Tag Archives: Sydney

We’ve been in Australia for 20 days already, time flies when you’re having fun. And since some of the folks back at home have been pestering us for a blog post, and the rain is coming down in bucket-loads this morning in Brisbane… putting pay to any cycling plans I had, I’ve decided to jot down some ideas and experiences that Australia has offered up for us!

The difference between Melbourne and Sydney is quite stark, quite apart from the weather difference the local vibe is different too. Melbournians, we’ve noticed, tend to be the more relaxed types and in fact reminded us quite a lot of Cape Town. But on the other side of the coin, everybody is up and go in Sydney and instead of cozying up in their local coffee shop they’re out and about going for a run or enjoying a day out in the park.

The day was spent wandering Sydney and taking photos in the glorious weather that the city put on for us, it certainly didn’t disappoint.

The Opera House from Sydney Harbour bridge.

It was another ‘pinch yourself’ moment when we found ourselves perched on the edge of Circular Quay, peering up at the famous shells of Sydney Opera House. It didn’t stop there either when we walked around the Botanical Gardens and up to Mrs MacQuarie’s chair only to see the impressive skyline as the backdrop to the ferry port and opera house once again. One quickly realizes why everyone is taking advantage of time to get out for some exercise, because it is a stunning place.

On the stairs at the Opera House

Initially Dom and I had a plan in the making to fly to Sydney and then to relocate a camper van to Brisbane for one of the companies who hire them out here. This is a great option (in theory) for backpackers on a budget as the rental is only a very small fraction of normal rates, often only $1 per day, and some guys even throw in a free tank of fuel to sweeten the deal. This is all well and good when there is availability though, and there was up until the time came that we wanted to make a reservation, at which point it seemed that an army of gremlins had sabotaged our plans and all of the available campers had disappeared! So it was off to Sydney with no way of getting up to Robs and Dean in Brisbane… this unplanned approach is becoming a bit of a trend. Jeanne and Edwin, Dom’s extended family, took us in for the two nights in Sydney though and made sure we were well fed and slept!

Wandering around Manly Beach eating ice cream

Manly beach got the nod over Bondi on the day though and we took the ferry out for the afternoon and sampled strawberry and chocolate ice cream as we strolled down the beach, such a hard life! It has been one of our missions to try to visit the less touristed places on this trip and rather see the place from a local’s perspective so the trip out and away from the city to one of the nearby small resort towns afforded us this opportunity. Another thing is that the daily travel passes include ferry trips from Circular Quay (not the high speed ones), that are a great change from sitting on metro trains or busses all the time.

And as they say, that was Sydney, onwards to Brisbane and by this stage we had a flight booked, luckily! An early start saw us up at 04:30 and off to catch the train to the airport, not ideal but at least we got to Brisbane early enough.

Brisbane is located on the Brisbane River that winds its way down to the sea from the Brisbane Range, no prizes for originality here! So after settling in a bit we headed down to Kangaroo Point on the South bank of the river near to the city for some lunch and a long overdue catch up with my cousin Robyn who has moved here with her husband Dean. Turns out they’re Camera and Mac addicts like us, so staying with them is like living inside an apple store, its AMAZING!!!!! And, even better, Dean is an avid cyclist too so finally I have been able to get on a bike, this is my happy place.

We took a great trip out to O’Riellys

Up the less traveled road in the Prado

in the Lamington National Park, and took the less traveled track up Duck Creek Road.  We decided to do the shorter walk… however said short walk turned into quite a trek and Dean and I finally found our way up to the lookout point

View from the lookout point

that was originally planned as their wedding venue, a vista worth the walk for sure. Coffee and Lamingtons ensued and another short tour over O’Reilly’s treetop suspension bridges that even take you up one of the huge strangler figs to look out over the valley from a Kookaburra’s perspective.

Tippy top of the trees

I’m now totally finished with writing for today and we really should head out so that today is not completely lost… tune in for some more tales next post!

Ciao for now!