From Sydney to Brisbane

When people imagine travelling in South America, especially in Bolivia, they imagine dirty, backpackers sleeping in crappy tents, eating tasteless rice that was cooked on a small stove in a field. In Australia, on the other hand, the travelling conditions should be a luxury. As a matter of fact, the real picture can't be more different than that. Moving from the poorest country of South America to modern Australia was a real descent in our life style. In Bolivia we slept in a private room with cable TV and ensuite bathrooms, and dined in high class restaurants every night, where as in Australia we sleep in tents (in all weather conditions) cook our own meals and pay at least 4 times more than in Bolivia.
After being in 3 big cities in a row, it felt good to be out again. We drove from Sydney to the Blue Mountains, 3 hours west, and got there just in time to see the sunset over the Three Sisters. At sunset it is also very clear why did the mountains got their name. The far mountains are being colored in blue by the thick haze when the sun disappears, and the valley becomes magical. The silence sometimes disturbed by loud groups of white Kakadus flying around.
Our first night in tents wasn't a very warm welcome. We arrived late in our campsite, just after drinking a huge hot chocolate, that is probably considered illegal and corrupt in some countries. The wind was blowing so strongly that we almost couldn't build our tents. That night was also one of the coldest nights we had in Australia. For Itay who wasn't used to sleeping in tents at all, and wasn't prepared for cold weather, the experience was especially traumatic. On the next morning he described it as one of the worst nights he ever had, but that didn't stop him from driving hundreds of kilometers on that day, just like he did most of our journey together.
One of the main attractions of the Blue Mountains area are the Jenolan Caves. It is one of the most interesting cave structures in the world. There are more than 300 caves full of beautiful stalagmites and stalactites, small underground rivers and lakes. Few of the most impressive and accessible ones were open to the public (not for free, though... God forbid). We did one self-guided (with earphones) tour to the main space and one guided tour to "The Oriental Palace". From both of them we learned a lot of interesting historical and geological facts about those caves. Lately, a new, few million dollar, lighting system was installed in those caves, what made our guide especially proud. On the next day, after another "pleasant" night, we drove to the Hunter Valley. The Hunter valley is a very nice rural area and the main wine district of New South Wales (the state where Sydney is). There we visited two wineries, tasted some wine, bought some fancy cheese, visited a funeral and interrupted few kangaroos with their dinner. After all of us got sober (especially Itay) we drove to Newcastle, which is a big industrial city next to the Pacific shore.
The day after, we had a long driving day (more than 800km) at the end of which we got to Bayron Bay. On the way we stopped in Coffs Harbour. Apparently, this is Australia's biggest bananas grower. They thought that this is a reason good enough to build a banana theme park, and Itay thought that that was a reason good enough to stop there. On the way to the "Big Banana" we got lost, that was actually a good thing, because we got a very nice lookout over the Pacific ocean. The park itself wasn't worth the effort, though.
We completed our long journey in a very nice city of Byron Bay. The majority of Australians like to stay indoors (aka sleep) right after sunset, that is why it was really refreshing to find a city with restaurants and bars open after 7pm. By the time we finished dinner half of the places were already closed.
We wanted to stay in this vital town for another day, but the local Pachamama (we really need to find out how do the Aboriginals call her here) thought it's time to go. It was raining most of the morning, so we decided to continue to Brisbane.

Tip 1: The best time to see the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains is at sunset, then they are beautifully lit.
Tip 2: If you are planning to visit Jenolan caves, take into account that they have only about 3 different tours each day at set times. In order to save time make sure to check their schedule in advance.
Tip 3: If you visit Jenolan caves don't throw away the tickets. You can use it for another tour for half of price, for a whole year. You can even give it to your friends. That's what our guide told us.
Tip 4: In most wineries in Hunter Valley there are no tours and the tasting is for free. If you like what you had tasted they will be happy to sell you a bottle. Unfortunately, the ones we liked were much too expansive for us.
Tip 5: Take into account that Internet is very inaccessible all around Australia (that's why it takes us so much time to publish our posts). There are almost no Internet cafes in most of the towns and even if you have your own computer there are very few campsites that have Wifi. Eventually we had to buy a portable modem for Itay's computer from one of the local cellular companies.

Pictures

Pictures from the way from Sydney to Brisbane - Blue Mountains ans Hunter Valley

Sydney

8 years have passed since the first time I (Oren) was in Sydney. Since then I remembered it as one of the most beautiful cities I've been in, and now, after a week there, I'm waiting for the time I'll return for the 3rd time.
Sydney sits in a beautiful location. All the famous sightings, such as the Opera House, and the Sydney's Bridge are indeed lovely, on their own, but it is the total composition that really makes Sydney so beautiful.
We had a great place to stay there. We stayed at the beautiful renovated house of my friend Esti, her husband Brad and their cutest two year old son Mikey, that also served as the best alarm clock, waking us every morning at 6 with cute tiny calls “Mammy, Daddy, Mammy...”.

