Sydney & Vicinity

More photos from this segment!:
https://picasaweb.google.com/103620108216329120374/Sydney?authkey=Gv1sRgCLT2roP264WwmAE&noredirect=1

After our 20-days away in New Zealand, we've returned to Australia, and were greeted with beautiful sunny weather in Sydney. We stayed one night at the Westin, and got to see a good chunk of the city.

The harbor was the highlight for us. We walked around both sides of it - you can cross over the Sydney Harbour Bridge (pictured in the background) to the more residential neighborhoods of North Sydney; just like the Brooklyn bridge in New York!

We found the perfect after-work hang out spot, outside the Sydney Opera House. It was packed, but we managed to snag a table for drinks and a quick bite.

Downtown Sydney reminds me a lot of Lower Manhattan. It's compact, filled with skyscrappers, and has a historic district (the Rocks) with small lanes and old buildings.

Bondi Beach is just a few miles away from Downtown. It's a lively community filled with million dollar apartments with views. There's a great walkway along the water.

After our short stay in Sydney, we ventured out to the quieter region of the Blue Mountains, a couple of hours west of Sydney. Pictured here is the Three Sisters, an iconic rock formation in the mountains. They were formed by erosion of the sandstone around the columns. Apparently, there used to be a few more sisters that have been completed eroded away. Day-hikes here were great!

We completed the Sydney circuit with a couple of days at the beach, just south of Sydney. We relaxed at this beach in Jervis Bay for a few hours one afternoon. It was the most isolated of the spots we found, and as far south as we went before returning to Sydney for our intercontinental flight.

Overall, I think the Sydney region is the most livable of all the places we visited on the trip! The city itself is like a smaller version of New York, and there's so much to do around it. If I can manage to work and live here for a year, I definitely would. 

Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road

More photos from this segment of our trip!:
https://plus.google.com/u/1/photos/103620108216329120374/albums/5980830761224642689

Our stay in Melbourne started with a scramble to find treatment for Dave's very swollen foot. We Emergency rooms are almost useless for foreigners - there's an initial fee of $400AUD, plus additional for any treatment. Eventually we found a General Practitioner who was ale to see us the next day for a reasonable fee. Fortunately, the swollen foot was just a badly infected bee sting! Thanks goodness for antibiotics. The trip continues!

With that great news, we thought we'd do a little more driving and a little less walking for a few days. We ventured out on the Great Ocean Road, a 151 mile stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia, filled with beautiful towns, parks, and you guessed it, ocean views.

Beautiful coastal views

We stopped more often than we had anticipated on the drive, for coastal walks, photo sessions, coffee breaks, etc. It took us two and a half days to finish the drive. I'm glad our schedule was flexible enough to allow for these relaxing days!

Enjoying a beautiful morning on the beach. Every beach is this secluded!

Kuala bears are the cutest animal we saw on the whole trip (yes, beating everything in Africa). There were clusters of them hanging out near eucalyptus trees. Look up in the branches!

Kuala bear hanging out on the road

The highlight, and main tourist attraction, was the Twelve Apostles limestone stack formations at the western end of the road. These were formed by erosion of the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed, leaving rock stacks up to 45 meters high. Several walkways in the area provide great views of the Apostles.

Several of the Twelve Apostles

Enjoying the crashing waves

We rounded up the drive back in Melbourne. Although the city center felt small, it had fun streets (especially alleys), interesting architecture, and great food. We went to a delicious tapas restaurant and got authentic ramen.

Next stop, New Zealand!

One of the many graffiti-ed alleyways in Melbourne 

Federation Square, Melbourne

The Outback

We had a great flight from Cairns to Ayers Rock! You really get an appreciation for the size and emptiness of Australia. There's no development that you can see from the air the entire way - no roads, houses, or even trees for the most part. As we were about to land, we were treated to unobstructed views of Ayers Rock!

Cairns to Ayers Rock

Ayers Rock from the air - you can see that there is a single road that circumnavigates the rock. The airport was about 10km away. 

It was about 110 degrees when we arrived in Ayers Rock Resort. Most of the trails around the rock were closed due to the weather, not that we were going to attempt them anyway - the infamous black flies of the region love the heat and were out in full force that day. It was impossible to walk out of the car for more than a minute without being swarmed. We weren't even able to outrun them. 

So we spent the afternoon in the safety and comfort of our four-wheel drive. Luckily, the drive around Ayers Rock isn't too different from the walk. The big rock was even more impressive up close, with each side providing a different perspective. I was a bit disappointed, though, that we didn't get to climb to the top. 

Many interesting details on the rocks

The rest of our stay in the Outback was significantly milder, especially in the mornings and at night. We got up early in the morning each day to watch the sunrise take an early-morning hike. Then we drove through the hottest part of the day to our next destination, averaging about three hours of driving. In the afternoons, we would settle in and go for smaller walks. The days ended with sunset viewing. 

We had a blast driving our tank through the desert. The roads were in much better shape than we had anticipated, as long as you're prepared for long stretches without any facilities. 

Beautiful hike through Kings Canyon

Overall, the Outback was more remote than I had anticipated. There was no development other than a few simple lodges here and there. The place seems to be inhospitable to living creatures, although the aboriginal people have lived there for thousands of years. We were very happy to be returning to civilization in Melbourne (and we brought with us a very swollen bee sting on Dave's foot).

Cairns & the Great Barrier Reef

More photos from Cairns:
https://plus.sandbox.google.com/u/1/photos/103620108216329120374/albums/5970373582324646993

Welcome to Australia and the southern hemisphere!

It was easy enough getting here from Japan. There is a direct flight from Osaka to Cairns on a low-cost airline. In just 8 hours, we went from fall to spring, and in Cairns, spring felt a lot more like summer.

We spent 4 days in the region. Our favorite parts were snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, exploring the beaches and rainforests of Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation, and exotic fruit tasting at a family-run orchard. And our least favorites? Getting sunburned while snorkeling and enduring hundreds of bug bites even with the constant application of bug spray.

We landed in this tropical paradise! The boardwalk in Cairns. 

We didn't spend too much time in the city of Cairns itself, but it seemed like a pretty livable city, with a great beachfront and modern apartments buildings. 

One of the snorkeling sites in the Outer Great Barrier Reef. The reefs were pretty shallow in most places, so you get a close up look at all the features. 

We took the Calypso Snorkeling boat out for an action-packed day on the Outer Great Barrier Reef. We visited three different sites in day, spending about an hour snorkeling at each location. The reef formations and variety of ocean life we saw were quiet impressive, and the water was perfectly warm for swimming.

The marina at Port Douglas, where we boarded our boat. 

Beautiful secluded beach, Cape Tribulation

Just on the other side of the beaches is a lush rainforest with great walking trails. Here, you can appreciate the diversity of plant life, as I've never seen most of these plants native to the region. One great find was the Cape Trib Exotic Fruit Farm. A small number of visitors each day participate in a tasting of ten in season fruits - all are tropical, delicious, and not in your local grocery store. The issue is that these fruits are not produced in large enough quantities and are not easy enough to transport and store to make them commercially viable. Custard apple (my favorite from the tasting), for example, turns into mush when it's transported (similar to what avocado does when it over-ripens but at a much faster rate). At its peak, though, it is super sweet and creamy, just like a custard dessert!

One of the several rain forest boardwalks in the Daintree Forest

Our basket of fruits for tasting

Next up, we're going to another iconic Australian destination - Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and the Outback.