The Blue Mountains

When we first arrived in Sydney, our plan was to stay in a hostel for a few days, get settled in, and then try a few different ways of traveling. One thing we wanted to try was couch surfing (via the website – couchsurfing.org), and meet some people that live in the areas we are visiting. We really enjoy staying in hostels. It's easy to meet fellow travelers and like minded people, much easier than say a hotel. There's definitely a community feel to them. However, mainly they are filled with other foreigners. It's not bad, but it is nice to interact with the locals. If you're not working among them, though, it can be challenging to meet the natives. Ultimately, we thought couch surfing might be a good way to meet the locals and see how they live. After sending out many requests on couch surfing, we got many “nos” and many no responses. Turns out that this time of year in Sydney is a very popular time for visitors. It's the summertime in Australia, and being in the Southern hemisphere means that northern areas here are hotter and southern areas are colder (the opposite of how it is in the States, it's colder in the north and hotter in the south), so during the summer everyone goes down south to escape the heat.

Feeling a bit discouraged by all of the rejection, and a little anxiety on what exactly our plans would be, we decided to expand our search for places to stay just outside of Sydney, which we probably wouldn't have considered before. We had heard from other people staying in our hostel that the Blue Mountains nearby were really beautiful. Matt and I love hiking, so we messaged someone on couch surfing that lived close to the Blue Mountains. I'm so glad we did! We finally got a yes response, from a couple living close to the mountains. Things work out, given enough time and patience.

Our hosts were so nice, and we learned a lot about little cultural nuances. We asked them all sorts of silly questions about Australia and Australian culture that we normally wouldn't feel comfortable asking, or wouldn't remember to ask. Little things we would notice, and then ask about. I felt like a young, inquisitive child. Our hosts had several videos of Australian comedians that we ended up watching, which was a bit of a learning experience in itself. I'm a fan of the sarcastic sense of humor the comedians had. It was fun, but I felt like I learned a lot as well.

The day before we left, we went on a hike of the Blue Mountains. It was about a four hour hike through one of the most beautiful areas I've ever been to in my life. It was filled with amazing water falls and dynamic views down into the valley. There were times I felt like I was in an isolated jungle, or land of the lost, expecting to find dinosaurs around the corner (because there are dinosaurs in every jungle, of course). I jumped at the sight of something moving in the bushes, I thought it was a snake, but thankfully it ended up being a lizard.

From Sydney & Blue Mtns

After our long hike, we went to see the “Three Sisters” rock formation and did a little more hiking there. It was a cloudy day, that kept threatening to rain, but it stayed clear and the clouds made for some beautiful views on the overlook to the Three Sisters.

From Sydney & Blue Mtns

The following day we flew from Sydney to the next leg of our journey in Tasmania.

Sydney, Bondi Beach and Manly

We had a great time in Sydney. Here is the long and the short of our time in Sydney. We ran to the Opera house from our hostel every other day and did a ton of walking around the city. We ate savory pies from food carts with charming names like “veggie tiger pie” (no tigers were injured in the making of my pie), we walked across the Harbor bridge, visited Luna park briefly, saw eels in the ponds of the botanical gardens, and rushed to get out of the botanical gardens at dusk when all of the bats awaken. We wandered the older part of Sydney known at the “Rocks.” We learned that the best place for free wireless internet in Sydney is the library, and that they have free lockers at the library big enough for our big packs (information that came in handy later when we checked out of our hostel one morning, but wanted to sight see in Sydney before we left). We spent a day at Bondi beach, the closest beach to Sydney, and got a little burned. Giant, painful sunburns appeared where we had carelessly missed spraying our sunblock on.

From Oz First Days

We learned that they have Domino's here, and while ordering a vegetarian pizza I saw an unusual ingredient - capsicum. I asked the cashier what it was, and he said a vegetable, I countered with “what does it taste like?” He replied, “I dunno, it tastes like... capsicum.” Fair enough, I guess I wouldn't really be able to describe what broccoli, for example, tastes like to a foreigner. When the pizza came out, I figured out that it was bell pepper. We found further evidence in the super market when we found more bell peppers labeled as red and green “capsicums.” I felt proud to have learned a new word.

We visited Manly, a 45 minute ferry ride from Sydney. Apparently they have a very small, around fifty, endangered population of small penguins that live on Manly. Our quest was to find them. We took the ferry over in the afternoon and spent the next four hours hiking to the top of some very dramatic cliffs. I should specify, we took the gradually inclining road to the top and once at the top, there were dramatic cliffs (we didn't do any cliff climbing). We got swarmed by biting flies and mosquitoes, on the way up and down, but it was definitely worth it to see the view from the top. You could see all the way to Sydney from the top, and the view down was a steep cliff that ended in big rocks in the ocean. The surrounding areas were green and lush and in the distance you could see a lighthouse. It was absolutely breathtaking.

From Manly

There wasn't an obvious way down the cliff face to the rocks, and Matt and I weren't even sure if that's where the penguins could be found. We headed back to the harbor where we were to meet with a group of locals, without accomplishing our mission. The group we met up with was great, and we ended up spending a lot longer there than we had planned. It wasn't until later that we learned from one of the locals that the penguins come out around dusk (which had been hours past, by that point) and congregate a matter of feet from where we had been hanging out! They come on the beach and run to safety under the boardwalk. Matt and I rushed over, but alas, we did not see any. You weren't allowed on the sand to see them under the boardwalk, but we could hear them cooing under the planks. Matt had read that a few penguins had been attacked by dogs recently, and that a conservation group had hired sharp shooters to protect the group of them, so Matt and I stayed clear of the prohibited areas.

