Sydney & Queensland

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We're safely back in the UK after our amazing trip, but have some catching up to do. So, here are some photos from the remainder of our time in Australia.

Sydney is a truly fantastic city. It is centered round the beautiful harbour with the iconic images of the Opera House & Harbour Bridge, but has easy access to the ocean beaches, a vibrant night life and is only a short drive away from the mountains as well. We stayed at Simon & Kirrily's new house, in the suburb of Maroubra, only about 30 minutes from the centre and home of the infamous Bra Boys surf gang (see the movie if you can!)

We explored the city, particularly enjoying the Botanical Gardens (despite the thousands of fruit bats hanging in the trees!), the Fish Market and a walk over the Bridge. We took the ferry across the harbour to one of the famous northern beaches at Manley, on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Richard had time to stop into his company's local office and catch up on the gossip with a couple of colleagues, and we were able to meet and have dinner with his cousins Steven & Doreen. We also explored the beaches at Maroubra, Coogee and Bondi with Simon & Kirrily.

We took a day trip out to the Blue Mountains, about 1.5 hours west of Sydney. It's amazing how the land suddenly falls off into a valley of rainforest. After a couple of short hikes, we took the "world's steepest railway" down into the valley, and a cable car back up.

It was sad leaving Sydney and our friends. It was particularly hard getting up at 5:15am for a flight up the coast to Cairns! We stayed outside Cairns in Port Douglas (a favourite locale of the Clintons, allegedly!) We swam at the Port Douglas beach (inside the net which protects swimmers from deadly stinging box jellyfish), which had the warmest seawater we've ever felt - like getting into the bath. The highlight though was our day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, where we spent several hours snorkelling. It is as stunning as the nature documentaries make out, with brightly coloured fish swimming amongst the coral. The pictures don't do it justice, as the seawater filters out much of the colour, but the day was incredible.

Our other activity in Cairns was cane toad racing at a local pub, the Iron Bar, with a real showman as ringmaster. Richard's ticket came up, so he was able to participate in the racing, although his toad was useless and came 5th out of 6!

From Port Douglas, we went north to Cape Tribulation, home to some of the oldest rainforest in the world. We stayed at a beautiful peaceful B&B, with views over the forest and hills. The area is home to all sorts of interesting wildlife, including a wide variety of birds (we didn't get to see the primitive cassowary), huge spiders, lizards and bandicoots. We took hikes in the jungle, tasted the famous and uniquely flavoured ice cream at the Daintree Ice Cream Company, went on an unsuccessful crocodile spotting tour and tried local delicacies including kangaroo.

We drove back from Cape Tribulation through tsunami warnings and via the Atherton Tablelands, where the rainforest meets the outback, seeing the famous curtain fig tree, before flying back from Cairns to Sydney.

We had a final evening with Simon, before moving on to Hong Kong & China, and the last leg of our trip.

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Photos

Sydney Opera House
Iconic image overlooking the beautiful harbour.

Manly Beach
Reached by a 1/2 hour ferry ride across the harbour, Manly is the most accessible of Sydney's northern beaches. We were lucky to see it on such a beautiful day.

Sydney Harbour
Sharon on the waterfront, with the Opera House as a backdrop.

Swimming pool at Coogee
The open air seawater pool at Coogee Beach, where we spent a lovely Saturday with Simon & Kirrily & some friends.

Queen Victoria Hall, Sydney
An old colonial building, now converted into an upscale shopping mall. It contains one of the most interesting clocks we've ever seen.

Sydney Fish Market
More fish than you can shake a stick at!

Sydney Harbour Bridge
The old coathanger, as it's known locally.

The Rocks, Sydney
An old warehouse district, which now contains trendy shops & restaurants, underneath the bridge.

Sydney Harbour
The view from the bridge down to the Opera House and Financial District.

The Three Sisters, NSW
A rock formation in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.

Blue Mountains, NSW
The view across the Blue Mountains near Katoomba.

Cane Toad Racing
Richard's number was drawn, so he got to participate in a cane toad race in Port Douglas, Queensland. Just pick up your toad, kiss him and drop him in the bucket. Unfortunately, his toad was a dud, and he came next to last.

Snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef
We took a day trip to the Reef from Port Douglas. Everyone wore full lycra bodysuits to protect from stinging jellyfish.

Great Barrier Reef corals
We saw many different types of corals and multitudes of brightly coloured fish. The seawater filters our much of the colour, so photography was difficult, and hence the blue-green tinge to the pics.

James Bond, eat your heart out
Now, where's my speargun?

Yikes
Vinegar for treating jellyfish stings, but look carefully for what awaits the unsuspecting swimmer who has just been stung.

Cape Tribulation, Queensland
Where the rainforest meets the reef, at least according to the local marketing tag-line!

Double yikes!
You don't get lizards like this in the UK or US! We disturbed a 4 foot long Monitor in the rainforest, which then scuttled off and climbed up the nearest tree.

Cape Tribulation
The view from our lovely B&B.