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Published: April 11th 2006
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Flying into Sydney from Fiji we were treated to a spectacular view of the harbour bridge and opera house. There was no mistaking where we were. Sydney is a great looking city, it has a high rise down town, but maintains a very green, open, feel because of its numerous parks and harbour area. The bridge and opera house dominate the harbour, as most people in the world know, whether they have actually been there or not. It's quite strange to be somewhere that you are so familiar with from having seen particular images on TV and film for as long as I can remember, but have never actually been there.
We stayed in an area called Kingscross in central Sydney. We had been warned against staying there, being told it was a bit dodgy by other travellers we had met along the way. It's Sydney's red light district, with everything that comes along with that. Supporting industries let's call them. But on arrival at Sydney airport we were told by the tourist information office that Kingscross was a lot more fun than other red light districts! So Kingscross it was.
We spent a couple of days looking around
Sydney, including a visit to the Aquarium to try to put names to things we had seen diving in Fiji. There was a crocodile - didn't see one of those in Fiji! Nor duck billed platypus. Nor Weedy Sea Dragons!! So in that respect not all that successful.
After a couple of days enjoying the frivolity of the red light district in Sydney, we headed off north in a hire car towards the Hunter Valley, just a couple of hours north of Sydney. It looked rubbish so we didn't stop. Continuing to the Barrington Tops National Park, we spent a couple of nights in a rather ropey caravan encircled by blood thirsty leaches and paralysis ticks! What a wonderful country Australia is. We did see a kookaburra, however it wasn't sitting in an old oak tree, but it did look rather merry all the same.
The next day we did a bit of a walk through the rain forest which started off nice, but spiralled down hill as the leeches climbed further up our boots and on to our bare legs. I love leeches, me. The day progressed from leisurely stroll to all out head long screeming sprint.
They're not nice things, and they are quite determined little bastards. Some are even stripey. Back at the caravan Tom found one sucking blood from in between her toes, when she got a shower. Apparently it had grown to the size of a marrow, but I suspect that there is an element of exageration there.
We buggered off the next day. I hate leeches. At least we didn't see paralysis ticks though. They sound good don't they?!
We headed south (probably with a herd of leeches creeeping slowly but relentlessly after us down the road - in fact they are probably still coming for us. On a Quantas flight as we speak!).
We drove south to the Blue Mountains, Katoomba, and got a cabin. No leeches - hooray. Just snakes - boo. Katoomba sits on a kind of plateau on the rim of a forested valley which disappears off to the horizon. We did a walk for the day past a rock formation called the three sisters and into the valley and the big bad bush - well sanitised touristy bush anyway, although when we read the touristy bumph there was apparently 3 species of snake that
we might come across. One was reportedly non venemous, which suggested to me that the other 2 species were, but the Australians obviously think it's best not to know cos they won't tell you. Yeah, my thoughts entirely. In my opinion is best to know what your up against, but in the absence of forthcoming local knowledge I would suggest adopting my stategy of assuming everything is out to get you. Anyway, we got on the trail and once we got past the point of no return then they put a sign with rather more information than I wanted to know. 3 species on snake suddenly became 7 and all of a sudden there was mention of a snake called a DEATH ADDER!!!! What of earth is going on. Thats just not right. Death Adder?!!! That's just scare mongering, and even then they didn't say something like "THIS SNAKE IS HIGHLY VENOMOUS AND SHOULD NOT BE APPROACHED. HIKERS SHOULD USE ANY AVAILABLE BIG STICK TO KILL ANYTHING THAT MOVES" or something like that. They just nonchalantly slip in the fact that maybe a matter of inches from where your standing, there could be a DEATH ADDER coiled ready to leap
on you and bite your eyes out! I'm going to complain to someone. The first 3 in the tourist bumph didn't appear on the sign, so in my mind that's 7+3=10. That's a lot of snakes in my opinion, because if there's one, there could be more, so that's lots x 10 species, which is a bit like Raiders of the lost Ark when Indiana Jones is in the tomb thingy. I don't like snakes. They're generally unfriendly and spoil things.
We then headed off further south to see what else we could find that could sting, bite, burrow, poison, eat, or generally harrass us. Kangaroos. They actually have more potential for harm than people give them credit for. Fortunatley the ones we encountereed were in good spirits and reasonably unagressive, but don't be fooled, everything that moves on Australian soil will in someway, given half a chance, cause you mischief. And then there is the sea. That's where the worst of 'em live. We did a couple of boat dives in Jervis bay, which is a couple of hours south of Sydney. Its a beautiful spot, but everything in the sea is out to get you. Massive Cuttlefish
that try to hump your leg, and failing that pull your mask off and bite your nose. Massive rays 1.5-2m across. They'll get you! Sea snakes, jelly fish - they've even got jelly fish that are so small that you can't see them, you can't feel them bite you, but you're dead in 2 minutes. Oh, and then the sharks. Wobbegong. Not eat you but will remove your hand pretty damn quick. Then the Great Whites. We saw a 2m wobbegong, but saw it a bit late. Not until it was swimming underneath me about 2m away. 2m long, 2m away. I soiled my wet suit! No Great Whites at our dive site though. No, they had eaten everything that was worth eating and moved around the corner, 300-400m away. Yep. The Aussies tell you this afterwards. That's going in my letter of complaint too!
The dives were in fact really good. We saw octopus, rays, a couple of Wobbegong sharks, the humping cuttlefish, lots of urchins and gropers and were fortunate enough to see half a dozen or so Weedy Sea Dragons. These are related to the sea horse but are up to about 40cm long (or so).
Really nice things. I didn't even know they existed until the aquarium in Sydney. Really good diving, different from Fiji diving, but spectacular and great experience, dispite the unfriendly critters!
Back in Sydney again for a couple of days before we flew out. We stayed at Bondi Beach, (which is rather like the south bay at Scarborough, but without the castle, so not quite as good!!), visited Manly Beach too, but no topless sunbathers so I didn't want to stay long. Then on to Singapore.....
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moorsie
non-member comment
all around the world
....and you still don't know the kookaburaa sat in the old GUM tree.... What a waste.....