Well, no penguins that night, but on the ferry ride back to Sydney, I did notice some interesting behavior of other birds. It was around eleven by the time we got on the ferry home, and a small group of seagulls flew at eye level, and at the same speed as the ferry. I'm not sure if it was the small amount of light that emanated from the ferry, thereby illuminating their prey, or if the ferry somehow attracted the fish, or a combination of both, but the seagulls were using the ferry to help them find dinner. I would see them swoop down in the wake of the ferry and come back up with a small silver fish in their mouths, eating as they rushed to catch up with the ferry once again, and repeat the process over. They did not seem perturbed by the human onlookers only a few feet away. At one point, a seagull flew so close, I had to move away from the railing to avoid making contact with it. It was really cool to observe, especially in the otherwise still of the night, as we glided past serene mountains dotted with lights from suburbs of Sydney. Pulling in to the harbor at night, with Sydney and the Opera House aglow was beautiful. The top of the Opera House was filled with seagulls circling above like flies around honey. That was our last night in Sydney before moving on to our next destination.   

Pictures - Sydney

A picture is worth a thousand words, I just uploaded a bunch of pictures from our trip so far (under "Oz First Days").  Check them out, I added captions!

First Days in Sydney

We ran to the Sydney Opera House this morning from our hostel. It was a little rainy and cooler but nice out. The Opera House was amazing, the architecture just unbelievable. Matt and I had a Rocky moment after running up the stairs of the Opera House. I learned my lesson on our road trip that not working out and eating poorly packs on the pounds (big surprise, right), way too quickly. Also, I end up feeling super sluggish with low energy. So, I'm trying this thing where I stick to my working out and don't overindulge in junky foods. The botanical gardens are on the way to the Opera House, and there are tons of parks and green space in Sydney. Running around the bay was beautiful and relaxing. We saw exotic birds and animals out in the parks, and the waves rhythmically crash against the walls just below the running path.

Though it's been raining the last few days, it's summer here in Australia. It was quite a nice change after flying in from snowy Minnesota. After a four hour flight to LA, and then a twelve hour flight to Sydney, we arrived early in the morning the other day. I'm not quite sure where a day went in our journey, but we lost it somewhere in the ether along the way (we left on a Wednesday and arrived on a Friday). Once we arrived, we spent several hours trying to get a prepaid sim card and getting it to work on Matt's phone. Because of the snow in Minnesota, we weren't sure if our flight would be delayed and decided against booking a place to stay our first night. We spent a long time on the sim card in order to call around for a place to stay, only to find free phones in the airport. I should specify that you can only call the businesses that are advertised on this big wall, but many of the hostels we had looked at before we left were on the wall. Turns out this weekend is a popular time to visit Sydney (due to the summertime), and most of the hostels were totally booked up. We ended up calling ten or fifteen places before we found a spot. They had free airport pick up if you booked for three nights or more, so we got a free ride from the airport. Matt and I got to the hostel, dropped our stuff off, grabbed a bite to eat, and walked around the nearby park and botanical gardens some. I slept very little on the plane, but was able to catch up on many of my movies for the year. I think I watched four movies, it was pretty sweet. I tried to stay up as late as I could in order to get in sync with the time change, but I only made it to 5 or 6 PM before completely passing out.

We made plans Saturday, but ended up doing completely different things. It was raining off and on, so we planned to visit a museum. On our way to the museum we saw a ferris wheel and decided to check it out. There was a fair we were going to take a look at, but got distracted by a fancy looking McDonald's. After getting cheap ice cream there, we saw a bunch of people coming from the pier, so we decided to take a look. When we got to the pier there was a big event going on. It was sponsored by a major credit card company and all of the activities were free. They had an area with painting (all of the supplies provided – paint, brushes, canvases, etc.), so Matt and I partook in the fun. The theme was to paint what makes you happy. Needless to say, Matt painted a kangaroo with pizza playing soccer with a koala beer playing the saxophone. It definitely made me happy. They also had dance lessons, Matt learned a dance to Thriller, and there was a big drum circle. It was totally random, but so much fun. After the festivities, we did more wandering, exploring the pier and then checking out a casino (no gambling, just took a look around). I guess making plans can be good to a point, but being flexible can allow for random adventures!

Last night was a similar situation, we made plans to walk around Sydney for a bit at night (after taking a three hour nap, it was wonderful), but ended up doing something else.  The roof of our hostel has a great view, and we went up to see the night skyline before going for our walk.  We ended up talking to some British guys staying in our hostel and they invited us to play a drinking game with them.  There's this thing called goon wine here that's cheap boxed wine, it's a conglomerate of all the leftover wine that wineries have a hard time selling, promising, right?  The guys bought a goon wine that said "white wine" on the box, but was definitely a very acidic red wine, it did not sit well.  After a few rounds, one of the guys had a hard time keeping the contents of his stomach down and needed to empty the tank.  As the night progressed, the rooftop became more and more crowded with people.  It was fun to hang out, but I'm not much of a drinker.  After awhile, Matt and I excused ourselves and decided to still go for our walk.  There's a large church nearby that has a giant projection screen doing a light show, I guess you would call it, at night right now.  The projector outlines the church and projects beams in different shapes on it.  For instance, it will project giant butterflies fluttering around, or star constellations, or just abstract art.  I'm guessing it's for the holidays, because they also have a manger scene set up out front.  We sat and watched the show, it was a nice way to end the evening.