6 More Days in Sydney (and Blue Mountains)

By 3rd Jan I had sufficiently recovered from my NYE ordeal to actually explore this great city. Even though Sydney is an incredible place, it seemed too big. Melbourne was big, but had the relaxed feel of a smaller city, like Adelaide. Here's a summary of what we got up to.

The Quest for Shoes

Ines still desperately needed to get new shoes, and we spent most of the 3rd looking around for a suitable replacement pair. It was a struggle, but just when we thought all the shops were closed, we found a shop still open, where Ines got some new shoes! The day wasn't just spent on this quest. We also had a look at Darling Harbour; a recently redeveloped part of the city, with pedestrian boulevards, restaurants and cafes. We also pretty much covered the entire city centre. It was the same as any big city really, and there's little more to say about that...

The Beach and Kings Cross

The following day we went to the beach, but not Bondi. As it was a Sunday Simon recommended we avoid it, as Bondi would've been full to the brim with people Costa del Sol style. Instead we headed to Watson's Bay, near Gaps Bluff: the southern part of the entrance to Sydney Harbour. According to Simon, the place was a suicide spot!The beach itself was small and less crowded than it could've been. In the evening we met up with Steve, Claire and others from Adelaide and headed to Kings Cross; the principal going out area of Sydney. Sadly Ines wasn't well, so she and Thomas headed back to the house early on.

The House, The Garden and The Bridge

Ines wasn't any better the next morning, so I headed into the city on my own and met up with Claire at the opera house, where we went on a tour of the complex. It was interesting to hear about the building's history and secrets. I didn't realise that it is one of the most recognised buildings in the world, with around 2/3 of all people being able to identify it! Sadly we weren't allowed to take any pics of the theatres, but I can tell you they were magnificent!

After the tour I headed to the Botanic Gardens. It seemed to be a great place to sit down and read a book or relax with friends, and there were plenty of people doing just that. It was really interesting walking through the greenery with the skyscrapers of the CBD (and yes geographers they actually refer to city centres as the CBD) towering above you. The best part was at Mrs Macquarie's point, where there were the best views of the harbour. Above all I liked the attitude of the garden managers. This was clearly shown on one of the signs at the entrance, which instructs vistors to "Please walk on the grass, hug the trees, talk to the animals" etc, which was a welcome change to the usual "don't do this" information you're normally bombarded with.

I then walked to The Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney, and therefore the oldest area of European settlement in Australia. It had a very "olde worlde" feel about it, as the council had tried to make it attractive to tourists whilst playing down the more gruesome aspects of the area's history (drunken lawlessness). From here I headed up on to the magnificent Sydney Harbour Bridge. Everyone says you should climb the bridge, but to be honest there's not really much more you could see from the top than you could by walking along the walkway. The views were yet again spectacular, with the opera house sitting on the water and the skyscrapers adding the perfect background to a perfect photograph.

The Blue Mountains

On the 7th we headed west to the Blue Mountains. After dropping Simon off at the airport (he was heading to Uluru!) we drove out to the national park. The mountains really were blue, well green, but owing to a mix of eucalyptus and water vapours, the mountains were tinged with a blueish haze. The Wentworth Falls would have been spectacular, had the drought not reduced it to a stream. It was just too damn hot to do any hikes despite us wanting to. We went to Echo Point, a fantastic lookout, where the main attraction was The Three Sisters, which are 3 columns of rock standing next to the cliff face. It was an impressive sight. We could walk down to the first of the three along the Giant's Stairway; an appropriate name considering how steep the stairway was! As we went down there the weather changed and a storm was on the way. This meant that it was incredibly windy, and we were nearly blown off our feet!

We moved on this day out of the house and into a hostel in the heart of the city. It was a good place to stay, apart from the fact that I was the only one in the dorm who wasn't German! I was used to this, however the girls refused to even try to speak English. This was OK for Thomas and Ines, but I couldn't participate in any of the conversations! Those girls even talked about me in German, as if I wasn't there. They were really, really rude!

Museums, Diners and Churches

After two nights at Base we moved to a better backpackers in Chinatown for a night before heading up to Newcastle (yet another town name stolen from the UK!).

So we spent the last day before Newcastle at the Australian Museum. Like the War Memorial there was a huge amount to look at and not enough time to do it in. We focused on an exhibition of photographs by the winners and runners up of the Australian Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award, an exhibit on the Aborigines and one on Australian wildlife. Yet again our minds were filled with too much info and by the time we left our heads hurt.

We had lunch at Harry's Cafe de Wheels, a streetside American style diner. It was a bit of a tourist attraction, as they had pics on the walls of famous people who'd stopped by for a bite to eat, like Elton John and Kevin Cosner, amongst others.

We also had a look at one of the city's cathedrals. Sadly the crypt, which every tourist book raved about, was closed, but we could still see a lot of the building. However, I somehow preferred the cathedral we visited in Melbourne. It had a much warmer and inviting atmosphere than this one. In the evening we went to the IMAX Theatre to see U2 in excellent picture and sound quality, and in 3D too.

The next day we travelled to Newcastle!

See my Facebook photo albums which go with this entry:

Adelaide to Cape Trib 4: New Year in Sydney
Adelaide to Cape Trib 5: Mountains, Wine, Beaches and Cities.