final full day

Despite our efforts, it was hard to forget that yesterday was our last full day in Sydney and of our holiday overall (excluding our travel days). We wandered around the city aimlessly, sat in the park watching the world go by and had a couple of quiet drinks. Very relaxing. Just a shame that it was a bit windy and drizzly at times, coincidentally just when we were sitting in the pub....

As far as the sport of people-watching goes we noticed that there was a very high percentage of Asians (live here or on holiday? just that area of town or representative of the immigration trends?). We also enjoyed the cross-section of people walking by, from young & trendy to older & with big hats, perhaps on the way to the races?

We also finally managed to catch up with Viivi (the bride) at a house party full of Finns.

zoo (& imax)

There's nothing like the zoo to keep a 3-year old (and Harri) entertained for almost a full day on Easter Friday. Considering the number of families at the zoo, I think other people also had the same idea....

While the adults (Paivi, Harri and myself) were doing our best at pointing out all the animals, Aslak was usually more interested in running downhill as far away from us as possible. So we took it in turns to chase after him, glancing at the displays as we whizzed by. They did have a very young baby elephant which was adorable, but very hard to capture on camera because it was hiding under its mum.

There were also plenty of birds like kukaburras, lorikeets and turkeys, and not only in their enclosures. In fact we saw the most birds when having lunch; there was a kukaburra eyeing up our lunch from the tree nearby, a bunch of colourful lorikeets perched on the neighbour table's intent on stealing what tidbits they could and a turkey walking around the premises - what a spectacle :-)

and then there was the leopard. The zoo people (obviously with a sense of humour) had placed a relatively realistic looking plastic leopard up a tree in full access of children. The mothers were horrified...

In the evening we treated ourselves to the imax cinema - not only the largest existing imax, but also the largest movie screen in the world. I got vertigo just walking to my seat! The screen was huge and the auditorium was really steep! Obviously it was the best place to watch Avatar. Harri is completely addicted!

zoo

Sydney skyline with giraffe

Evolution at its best...

Big hug!

Sightseeing comedy

Yesterday we played tourists in Sydney and went on a city sightseeing tour. I quite like these because you sit in a bus, get a good overview of the main sights, see some interesting areas of town, listen to some historical tidbits and hopefully catch some sun :-) (or in Harri's case, try not to burn). One of the things I noticed is how much money has gone into regenerating some areas of town, including for example the wharves and harbour area. Without this it wouldn't be the fantastic city it is now.

I also couldn't help observe some similarities Sydney to New York (or specifically Manhattan). I'm not going to even mention the huge skyscrapers, the density of banks and other financial services within the business district or the cost of living which are characteristic of any major city. Actually what I was referring to was the are pockets of areas, which each had its own local character. This also happens in London but at a larger scale. Here the pockets are each about 5 blocks in radius and have distinctly different inhabitants, shops and atmosphere. Makes for a very dynamic and interesting tourist viewing. And a wish that we had more time to cover each area separately. My favourite area of town was Woolloomooloo, purely on the basis of its fantastic name! Apparently it means baby kangaroo in the aboriginal language.

We also went to a stand-up comedy show and laughed our heads off! Quite appropriate I guess for April Fools Day.

Happy Easter long weekend everyone!

Blue Mountains

Turkish steam sauna. Hot, sweaty, steamy, humid and a faint smell of eucalyptus in the air. That's what it felt like the first time we stepped out of the car in the Blue Mountains National Park. At least wet due to the drizzle and surrounded by a lovely smell of fresh eucalyptus. But we were rewarded by breathtaking views over the valley of rolling hills of eucalyptus trees and steep rock faces. When looking at the vertical cliffs there was no doubt why it took the early settlers years to cross over the mountains to colonize the plains on the other side! It was just a shame that some of the lookouts provided a nice view of the surrounding cloud, and not much else. So we missed the Three Sisters.

