Weekend in Sydney

After a relaxing few days driving the coast, we were excited to see what Sydney (aka Australia's 'big smoke') had to offer. Upon our arrival, we decided to head over to one of Australia's most iconic beaches: Bondi Beach. There is a popular walking pathway that connects Bondi with another nearby beach called Coogee Beach, and we decided that this two hour walk would be a good starting point. We met up at Bondi with an old friend of Emma's, who now lives in Sydney and was able to give us some local perspective along the walk.

The walk was stunning, filled with crashing waves and craggy cliffs. We certainly wouldn't have wanted to be surfing at Bondi that afternoon!

Emma's favourite thing about the walk was the rock pools nestled into each of the bays that we passed. She could have spent all day watching swimmers do laps in the calm salt water while the waves churned against the rocks.

The Bondi-Coogee walk is also home to the most scenic cemetery in the world. The Waverley cemetery sits on some of Australia's primest real estate, although we're not sure that the inhabitants appreciate their beautiful view much.

Upon completion of the walk, we celebrated with burgers and beer at the Coogee Pavilion (a very upmarket beach concession stand) and then caught the bus back into town to meet up with another of Emma's friends, who she knows from her elementary school days in New Zealand. We had a long dinner with Laura and her husband Phil (who is actually from Toronto), and marvelled over Laura's incredible memory (she still remembers which boys she and Emma had crushes on at age 10).

We were up early on Saturday morning for some more tourist activities. We checked out the Opera House, as you do in Sydney.

We also couldn't miss the famous Harbour Bridge.

Circular Quay, the major ferry terminal and a popular place for eating and drinking.

Inspired by our Bondi-Coogee walk the previous day, we walked over the Harbour Bridge to the North Shore and then (after a short bus ride) hiked along a coastal walkway to Manly beach.

The view of the Opera House from the Harbour Bridge.

The Manly beach walk was another beautiful one. The water was surprisingly clear, and we were able to look longingly into the backyards of people's beachside mansions and pretend that that they were our beachside mansion. We also found some rock pools to look longingly at.

The costal walk finished at Manly Beach, where we met up with some of Emma's Australian frisbee friends at the Four Pines Brewery. We'd planned to meet them for a quick late lunch before catching a ferry back downtown. Seven hours later, we finally departed from the brewery...clearly a great time was had by all!

We had a bit of a sleep in the next morning. When we finally dragged ourselves up, we decided to make the most of a slightly dreary day, and visit Cockatoo Island. This former prison is Australia's answer to Alcatraz and had been recommended to us by some friends in New Zealand.

This place was very creepy, a feature that wasn't helped by the overcast sky.

The first thing that we noticed was the multiple signs warning of aggressive seagulls.

The dilapidated buildings didn't look like they's provide much shelter if the seagulls were to attack (we weren't sure where the cockatoos were, but we think it's most likely that the killer seagulls drove them off the island).

We saw a catwalk leading out to what seemed to be a nice view of the bridge. We tried to traverse the catwalk, but the seagulls started swooping on us and we had to abort the mission and run back the way we'd come with our jackets pulled over our heads.

We tired of exploring Cockatoo Island quite quickly, unable to get the thought of an impending seagull attack out of our minds. The ferries don't come to Cockatoo much (why ever not?), so we ended up having to wait for a while before we were able to depart. Emma thought that maybe she'd be able to float back to Sydney central with her umbrella. It was worth a try.

The ferry did eventually arrive, and we made it back to the city centre. There we turned around and headed out on yet another boat, this time for a dinner harbour cruise (a lovely gift from Emma's friend Caroline). This was great fun, and to our delight, did not involve birds.

The cruise was a great way to finish off our weekend in Sydney. The following day, we made the 11 hour drive down the coast to Lakes Entrance, which sits right around the bottom right corner of the Australian mainland. 

24 Hours in Byron Bay

After leaving Brisbane, we took a 2.5 hour jaunt south to Australia's hippie mecca, Byron Bay. Before our trip, we had solicited advice from several people regarding the best places to visit in Australia. Without fail, the first place that everyone mentioned was Byron Bay. We were worried that it might not live up to the hype, but it didn't disappoint.

As we drove into the town, it felt like the world slowed down. We soon realized that pretty much everyone in Byron Bay is there to just relax and enjoy life. The first thing we did was make a (relaxed) beeline for the beach. Justin had to perform his usual beach ritual of taking his shirt off, dipping his toes in the water, and then sitting down on the beach.

One of the most popular things to do in Byron Bay, aside from surfing, is a ~3 hour walk up to a lighthouse at the south end of the bay. We decided that we had better check it out.

After walking for about a kilometer along the beach (it seemed to go forever), we realized that it was mid-afternoon and we hadn't yet had lunch. Deciding that we needed some sustinance for the climb to the lighthouse, we ducked in to a little cafe nestled up in the trees, just a few yards from the beach. The cafe had such a tranquil look to it that Emma initially mistook it for a Buddhist retreat. We had a leisurely lunch that included one of the best salads that we can remember having, filled with cashews and grilled Haloumi cheese (Emma's new favourite). We then set out to tackle the rest of the walk.

