Last days in Sydney

A few weeks ago Work and Travel asked me if I could write something about my trip in Australia for them. Every month they feature one backpacker in their monthly newsletter that they send to partners around the world. So I did and as a thank you I got free entrance to the Sydney Tower, the tallest building in Sydney. Normally people go there one of their first days in Sydney because its one of the must do tourist attractions and its impossible to miss. I don't know why I didn't go before, but I am really happy I didn't. Looking out over Sydney from the top is a magnificent sight, but it was so much cooler when I knew the places I was looking at. I could see my old Backpacker hostel, Bondi Junction, the Airport, Darling Harbour, the bridge and opera house and Luna Park behind it. In addition the ticket included a virtual tour of Australia in a motion simulator. The quality wasn't that great, but it was a nice bonus.

Since I already was in the top of the tower for free, I decided to pay the extra 40 dollars to do the sky walk. The skywalk takes you outside the tower along passageways and viewing platforms. If I don't remember wrong it was 268? meters up. One of the platforms extended outwards so that if you looked down through the glass floor, you looked straight down to the street. It was very cool! The instructor was cracking jokes the whole time and also talking about the different landmark's. She also made us jump up and down on the platform so we could feel it sway. When thinking about it afterwards it was way less scary than they made it out to be and probably very overpriced, but it was still fun.

Valentines day fell on a Sunday this year, which was perfect since Annina had the day off. It was also on the same day as Chinese New Year which meant Chinatown was full of activity. I got her some nice chocolate, then we went to Chinatown to have a look. We saw dragon dancing and went to a market with loads of food and products. Afterwards we went to see Invictus at the cinema. It was a good movie! Then we + Kristin and Matthias went out for dinner. We went to a Italian restaurant. It was a good day.

I had to work 3 hours on my birthday, but it was in the morning so I was okay with it. However the bastards at work kept me there for 40 minutes overtime without pay. When I got back Annina had baked a cake for me. That was really nice! I got presents from Matthias, Kristin and Annina! Thank you! Also thanks to all who commented on my facebook and I haven't forgotten you Pappa, Tante Inger or Bestemor either! After cake we went to Hyde Park to relax and eat fruit. In the evening me and Annina went to a famous German Restaurant in Sydney called Löwenbräu. We had German food. It was expensive but delicious.

Photos Galore!

I have been planning to upload all my photos for some time now, but could not decide if I wanted to use Facebook or somewhere else. Facebook has a horribly unstable multiple picture uploader so I have decided to go with Picasa. It is free, integrated with blogger and has a nice slideshow applet. The Albums are sorted by date from beginning to end and include a direct link for those that don't want to use the slideshow applet.

Bangkok Airport: 3. September 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/BangkokAirport

Sydney 1: 4. September 2009 - 7. September 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/Sydney1

Melbourne: 8. September 2009 - 13. September 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/Melbourne

Melbourne Zoo: 12. September 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/MelbourneZoo

Surf Camp: 14. September 2009 - 18. September 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/SurfCamp

Sydney 2: 18. September 2009 - 24. September 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/Sydney2

Defqon.1: 19. September 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/Defqon1

Ultimate Surf Camp: 25. September - 5. October 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/UltimateSurfCamp

Brisbane: 6. October 2009 - 19. October 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/Brisbane

Sydney 3: 20. October 2009 - 17. February 2010

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/Sydney3

Days Like This!: 10. January 2010

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/DaysLikeThis

Blue Mountains: 9. February 2010 - 10. February 2010

http://picasaweb.google.com/fatsheep/BlueMountains

Blue Mountains

The closest nature escape from Sydney is the famous Blue Mountains and it was here we planned our first practice run with the car before the real adventure starts. The Blue Mountains are about one and a half hours away from Sydney CBD. The big tourist attraction is the amazing views from the cliffs into the valley below. It's hard to describe or to really show in photos how amazing the views are! In addition the tree sisters, which is a stone formation along the cliffs, is a must see sight. The first day we went on a really nice hike. First along the top of the cliff edge, then down along a waterfall to the bottom where the rainforest is. From there we walked trough the rainforst back the same way and then up the cliff to the top. The way up was incredible with stone steps carved into the cliff wall. I have no idea how they even found out where to put the steps or that no one died while making it. In total there was 894 steps. Along the way we had lunch at a nice yet very expensive cafe.

Since we didn't want to pay for a camping site we decided to try and wild camp. We found a nice resting area in town and parked the car, but not long after a grumpy old man came driving and threatened to call he police if we didn't move. Wild camping is illegal in Australia and apparently he was the local old man that likes to drive around and chase people off. We had to pack up our stuff and look for another good place. Luckily we found a small dirt road that just went into the bushes out of site from the main road. There we parked the car, ate dinner and slept. It turned out we parked less than a meter from a small pool of water filled with frogs that were quacking loudly. In addition the next morning unknown birds were "singing", although it sounded more like somebody laughing insanely. Even with the charm of the nature I had a good nights sleep and I felt refreshed the next day.