However, we did spot two new species of parrots flying around. The first one had a bright red body and head and violet/purple wings. The other was greyish with a bright pink chest (galah).

Blue Mountains

Some spectacular views over the eucalyptus-lined valleys of the Blue Mountains

More animals (and dancing!)

Today it was raining. So we spent most of the days inside at the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife Center. The aquarium had a couple of interesting spaces in which you walked into a tube with water surrounding you on 3 sides. So basically you had various species and sizes of shark and stinger ray just floating above you giving a wonderful view of their 4 rows of teeth (sharks) and faces on their belly (rays). From that angle it seems like the rays were constantly smiling (despite being in the same tank as the sharks?!). From another angle, but looking down into the pool from above, it looked like they were flying, with their side 'fins' acting as 'wings'.

We also saw the duck-billed platypus, another animal unique to Australia. What a bizarre invention of nature! No wonder people originally thought that the platypus was a hoax. It has a duck's beak, an otters tail, fishes webbed 'feet'. Its such a strange combination of mammal and reptile: it can regulate its own body temperature (like mammals) but lays eggs (like reptiles). Weird!

Another completely unexpected animal we saw today was the dugong. In case you're wondering what that is, its also known as a sea cow. If that doesn't help, think of a cross between a seal, sea lion and a whale and then add a flat large nose like a pig. Apparently this thing eats 120 kg of lettuce a day! How does it get so big on just lettuce?

and then there was a giant aquarium, imitating the Great Barrier Reef, which was completely hypnotizing. Me & Harri just sat there for 20 minutes just watching the fish. The conversation went like this: "oooh look at that blue fish. Hey, there goes another yellow fish. And over there on the left is a black & white fish. And there are two pink fish chasing each other." Not a particularly riveting conversation, but give us a break - we are on holiday after all!

(ps we also saw the worlds most venomous snake and most dangerous spider. Behind a glass. Phew!)

I also dragged poor Harri to a ceroc event. Ceroc is a style of dancing related to rock'n'roll which I used to dance in the UK, doesn't exist in the Netherlands, but luckily for me is also really popular in Australia. I found a venue with beginners and intermediate classes, and plenty of freestyling (where everyone dances with everyone). It was FANTASTIC! Especially when I had 3 consecutive dances with the teacher. FABULOUS! I even got compliments for the fact that I was dancing in flip flops rather than proper dance shoes (they didn't fit in my suitcase...)

More animals

Duck-billed platypus

(in the middle of the picture, under the tree roots)

Dugong (aka sea cow)

Ray

Do these guys even need a label?

Rocks & Bridge

Beach, rocks & bridge

Now we are going through the Sydney sight-seeing tour tick list: Opera House - tick. Bondi beach - tick. Sydney Harbour bridge - tick. Today we started off at Bondi beach. If this sparks images of tanned, muscular boys and slim girls relaxing in the hot sun and surfing, you are completely right. But what impressed me the most was not the tanned surfers, the white sand beach or the general chilled out feeling, it was actually the rock formations. We walked from Bondi beach to Bronte beach along a beach walk/promenade. On one side there were fantastic views over the ocean, beach and surfers. On the other perfect examples of what erosion can do to sandstone, with obvious differences between stone eaten away by waves (smooth surface) and that affected by the spray (holes). I was also impressed at the distinct lack of sign-posting, consistent or up-to-date information regarding public transport and the way in which the tourist information sent us on a wild-goose chase (to upstairs when actually the bus stop platform that we needed was 50m behind us). Maybe I'm just spoilt (with clear sign-posting in other countries) and too practical (where going around in circles is not my idea of fun on holiday). Lucky we weren't in a hurry. By the way, its the first time I have seen surf-boards walking around the metro and standing in the bus...

