I feel a bit sorry for my poor Mum! By choosing Australia as the place to visit us on our travels she condemned herself to an evilly long set of flights (20+ hours), and some spectacular jetlag. And thanks to some dodgy advice from a travel agent, she even ended up arriving by coach in Heathrow about 5 hours before her flight… extending a reasonably long trip. Longer than any of the treks we’ve done so far this year - but at least she got to sit in a posh new Airbus 380 (which she loved and can’t stop ranting about) rather than some of the crumbly age-old buses and trains we’ve ricked our necks on in Asia!
Anyway, we arrived in Sydney shortly before my Mum did so we could pick her up from the airport. We then spent the next few days gently trying to realign her circadian rhythm with the local day night cycle – while exploring! Sydney is a great city to explore. I suppose the best thing about it is the location on the riverside. All of the best bits we’ve seen so far have been on the water edge. The Sydney Opera house for instance wouldn’t look nearly so cool if it was in the middle of town rather than stuck on a thin peninsular of land within a stone’s throw from the harbour bridge. Saying that, we haven’t actually got as far as the Opera house itself yet, but saw wonderful views of it from the Rocks - the outcrop of land below the harbour bridge that formed of the earliest European settlements. Darling Harbour is nice too – this is the other side of the headland so you can’t gaze at the Opera house. It’s formed by a small natural bay, which has been developed into a large pedestrianised area complete with lots of designer restaurants on the waterfront – and luckily a food court where us cheapskates could get a sandwich! Darling harbour also has a nice selection of gardens and parks with great water-features, palm trees and lot of ibises. In fact this is the only place in the world I’ve seen where they’ve managed to make the underneath of a motorway flyover look scenic!
We’ve also looked around China town, which has a pretty tree-lined central street which wouldn’t look out of place in one of the touristy regions of Shanghai. The rest of Chinatown is pretty dispersed and difficult to differentiate from the neighbouring parts of town expect for the odd sign with Chinese characters. But it does also have a small Chinese garden, which was surprisingly authentic: a lovely miniature lake with surrounding rock areas and willows, with the odd pagoda and hall thrown in for good measure. Best of all, it had plenty of lazy reptilian residents who seemed to have no energy to move in the cool of the afternoon. They left themselves draped over rocks and bridges throughout the garden - and as each was at least 2 feet long and would let you get REALLY close without batting an eyelid, they were by far the best animal models we’ve snapped yet on our travels. Great show-offs!
We will be returning to Sydney for a few days at the end of our time in Australia, so we will get a chance to see the Opera house close up – and catch the ferry over to Manley Island. But for now we’re moving on again, this time flying north to Cairns to see the Great Barrier Reef. Hopefully I’ll be able to post some even better photos of lazy lizards from there… saltwater crocs maybe!
Anyway, we arrived in Sydney shortly before my Mum did so we could pick her up from the airport. We then spent the next few days gently trying to realign her circadian rhythm with the local day night cycle – while exploring! Sydney is a great city to explore. I suppose the best thing about it is the location on the riverside. All of the best bits we’ve seen so far have been on the water edge. The Sydney Opera house for instance wouldn’t look nearly so cool if it was in the middle of town rather than stuck on a thin peninsular of land within a stone’s throw from the harbour bridge. Saying that, we haven’t actually got as far as the Opera house itself yet, but saw wonderful views of it from the Rocks - the outcrop of land below the harbour bridge that formed of the earliest European settlements. Darling Harbour is nice too – this is the other side of the headland so you can’t gaze at the Opera house. It’s formed by a small natural bay, which has been developed into a large pedestrianised area complete with lots of designer restaurants on the waterfront – and luckily a food court where us cheapskates could get a sandwich! Darling harbour also has a nice selection of gardens and parks with great water-features, palm trees and lot of ibises. In fact this is the only place in the world I’ve seen where they’ve managed to make the underneath of a motorway flyover look scenic!
We’ve also looked around China town, which has a pretty tree-lined central street which wouldn’t look out of place in one of the touristy regions of Shanghai. The rest of Chinatown is pretty dispersed and difficult to differentiate from the neighbouring parts of town expect for the odd sign with Chinese characters. But it does also have a small Chinese garden, which was surprisingly authentic: a lovely miniature lake with surrounding rock areas and willows, with the odd pagoda and hall thrown in for good measure. Best of all, it had plenty of lazy reptilian residents who seemed to have no energy to move in the cool of the afternoon. They left themselves draped over rocks and bridges throughout the garden - and as each was at least 2 feet long and would let you get REALLY close without batting an eyelid, they were by far the best animal models we’ve snapped yet on our travels. Great show-offs!
We will be returning to Sydney for a few days at the end of our time in Australia, so we will get a chance to see the Opera house close up – and catch the ferry over to Manley Island. But for now we’re moving on again, this time flying north to Cairns to see the Great Barrier Reef. Hopefully I’ll be able to post some even better photos of lazy lizards from there… saltwater crocs maybe!
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