Last days in the land down under

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Australia has shown its true wild and woolly colours in the last couple of weeks. News of the horrendous bushfires in Victoria has been told around the world, and meanwhile, weeks of heavy rain followed by Cyclone Ellie caused heavy flooding in Queensland. Not to mention 3 shark attacks in the Sydney area within a week. All this certainly strikes it home that this is a country of extremes with many things that can kill you. Which was pretty my opinion of the place before I spent any time here.
The floods made for a frustrating time in Queensland, as I eventually made it up as far as Airlie Beach (gateway to the Whitsundays), and tried waiting out the rain so that I could either a/ have a worthwhile sailing trip to the islands, or b/ at least continue my journey north as soon as the roads cleared. Neither of these things happened for 4 days - the road had opened up some of the way, but was still closed to traffic around the worst affected area (the town Ingham) - so I eventually cut my losses and flew back to Sydney for a few days, as I have to catch my flight to Auckland from here anyway. Thought at least would get a few days of sunshine after all the rain...but it appears I managed to bring the rain with me! Having been as high as 44 degrees in Sydney last week, its settled at around 20 for the last few days.
So I've not had the most successful week, but really, given what some folk have had to deal with I don't feel I can complain. And today, my final day here, the sun has put in an appearance at long last.

It does occur to me that I've managed to come to Australia and leave it again without seeing either the big rock, or the reef. Missing the rock was intentional, although I have to admit I now slightly regret not seeing it, or spending more time travelling in the real red earth centre. Missing the reef was not planned, although I'm not too sad about it - I don't dive, and frankly I was a bit uncertain of my ability to voluntarily swim amongst some of the larger sea-creatures....

So back to Sydney, and its probably a poor substitute for the Great Barrier Reef, but I did enjoy visiting the Aquarium in Sydney as an alternative - also a good way of getting out of the rain. As you can see, the attached photos are mainly from this visit as there's not been too much else of interest picture-wise. I also fitted in a successful and much needed shopping trip - the first time I've bought any clothes since I left.
I've been staying in the King's Cross/Potts Point area this time - I've come to really quite like the area; lots going on, some great views of the city and only a 15 minute walk into town. Its been nice to catch up with the friends I spent time with before, and for my last 2 nights here I've had the absolute luxury of staying in a flat - Claire is the kind owner, and its great to have space to move, sit, sort out my bags, carry out essential girlie maintenance - without having to share the space with unknown others, sometimes not in the cleanest of situations!

And now I'm very excited about the next part of my trip. I've been to New Zealand before, but only for just under 3 weeks. This time I've got something like 10 weeks to explore this stunning country. But I'll be starting with a good few days in Auckland, staying still for a bit and making my general plan of attack for getting around and seeing NZ.

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Photos

At the Aquarium
Some of the friends I made

Dugongs
Rare mammals - I was lucky enough to see some in Shark Bay on the west coast.

I found Nemo
And his brother

Comments

[Diederik]

Hi From NZ
Nice stories and apperently you did not get lost like we did on the famous track we walked in Knysna. Hope all is well. Greetings from Diederik and Helene now in NZ, preparing for Chile. www.routedessoleils.blogspot.com

[Jo on an adventure]

Auckland
It looks like we were here at the same time! Shame to have missed you. Hope you have a fantastic time in Chile. Jo x