Next stop was the Rocks area. This is one of the oldest sections of Sydney city, site of the original settlers (convicts etc). It did actually contain some old buildings, a strange sight among the skyscrapers of the central business area. We stopped over for coffee/snack and were disturbed by the silence: we could not hear the traffic at all behind the thick walls of what used to be a hospital.

and then the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Up until now we've only seen it from a distance, featuring in our holiday snaps. Now we've not only walked around the great 'feet' of supporting pylons (because we got slightly lost trying to find the entrance) and seen it from the balcony of our hosts, we've also walked on it to get across. Quite an impressive metal structure with nice views across the Opera House/harbour area too.

28 March; Sydney at first glance

Today we went into Sydney for the first time. We took the train, then walked to the Botanical Gardens, stopped over for coffee, and then enjoyed a harbour cruise in a ferry. There are a couple of things that caught my attention. First of all that the business district reminded me a bit of Manhattan, but perhaps with slightly wider gaps between buildings. Of course walking around on a Sunday gives you a completely different perspective than during the weekdays.

The second observation were the bats in the Botanical Gardens - they were everywhere! Every single branch of every single tree seems to be full of bats. In fact some lower-hanging branches had been covered in spikes to prevent them from roosting too close to humans. And they weren't peacefully hanging about sleeping away waiting for nightfall. Not at all. They were rather catching up on the days/weeks/years gossip. All chattering, screeching, squealing, squawking at the same time. Just lucky that there weren't any residential areas as I don't think the bats would make particularly sociable neighbours!

The third thing that I was quite impressed about was the fact that entry to the Botanical Gardens was free. This is a relatively large and well-cared for area of green very close to the famous Opera House, so probably quite high real estate value. Nevertheless, you could wander about on a lazy sunny Sunday afternoon and have a picnic on the grass watching the ships go by in the harbour and the tourists go by on their way to the Opera House. Lovely and relaxing. If people (tourist) watching is your favourite sport then I think the Harbour Quay would probably be at least one good place to partake in this activity. During our short walk I was very interested to note that the spread of nationalities, skin tones, cultures and attire was even more diverse than in Amsterdam, perhaps on a similar scale as in London or New York. Maybe that's one of the things what people find so attractive about Sydney? That and I guess the lovely (year-round?) warm climate.

and then of course the Opera House. I don't know this for a fact, but I would suspect its one of the worlds most photographed opera halls and one of the few opera halls that is more recognized for its architecture than which operas are currently playing within it. From the front & side angles it reminded me of a giant broken dinosaur egg, with bits of shell sticking out at weird angles. From the back it looked like a gladiator mask (or these days a motorcross helmet would probably be closer), with a wide bit to cover the "mouth" area and a pointy triangular bit in the top centre. and what a location too! I haven't actually read up on any historical facts about the Opera House, but the first question I would ask is why it was built where it was. But facts and questions aside I thought it was spectacular and beautiful, and can appreciate how its become the landmark of Sydney.

Overall a lovely way to spend my 30th birthday.

In addition to impressing us adults, our walk through the park, train and ferry ride also kept Aslak entertained. Aslak is our host Paivi & Evan's 3-year old son. He was particularly funny when acting as doorman (bouncer?) in the Botanical Gardens cafe. Much to the delight of everyone, he was keen on opening the door whenever anyone was planning on coming into or out of the cafe. Future career...? :-)

Opera House & Gardens

the wedding

Beautiful setting, with sea view

Our glamorous hosts in Sydney

Congratulations to the happy couple!

25 March; Trains, ducks and skyrail

Up until yesterday, we had experienced the rainforest by car (driving past it/through it), by foot (various walks) and in quadbikes. Yesterday we added another 3 modes of transport to our list: trains, an army duck and skyrail.

