Update 27 - Sydney - The Blue Mountains

In blog 26 I told you that we had had probably the best meal of the Australian holiday at the Harbourside restaurant over looking the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. And it was, except for one detail, it kept Stef up all night and she didn't feel well enough to join me on the day trip to The Blue Mountains the following morning. Big shame for Stef, but armed with my new camera and video, I promised to record it for her and you. It was another early start at 7am with a mini bus pickup from the hotel. Annoyingly the bus then meandered back and forth across Sydney for the next hour picking up the other 16 passengers. Eventually we got going and the guide, like all Australian guides we'd had on this trip was both excellent in terms of knowledge and entertaining, keeping up a running dialogue as we drove to the first venue.

1st stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park

We arrived before the Kangaroo's woke up

Six Tawny Frogmouth Owls

Four Kookaburra's

It was a good wildlife park and as usual you could walk amongst the less dangerous animals. The above were no threat at all! After Featherdale, we drove to some open land where we were each given a boomerang and instructed how to throw it, unfortunately mine must have been broken! Still at least it didn't come back and knock me out. Next stop Wentworth Falls and the Blue Mountains proper.

Wentworth Falls map click twice to enlarge

The Blue Mountains

Our party - guide in the blue shirt and a mixed bunch of English, Chinese, Dutch and Filipino

The Blue Mountains covered in greenery

Yes I was there to - picture courtesy of the Dutch contingent

Impressive waterfall

No-one tempted to white water raft it then..

I bet they filmed Westerns here

We took the glass bottomed Skyway cable car down the mountain

Three Sisters rock formation - can't see why they got their name..

Coal Railway History

The geology is interesting

Having taken the cable car down, we took the train back up

It was only as we were leaving that I saw this sign, sure steepest in the world - whatever, but in terms of priorities I would have had it - 1. Cameras 2. Valuables 3. Infants

Next stop was Leura picturesque village

And finally for this trip, we took the boat from the Sydney Olympic Park O (a.k.a SOPA - yes Sydney had the Olympics in 2000) to Darling Harbour, where I met Stef in the hotel bar in time for free drinks and snacks....
That's it for the Aussie blogs, now to catch you up all in one blog from 6th April to the 1st June. Keep cool, it'll be in bullet point format!

Update 26 - Sydney - The City

We left Cairns and took the 3.5-hour flight down to Sydney on April Fools Day. How could we top the Penguins and the Eureka tower in Melbourne, the Crocs, Kangaroos, Koalas, Sharks, giant trees, rainforests and Great Barrier Reef of Cairns? Well let's see...

It was nightfall, by the time we got to the hotel in Darling Harbour, unpacked, enjoyed the free bar until 8pm and went out for Stef's first views of Sydney. I'd been there twice before on business and already new what a great City it is and the quality of life they enjoy there.

I'm sure the Opera house was better lit when I was there last... Anyway after a walk around Circular quay and seeing the sights by night, we called it a day..

After breakfast we took a walk around Darling Harbour.

Hadn't used the video until now...

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza next door to Rabobank

Captain Cook's Bark Endeavour recreated at the Maritime Museum

We took the 'Aussie Water Taxi' to Taronga Zoo

Downtown Sydney and another tower to climb!

It has to be the most beautiful harbour in the world

We get there fairly early and did most of the zoo at pace before the crowds arrived

 

We were lucky that an elephant calf had recently been born in the zoo

 Spot Pathi Harn the main attraction at the zoo

 The locals say that the animals have the most expensive view/real estate in Sydney

 Big scary lizard thing - bigger than me!

 The giraffes certainly acted happy

 Meanwhile up above a local pilot was scaring himself

 Lions are at their most lethal when bored and hungry!

I want that job!

The Opera House and Circular Quay

Back on dry land - The Queen Victoria Shopping Arcade

The Sydney Tower here we come...

 

Didn't realise we'd been up the tower so long..

Looking down on the Queen Victoria Arcade - green dome

Looking down on Hyde Park, St. Marys Church and Botanical gardens

 

Wouldn't look out of place in London or Paris

 Hyde Pk and St. Marys at ground level, is that someone in the fountain?

 Hyde Park

 The monorail goes through buildings - cooool!

We walked back down to Darling Harbour to the Sydney Aquarium

 Good Aussie no nonsense sign, in the UK it might say something like 'Be careful here or you might get nibbled'

 A lettuce eating Dugong

 Don't look behind you Stef

After the Sydney Aquarium we went for a well earned drink, having been to Taronga Zoo, up the Sydney Tower and around the aquarium all in one day!

When we were scuba diving on the Barrier Reef (sounds normal now, doesn't it?), the American guy I met in my beginners group had bought a new camera which was an upgraded version of mine. It's a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10 (if you're interested), which has a wide-angle Leica lens, 16 x intelligent zoom and takes HD video on SD cards up to 32GB (oh how Carlos Fandango is that?). And as Stef doesn't have a camera, I thought I'd give her my old Panasonic Lumix (just call me Mr Generous) and get a new one in Sydney. You can get the tax back at the airport on the way home, which made it the same price as on Amazon in the UK. If any Panasonic staff are reading this, I buy a lot of your products and I think they're superb! If you'd like me to trial anything let me know. Anyway where was I? On Saturday 3rd April, we went and bought the camera and from now on all my photos are taken with the all singing, all dancing new Lumix (of course some are Stef's photos from the Victorian camera).

We met up with my old work mate Ian from Rabobank Sydney (despite the sunglasses he's English) and he took us on a tour of the coast before meeting up with his wife Jen and daughter Poppy at their house in Coogee.

Me and Stef at Bondi beach

Bondi beach

Bronti beach

The rugged coast and high surf reminded us of Carnac and La Cote Sauvage

After a great tour of the coast and meeting Ian's family, he drove us back into Sydney over the Harbour Bridge

Ian dropped us off at The Rocks market

Some great views of the Harbour Bridge

Down in Circular Quay the Aboriginal music sounded fantastic!

The most famous Opera House in the world

Stef looking well assorted

I'm in Circular Quay

We finished our day off with probably the best meal of the holiday at the Harbourside restaurant over-looking the Opera house. Next morning we would have to be up at 6am for a 7am bus trip to the Blue Mountains, covered in the final Australian blog 27. However, to round off our Sydney city tour I'm putting our last day in next.

On our last day, we had breakfast in the hotel, checked out and then had until 4pm to see more of Sydney before being picked up by the airport bus. We walked down to Darling Harbour and took the monorail to Paddy's Market. It's an indoor market, a bit like Camden Market, selling clothes, souvenirs etc.. After the market we walked up through China town to the Botanical gardens. 

 Another good sign

 Wow - we weren't expecting fruit bats!

They're big and there's 1000s of them in the trees

Fruit Bats hanging upside down in the Botanical Gardens

Impressive site

Some of the history of Sydney/Australia

Some more history

Great view coming out of the Botanical Gardens

Architect of the Opera House is Jorn Utzon and these are his original geometries

...and finally Luna Park is just the other side of the Harbour Bridge

We walked from the Opera House around Circular Quay and had a pie and a pint in one of the bars in The Rocks before walking back to the Hotel in Darling Harbour via George St. And that was it for our last day in Sydney and Australia. A fantastic trip that we wouldn't hesitate repeating, although i suspect there's plenty more to see down under...