Sydney Trip

Sydney Harbour from the Ferry

We’re back! For those of you who are still occasionally checking our blog, we have returned from our trip to Sydney. We drove down the New England Highway taking our time, stopping frequently and enjoying the high plateau and hills. Our route took us through Glen Innes the highlands of Australia, Armidale a funky university town and the highest city in Australia, Tamworth the country music capital, and eventually to the Hunter Valley one of the best known wine regions in New South Wales. Once in Sydney we chose to stay out in Manly and come in by ferry. It worked well for us since we could afford a two-bedroom apartment right off the beach and didn’t have to drive the car at all. Plus the ride in on the ferry was a great way to see the city.


The View of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour)from North Head in Manly

We absolutely loved Sydney and especially Manly. I’ll write up more detailed postings for each place we stopped over the next few weeks, but for now it’s the condensed version. In Sydney, we had hoped to go on an Opera House tour (something I didn't when I was here 15 years ago), but Erik had other ideas and was in a generally disagreeable (pissy) mood until in the Rocks area, we happened by a street performer, who enraptured Erik with an amazing escape from chains and pounding a three-inch nail up his nose. The change in Erik’s mood was well worth the $10 we ended up putting in the hat. The rest of the afternoon he was all smiles and sunshine, even sitting quietly for a fish and chip lunch at Doyle’s overlooking Sydney Harbour. Thank god for street performers! The Maritime Museum was another attraction that appealed to Erik and we actually went there twice. (The museum is free, but the ship and submarine tours require a ticket.) We also spent time at the Manly ocean beach, just one building down from our apartment, and at Manly's Ocean World and happened to be there the same afternoon a baby nurse shark was born. Quickly, our four days in Sydney were up, and it was time to pack up. Not seeing half of what we had hoped to, we just had to tell ourselves that we traveling on Erik time and would have to come back again.


The Surf Beach near our Apartment in Manly

On the recommendation of one of the mums at school, we continued on to the Blue Mountains, two hours west of Sydney. The Blue Mountains aren’t really mountains, but more of an elongated limestone high plateau with gorges and crags scattered throughout. This is another area that I’d really like to return to if we get the chance. Bush walking, mountain biking, and cave tours were the main attractions, but we also enjoyed some great meals including a cozy Swiss restaurant that served raclette and fondue.


Erik Standing in Front of the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains

Erik and Mark in Jenolan Caves

Having been gone for ten days, it was time to start heading north back to Brisbane. We took the Pacific Highway the runs about 10-20 kilometers inland of the coast. Since it wasn’t really beach season we stopped a few times and mostly took advantage of the calming effect of the unabridged book on CDs (8 to be exact) had on Erik. He was so engrossed in the story he didn’t want to stop for at night and we had to finish listening to the chapter on the laptop once we had checked into the motel in Port Macquarie almost halfway back to Brisbane. Since we were so close we drove home the next day with plans to head back to Byron Bay some other day.

Sorry this is so brief. Come back for more detailed accounts and pictures (especially the one of the man pounding a nail up his nose) of the trip over the next few weeks.