We started the day by climbing up a mountain in a train; The Kuranda Scenic Railway. This train was apparently quite an engineering feat when it was built in 1891 as the workers had to chop away at the rainforest and then at the mountain side to make the tracks, and then blast their way through the mountains using dynamite to create 15 tunnels. It was originally built shortly after they found gold (and tin) in the surrounding area. Nowadays its a gold mine in itself considering the number of tourists...We travelled in style in the Gold Class compartment. This exclusive section of the train afforded even more leg room, better views, complimentary drinks (which Harri took advantage of), yummy nibbly snacks and our own personal tour guide who would tell us exactly where to sit and when to take the best photos. Now that's what I call service :-) On the way we also stopped over for some impressive views of a waterfall, which was later used to support a local hydroelectric power station.

Next up were the army ducks, 6-wheel drive vehicles constructed during the second World War designed to travel on land and in water. We went down pretty narrow and steep tracks and the guide was very good a pointing out all sorts of interesting plants. For example there is this one plant with tasty black berries which stain your teeth black for the next 3 days (apparently quite a funny practical joke...) and another one which has silica-like substance on its leaves which sticks to your skin and inserts a neurotoxin which can last up to 6 months (evil!).

Then the skyrail. This is the longest cable car in...can't remember whether it was Queenstown, North Australia or world (does it matter?). But anyway it took us down from Kuranda back to Cairns level over the rainforest in about 45 min. So basically we were looking down at the rainforest canopy, flying just over it. Enough to get a good feeling for how high the trees were, but very hard to capture on the camera (especially through the water droplets which clouded the cable car cabin windows). The journey also included a couple of stops where we could have another walk around within the rainforest (with mosquitos waiting just outside the cable cars for unsuspecting tourists....). On a good day the views from the skyrail would have been fantastic: over the rainforest, the valleys and right into the ocean. Unfortunately it wasn't a good day and so we descended into lots of cloud. At some point all we could see around us was the cable supporting the cabin and nothing else - felt like we were floating in mid-air. Creepy.

Our organized tour not only included all these modes of transport in/over the rainforest, but also an introduction to aboriginal culture. We watched a show of traditional dancing (including hilarious audience participation!), listened to a didgeridoo being played, saw a demonstration of the use of a spear-thrower (impressive extension of range) and even tried throwing a boomerang (very unsuccessfully in my case). All very interesting.

Highlights of Cairns:
- Living a life of luxury
- Great Barrier Reef for colourful underwater display of corals and fish
- Meeting and feeding roos - I didn't realize how interesting and full of character they were
- Experiencing one of the worlds oldest rainforest (in various ways, from various angles)
- Mudcrab dinner

Its just a shame that its the rainy season here and therefore we didn't get as many sunny days as I expected. However, the rain didn't stop us from doing much. As its also warm, its not too bad if you get wet because you get dry pretty quick and you don't get cold. What a difference compared with other countries (where wet=cold)!

Seems strange finishing up writing this while sitting on the terrace admiring the view over Sydney Harbour. Looking forward to the wedding tomorrow.

we have arrived (in Sydney)

special dinner

Before...

(one mudcrab happily swimming away in a tank. Alive)

The surgeons tools

Beautifully assembled onto the serving dish

Yummy!

You will get more information on all the stuff we saw & did tomorrow. Too tired.

Birds and koalas

Today we visited the Port Douglas Rainforest Habitat in which we saw plenty of different types of native birds, koalas, wallabies, kangaroos and crocodiles. I was quite impressed at the constant shrieking within the enclosures, the large storks, the tree kangaroo mum & baby, the emu walking around the grounds, the huge pelicans and how the wallabies were quite happy to come up quite close and feed out of our hands. Harri really liked the moluccan black parrots, the colourful lori parakeets and was busy gathering plenty of material for his next greenhouse project. They also had a koala and reptile handling, so I got my photo taken while holding a koala (felt slightly commercial, but an experience nonetheless).

We spent the rest of the afternoon with our new friend Virginia relaxing in at a beachside cafe in Port Douglas, enjoying a lovely lunch of fresh local prawns and "bugs" (the local crab/shrimp). Port Douglas seemed like a contradiction. On the one hand it was definitely smaller and more exclusive than Cairns (judging by the holiday resorts and exclusive brand clothing stores), but it also had a more relaxed vibe about it.

