney aquarium is fantastic. I saw a platypus, who was much smaller than I was expecting him to be (only about 1 foot long) and very fast, it took me 15 minutes to get a picture he was so quick. I had a chence to check out the penguind (so cute) and the sharks with their many rows of gross teeth. Seeing the sharks didn't exactly make me want to go swimming for the afternoon so after
the aquarium I continued wondering around the city.
I strolled through an area called "the rocks" which is the oldest section of Sydney. All of the streets are still cobblestone, and while walking through on of the alleyways I realised that it was originally the insode of someones home (there was a fireplace carved into the sandstone cliff on the side of the alley). It's a pretty amazing place, kind of eerie in a way.
I spent the afternoon walking through the botanical gardens where there are signs that say "take off your shoes, please walk on the grass" and "hug the trees and smell the flowers" they made me smile. I had some great views of the opera house (up close it's three separate buildings, I had no idea) and the Sydney harbour bridge. While wonderin around the gardens I stumbled across an open are witha few people sitting around and thought there might be a little presentation or something so I layed down my towel and sat on the grass with them. Within an hour and a half the whole place was filled with a few thousand people and it turned out that I had stumbled into the
Sydney music festival. I spent all night listning to jazz in the park with bats flying overhead and wine corks poping all around. It was pretty much a perfect ending to a perfect day in Sydney.
At the festival I met an older couple who told me to check out the beachside scenic walk in Manly so the next day I took a bus to the side of the road just outside of Manly where I was completely lost. I figured if I just walked downhill I would eventually hit water and half and hour later I was beachside. The walk was beautiful, taking me through many different kinds of forests and beaches. It kind of reminded me of the west coast trail, very lush and humid. I ran into a lizard that was fairly big, and since I'm not sure what's poisonous here and what's ok I kept my distance. Eventually I made it into town and enjoyed some lunch at the surf beach. The surf in Australia puts Tofino to shame, it breaks constantly and the beaches seem to last forever. Unfortunately it started to rail pretty hard and so I took the bus back across to Sydney
central and hopped on the overnight greyhound to Coffs harbour.
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Mom
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Fun times & nude Beach
Hey Amber, sounds like a great time in Australia. Funny, you never mentioned the Nude Beach on your telephone conversations with me! Have fun sailing! Love, Mom