The next day we went for another hike. This time we went down the steps we came up the previous day, then we walked further in the rainforst and back up another place in the cliffs. It was another stream that came down from the top, but instead of a big waterfall, there were many small ones along the trail. It was not as steep as the previous decent. but equally fascinating. On the way back we drove along a scenic highway that went trough the mountains. It had some amazing views and crazy twists and turns. It reminded me of the roads in western Norway. We took tons of photos and I have included some of the best ones, but there are so many more that I can't show.

Big Update!

Finally I have time to update my blog again. I know I said I would do it like a week ago, but time flies past to fast and I have had so much to do. Anyways, here is some news about me from Australia.

Its now a while ago, but I didn't find time to write about it before now. As the school summer vacation came to an end so did my time at Luna Park. Luna Park was a great place to work thanks to all the wonderful people working there. What I really liked was the combination of locals and backpackers, student and travelers. I got to know so many people from different cultures and countries. As a thank you for our help in the school holidays, the management put on a barbecue/party for all the employees. There was free food and drinks and the best party game ever! They had a big water tank filled with ice water, above the tank was a seat and next to it was a aiming board. If you hit the middle of the board, the seat was released and the person sitting there fell into the icy water. The best thing about this was that all our bosses were the people that had to sit on the seat, and all us normal employees could try and hit the board so they fell into the water. It has been a long while since I had that much fun! After the barbecue we went to a nightclub called Star Bar. I had a great night, but ended up a bit to drunk, as this picture shows :P (under the stairs at McDonalds + Tired)

Another thing me and a group of other rides workers did one of the last days at Luna Park was get our faces drawn by the parks cartoonist. He was once a normal worker like us, but his drawing talent was discovered and he got the job as a cartoonist instead. He told us that in the 2 years he had worked as the cartoonist we where the first people from the rides department (100+ employees) that got their face drawn. Anyways, his pictures made us all laugh and the resemblance on the pictures were fantastic. I have included the one he made of me. Its up to you readers to decide if you see the resemblance. :)

Moving on to about a week ago. We have been slowly planning our trip around the country and to do that we need a car. So after looking at some campervans on the internet we went out to have a real look at one. It turned out to be a piece of crap, but while walking back a group of 3 girls stopped us and asked if we were looking for a car. They had a 4x4 for sale and we soon realized that it would be the perfect match for us. They were Dutch and had traveled around the country with it just like we also want to do. The same day we took it out for a test drive and decided to buy it the very next day. The car is a Holden (known as Opel in the rest of the world) Jackaroo Deluxe 4x4. Hopefully it will get us safely and without trouble around Australia.  Stay tuned for another update coming today about our first trip with the car!

After Luna Park I have had a few random jobs to keep the money supply from diminishing completely. I have waitered on the Captain Cook cruises, the biggest cruise company in Sydney that does daily lunch, dinner and sightseeing cruises of the Sydney harbour and surroundings. I have worked in the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Center serving drinks to 2800 dentists and I have packed TV's in plastic bags for 8 hours. There are so many ways to see Sydney and working is a great way to do so. There are also jobs I never even considered existed, like the TV packing job :P Thanks to all who read and comment on the blog! You are the reason I keep writing!

Taronga Zoo & Australian National Maritime Museum

Last Wednesday me, Annina with Angus and Sigrun with Lilja all went to the Taronga Zoo. Angus (2) is the smallest child in the family that Annina is an au pair in and likewise Lilja (1) is the smallest child in the family Sigrun is an au pair in. Taronga Zoo is a 15 minute ferry ride away from Sydney CBD located in a hillside with a view of the ocean. From the dock there is a gondola that goes over the whole Zoo and puts you on the topmost point and from there you can slowly work your way down towards the docks again.

Comparing Taronga Zoo and Melbourne Zoo they have almost the same animals although I like the layout and design of Taronga Zoo better. However Melbourne Zoo also has some very nice walks and all in all they are very equal. The kids loved the animals and had a really good time. Angus was especially enjoying the monkeys and elephants. I had a really good time as well!

Last Friday I went with Annina to the Australian National Maritime Museum. Normally you have to pay to get in, but in cooperation with the Chinese New Year celebrations the museum has a special exhibition that's for free. It is called Mythic Creatures and is a collaboration with many other museums, among them the American Museum of Natural History. We saw an add on the back of a bus and decided to check it out. I thought it was a very cool exhibition with a lot of interesting stuff to read and watch. It took mythical creatures and tried to explain how they where created, and why they can be important to people. Linking myth with reality in a very easy to understand way. One example was the griffin. The theory was that long ago humans found skeletons of flying dinosaurs. And since they did not have the technology that we have today, they had to dream up what this creature might have looked like. The skeleton of a griffin would look very similar to that of a flying dinosaur!

As some may have noticed, I changed my relationship status on facebook. I wont go into details on this blog. What I will say is that I have known Annina for close to 3 months and that we will travel together with Matthias and Kristin. Also, there is a big update coming soon, probably tomorrow or the day after!