On the way back we got a nice eyeful of the native bats hanging on a tree. We have seen these fly across our hotel every evening at exactly 6:15pm, migrating from their daytime sleeping posts to their night-time feeding locations, the neighbouring fruit farms/trees. Very impressive to see and hear a huge flock of big bats fly over your head - what a racket!

other animals of Port Douglas

birds of Port Douglas

Daintree rainforest and roos!

Ok brace yourselves for here comes a long blog for today.

We went for a day trip to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation area north of Cairns. The Daintree Rainforest is estimated as being one of the oldest in the world at a meagre 120 million years of age (because it has one of the first species of flowering plant). It has 1500 different species of trees, plus another couple thousand different species of plant. It is also one of the few places where giant-leaved king ferns grow, with leaf spans of up to 6m in length! All even more impressive than the rainforest that I was raving on about in New Zealand.

We went for a short (30 minute) walk in this rainforest to marvel at the wonderful display of trees, plants, epiphytes and ferns. What was obvious to me was all the various techniques the plants had adapted to gain access to their source of life: light. Some developed huge leaves like the ferns and umbrella palm. Others climbing techniques to get higher such as twisting around the trunk of another tree like a corkscrew, or developing spikes to enable easier attachment to other trees and therefore climb even higher. I stopped for a second just to register the environment with all my senses. I could see the greenery around me, I could smell the rotting vegetation, I could hear the occasional bird chirping, I could feel the rain and I could have, if I'd wanted to, tasted the nature too...

However, it wasn't very wise to stop for very long as apparently it was "biting season" as aptly demonstrated by the onslaught of mosquitos. They were even worse than the New Zealand sandflies (if that's even possible). Also native to this rainforest were massive spiders, at least the biggest spiders I've ever seen in the wild. They were, I'm not exaggerating, 15cm in diameter and particularly keen on surprising people on the way to the toilets (their favourite web-hanging place). Another thing we learn today was that if you were stuck in the rainforest and under danger of suffering from scurvy due to lack of Vitamin C in your diet, all you need to do is suck on the ass of green ants. Charming. Actually, come to think of it, if you were stuck in the middle of the rainforest, your daily supply of Vitamin C may not be very high on your priority list.... Apparently the green ants secrete Vitamin C as a defense mechanism and it tastes like lemon sherbert. Yummy?

Next let me talk about our wildlife spotting for today. We saw wallabies hanging out on a grassy field outside of Cairns. They are forced to hang out in some "pretty weird places" (to quote our guide) due to the deforestation of their natural habitat. So next time you're in Cairns and you see a wallaby in a pub....We also saw a cassowary. This is a big flightless bird that's related to the emu, but has really bright blue neck and head. Very beautiful and very exciting to spot one in the wild. It was headed towards the local ice-cream parlour (more on that later), so may be affected by the same forces as the wallaby...? And then, the piece de resistance: kangaroos! My new favourite animal. We saw 2 different species of kangaroo and 3 of wallaby within an enclosure - and got to feed them bits of carrot, bread and squashed banana. I could not believe I had a kangaroo eating out of my hand and letting me pet its back. Amazing!

In case that wasn't enough, we also tried some exotic fruit and fruit ice cream. In terms of fruit there was pineapple, sugar banana (smaller, sweeter and thicker consistency that your usual), custard apple (aka chirimoya), its relative the rose water custard apple (looked like a cross between an apple and a bunch of grapes), rambutan (Harri: alien egg) and finally something that I can't remember the name of which was red and fleshy (think avocado consistency). This fruit tasted better when made into ice cream. We also tried sugar banana, mango and wattle-seed ice cream (which tasted strangely like hazelnut). Certainly a better source of vitamins that licking an ants backside!

I will leave you with the best road sign of the year award.

Wild encounters