After making our way off the beach and up onto the cliffs that lead to the lighthouse, we noticed a group of kayakers out on the water. It turned out that they were watching two humpback whales that were paying a visit to the bay. We got a great view of the whales, who were very active. Unfortunately, neither of our cameras had a good enough zoom lens to capture them.

Imagine that those specks out on the water are whales:

We made it up to the lighthouse just in time for the sun to start setting.

It was right around 4pm, which we'd heard is the magic time when wallabies start to come out and forage. We were absolutely thrilled when this little one crossed our path a few minutes after 4.

Finally it leapt across the path and off into the Hinterlands once more.

After we emerged from the forest, the sun was getting close to the horizon, making for a spectacular view.

We then spent our evening at the Byron Bay Brewing Company, which is actually a not just a Brewery and Pub, but also a Cinema, Hostel, Spa and Spiritual Retreat. 

As it was, we only had time to patronize the brewery and pub, which we thoroughly enjoyed. After sampling their seasonal beer (a fantastic chocolate wheat porter), we settled down and watched locals and travellers compete at an open mic night in the open air courtyard. We could have easily cancelled the rest of tour travels and stayed in Byron Bay for a week, but we decided to stay on schedule and continue our trek towards Sydney the following morning. 

Brizzy

Our trip from Gold Coast to Brisbane, or 'Brizzy' as the locals call it, required three buses and a train. However, it was surprisingly painless and stress free due to Justin's excellent organizational skills (and he didn't even ask me to write that). We had picked up our rental car and checked in to our hotel by 1pm, and were feeling quite pleased with ourselves.

Brisbane sits on the Brisbane river, giving it a similar feel to Calgary. The primary difference being that Brisbane actually has liveable temperatures year-round. We could move here! Our first afternoon was spent checking out the South Bank, which is one of the city's cultural/dining hubs. Clearly, beachless Brisbane is a bit jealous of the surrounding Gold and Sunshine Coasts, because they have installed a man-made beach adjacent to (but not contiguous with) the river.

After having  lunch and nosing around a bit, we decided to take advantage of Brisbane's City Bike transport system. Like several other cities, Brisbane has several bike stations where you can rent bikes, ride them for a while, and return it to a different station. Brisbane also has the most bike-friendly urban setup that we've ever seen. We felt really spoiled by all of the excellent bike paths, and also very jealous that the Brisbanites (Brizzians?) can cycle to work year round.

We ended up cycling out to Mount Coot-Tha (which doesn't technically meet criteria to be considered a mountain, but we'll let the Aussies pretend that it is). The summit affords a great view of the city, and is a popular sunrise and sunset vantage point. After a gruelling (for one of us) bike up to the summit, we were rewarded with a nice sunset view.

We let momentum carry us back down the mountain, dropped off our bikes at the rental station, and then went for dinner at one of Brisbane's brew pubs: The Charming Squire. Here, we enjoyed a hearty dinner and some excellent live music.

Emma enjoyed Mt. Coot-Tha so much that she decided to hike up the following morning for sunrise (it only takes about 25 minutes to walk to the top). She was disappointed that no wallabies came out to join her for the morning walk.

We decided that the view was best at sunset, but the sunrise panorama was still a nice way to start off the morning.

We then travelled about an hour north of Brisbane for a visit to the Australia Zoo, which is owned by the family of the late Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter). This was exciting for Emma, as the Crocodile Hunter was pretty much her favourite show growing up (challenged only by Full House, and Skippy the Kangaroo). She even tried to get in on an Irwin family photo at the zoo.

Justin was more interested in seeing the crocodiles.

We did get to watch a crocodile feeding, which was entertaining. However, this lazy little alligator really made us laugh. She somehow make it seem like her life of lying in the sun all day is quite rough.

Although this turtle was no more Australian than the alligator above, we enjoyed watching him get scratched by the zookeeper while eating his morning snack. Perhaps we could consider getting a pet turtle if the goat thing doesn't work out.

Now on to the Australian animals. We absolutely loved the stocky little wombats, who have tons of personality (they aren't particularly photogenic though).

We were able to interact with some wallabies, kangaroos, and their little joeys (!) in a walk-through area called 'Roo Heaven'.

Beware of photobombing ducks!

The koalas were a real highlight, especially for Justin. We learned that they aren't actually bears (so the term "Koala Bear' is a misnomer), and this beautiful species is struggling in the Australian wild. Koala's aren't very Darwinian in the sense that they're slow, lazy, and only eat one type of tree (Eucalyptus), but we were shocked nonetheless to hear that Koalas are unlikely to exist in the wild in 20 years time. Habitat destruction, dog attacks, and disease are really taking a toll on population numbers. The upside is that the species is unlikely to become completely extinct, as Koalas tend to thrive in captivity (at least that's what we were told).

This one reminded us of our friend Frank, who often falls asleep at social events. At least it's socially acceptable to sleep 20 hours a day if you're a Koala.

This one was a bit more alert.

We spent ages watching this mom and her very active little joey.

Aren't they just the cutest?!?!

After our day at the zoo, we drove back into Brisbane and caught up with some of Justin's friends for dinner. The next morning, we started the road trip down the coast. More to come on that later.