One week in the place where life’s a beach
One month ago we were in New Zealand and on the way we also wanted to visit Australia, because if you fly so far away from home (15k km one way) it would be a great shame not to do it.
The few days we had weren’t enough to see everything we’d have wanted to, but they allowed us time to sightsee Sydney and the surrounding areas and check some points off our bucket lists.
#1 To meet Sydney
If you are in a new place it’s obvious you want to meet it to discover its personality and see as many interesting things as possible. Hmm, if it’s obvious, why am I writing about it? And why am I asking that stupid question? Crap! Anyway…
We stayed at Manly, which is a beach-side suburb to the north of Sydney. The panoramic view from our flat’s windows included the Pacific Ocean, across the horizon and Manly Beach, one of the famous places for surfing in the world.
We sailed the ferry to Circular Quay (about 30min from Manly), where the opera house and the bridge are located. As soon as we arrived we could see Aboriginal men playing on didgeridoos on the street.
A few minutes up the road and we were near the Sydney Opera House. To be honest, this famous architectural wonder makes a great impression from the water side, but from the botanical garden side it looks really weird (like three plates on the dryer ^^). But the view of the Harbour Bridge from this place was amazing and it bought me a hundred times more than the opera house. All of these look even better at the night in the moonlight.
Central Sydney is largely a business district, full of huge skyscrapers, but there are also a lot of green and beautiful parks, where people run, do yoga and play football in breaks from work. Ewa said, the centre of Sydney looks like the centre of New York. I’ve never been to New York, but I believe her, because I felt that spirit there :)
At the end of the day we went to the Sydney Tower Eye from where we could admire this huge, beautiful city from above.
One hint: instead of buying a ticket to the observation deck (28$ per person) you can go to the restaurant placed at the top of the tower. You will have to spend min. 20$ there, but you will have the opportunity to look at the city drinking a coffee or other drink.
#2 To cuddle a koala
me: Klaudia, I just bought the plane tickets! We’re going to visit New Zealand and Australia
Klaudia: Ohh, so I want to cuddle a koala
me: we will be going through these beautiful countries and we will see many gorgeous places
Klaudia: I want to cuddle a koala
me: but…
Klaudia: KOOOOAAAALAAAA
We had to look for koalas. It’s probably hard to find them living wild near Sydney, so we decided to go to the Wild Life Zoo in the city centre. Beside koalas, you can see a lot of local animals in this place, e.g. kangaroos, wallabies, opossums, wombats, tasmanian devils, quokkas, platypuses and different species of reptiles and birds!
We never have luck at the zoo. This time wasn’t different. We couldn’t see most of the animals we wanted, because they were sleeping, hidden from our eyes :( Every fucking time, ehh.
But then the expected moment came. We found ourselves in the special area when we could mingle among koalas. They sat in the trees, held onto branches with their small arms and just chilled out, looking at people. It’s funny, because these cute animals move so lazely, as if they were high all the time.
We bought an individual meeting with them, so we had a few minutes to see these mammals from a couple of centimetres and took some photos. Unfortunately, it’s now against the law regulations to cuddle koalas in Sydney, so we couldn’t do it. Despite this fact, we were so happy being there. The time spent travelling to Australia was worth it, yay!
The next step: to hug a panda. And then Klaudia will marry me :D
#3 To be the Son of a Beach*
We’ve never surfed before, but we have always dreamed about it. And there is no better place than Australia to do it, is there? Especially as we lived near Manly Beach which is, as I wrote before, one of the most popular places for surfing in the whole world.
As we were greenhorns (and we still are), we needed an instructor. We decided to get a 2 hour lesson with professional teachers. A few minutes with theory, basics and exercises on the beach and we went to water!
My surfing time in short
Expectations (or better — hopes):
- to look great in a wetsuit
- to swim through the waves without a problem
- to not sink under the surfboard
- to not get water in my mouth
- to catch a good wave
- to stand on the surfboard
Reality:
- first wave, first time under the surfboard
- a huge amount of this fucking salty water in my mouth
- lack of strength in the arms after a few minutes of paddling
- maybe a half second standing on the surfboard (with bent knees)
… but still looked great in the wetsuit :D :D
Despite the fails, the fun was incredible. We have to try it again and again and again… maybe in Portugal, this year?
The funny thing is: if you are a surfer you can be old and have grey head, but there will always be some blonde hair ^^
* Kuba aka The Son of a Beach is a colleague of mine who loves to surf and he does it pretty well. If you want to read something good about surfing (and about being a surfer living far away from the ocean), just check out his blog: sonofabea.ch.
#4 To play with wild kangaroos
When I heard about Morriset for the first time I knew it is the most important place to visit on our journey. Why? Because you can see wild kangaroos there. Wait, not only see. You can also stroke and play with them!
But, from the beginning… This place is located in the Morriset mental hospital grounds, about 120km to the north of Sydney. It is pretty hard to find and not well known by tourists, so if you get there you can be assured that you will spend your time there in quiet, instead of being in the centre of messy and noisy visitors.
The kangaroos were super friendly and they were not afraid of humans. Most of them were having a break, lying on the ground and chilling, but a few came up to us to introduce themselves. Without any problem, we could touch them and took some photos. It was a really exciting time we spent with these marsupials in their natural, wild environment.
If you go there, you must remember the animals that live in this place are totally wild and even if they’re nice, cute and friendly you have to be careful when you’re among them. We avoided the oldest and biggest kangaroos because they looked seriously threatening.
A few days and a lot of attractions. And many more ahead of us. Our return to Australia in the future is pretty obvious.