We met Itay, Lilya's friend, that joined us for the next 5 weeks, on our first morning in Sydney. We toured the botanic gardens, which are not that amazing as botanical gardens, but are a great place to see animals such as lots of giant bats, hanging like fruits from a tree, kakadus, flying frantically in a large group, and a lot of water birds. Itay has the same obsession for photography as me (and a big camera too), so we took a lot of pictures, while Lilya gathered enormous amount of patience and waited. This scenario will be quite common during our stay in Australia. We continued walking until we got to the Opera House, where the photography scenario returned.

We tested our luck and checked for performances at the Opera House. Surprisingly enough, we found cheap tickets for an acclaimed dance show for that night. We continued through Circular Quay, the main ferry port, to the central business district, where Sydney looks like a large American city. Large buildings and broad one way boulevards, but with a twist. The people on the streets are probably one of the nicest group of people ever gathered in a large modern metropolitan.

The Australians are only western on the outside. The clothes, the style, the cars and the iphones are just a disguise. On the inside they are as easy going as a Buddhist monks, and they are never too busy to be extra nice to you. They do have the (little bit annoying) habit of apologizing if you had to move a little bit due to their existence in the space near you.

We literally got lost between the large buildings, so we had to take a cab back to the Opera House. The show that we saw, “Of earth and sky” by Bangarra, was a modern dance influenced by Aboriginal traditions. We had mixed feelings about it, though. It was quite a spectacle of light and movement, but also very abstract, and not uniform in its quality: the second part was considerably better than the first.

We spent the next day in the Powerhouse Museum, which can be defined as the museum of everything. An eclectic collection of exhibitions about science, technology, design, photography, culture and music. The most remembered exhibition was an homage to the 80's. All the music, the events (anyone said Berlin wall?), the fashion, the style (or lack of it...), and even old Atari video games. It was fun, but at the same time, reminded me that this was probably the most ridicules decade in the last century. Some of the people I know were born in the 80's but other than that, completely useless...

Later that day, we took the Monorail – the touristy light rail that goes on a single rail, that is hanged above the street, to the Rocks. The Rocks is one of Sydney's oldest neighbourhoods and today is a centre of pubs and restaurants. We found (at last) a Guinness in an old Irish pub and finished the evening with a walk over the famous Sydney bridge, watching the wonderful light on the Opera House.

On the next day we took the fast elevator to the lookout at the top of Sydney Tower. We got there just in time to see the sunset, but it wasn't as good as we expected. Later that day we had a special dinner with Esti and Brad. Esti, with the help of Mikey, cooked us a great meal, while we baked Lilya's famous apple pie in return. On the next day we visited few of the bars/cafés that Newtown, the trendy neighbourhood where Esti and Brad live, had to offer. Esti and Mikey even joined us for a beer (for Esti) in one of the pubs.

The next day was a business day. We spent it looking for a car. We wanted to buy one, but got convinced by a dude named Gass (or Garry, as his parents called him) to rent a station wagon and to avoid the fuss of selling it at the end. While probably not most economic decision, having a car is probably the best way to travel around Australia. It will allow us to go off the bitten trek, park in small campsites and caravan parks, and not only in the main cities.

Oren didn't feel too good the next day, so he stayed home with Esti's computer, while Lilya and Itay went out. First they visited few travelling gear shops and mostly enjoyed the great variety. After buying all they needed, which is not a lot, they took a train and a bus to Bondi beach. A very nice and relaxed neighbourhood of Sydney. It's main attraction, as you can guess from it's name, is the beautiful beach. Even though it was the middle of winter there were plenty of surfers in wet-suits trying to catch a wave or two. Unfortunately, in this part of Australia the sun doesn't set in the ocean. They don't know what they are missing. When Lilya and Itay returned we all joined Esti and Brad in a very good Thai restaurant not far from their home.

We took the car on the next day from the rental company, said our goodbyes to Esti and to Sydney and started our great road trip across Australia.

Tip 1: There is no need for tips in Australia! At least not in restaurants. But don't worry, the prices are high enough, anyway.

Tip 2: Don't be fooled by the easygoingness of the Australians. The fines you can get for speeding, for example, can easily reach 1000$. Don't take the chances if you rent or buy a car.

Tip 3: A show in the famous Opera House of Sydney doesn't have to be extremely expansive. At the day of the show you can find very big discounts, especially for student card holders.

Tip 4: You can find few car rental/selling agencies especially for backpackers on William st. not far from the Kings Cross station.

Pictures

At last, first album from Australia. Pictures from Sydney are on line:

Pictures

A small but very special album from our flight over Antarctica: