24th September 2011
I woke up at a decent hour for a Saturday, 8:30am, and went over to Monash Sport (the fitness center with a gym with a couple futsal courts) to watch a bunch of friends play soccer in a tournament of international students. I would have played if they had invited me, but apparently no other girls play so I got excluded. They came in second place, but not without a fight (both by playing hard and a few arguments on the pitch – which I guess is to be expected anytime guys are trying to win something which has a wonderful medal for a prize! After the game I finished packing up to go to SYDNEY! I ended up heading to the airport with 3 other people to keep the cost down for each of us. The only problem was that we went to the airport waaaay too early. I think we left around 3pm, arrived around 3:45pm and my flight wasn’t until 6:25pm. It wasn’t too much fun to wait around in the airport, but on the positive side I got to hang out with some people before my flight, which definitely helped me to not feel so anxious about flying alone again. I arrived at Sydney Airport around 8pm and was able to successfully find the train station in the airport to get to my hostel. The hostel I stayed at was pretty interesting, it was actually right next to the Central Train Station and I actually stayed in a ‘carriage’ room, or an old train car room, right next to the tracks with was a bit noisy (but tolerable).
After settling in to my hostel I took a trip to a nearby shopping center to pick up a towel (because for some reason I didn’t bring one) and some food for breakfast. Thankfully Coles and Kmart were still open, and in the same shopping center so it was no trouble at all. I did have to walk in the rain to get there which wasn’t too much fun, but it gave me a chance to check out a bit of the city and test my ability to navigate in a new place. I was able to find the place so I suppose I’m not that bad at following directions. After I got back I met some girls who were also staying in the same room who go to LaTrobe University which is another Uni in the Melbourne area. They were also on holiday to Sydney. We ended up playing pool with a German who was also staying at the hostel with a bunch of other people doing a work and travel program. It was nice to hear some German again, turns out I could understand most of what they were saying, but I’m not sure if I can really speak it anymore. Also the work and travel program sounds like fun – take a holiday to another country and travel around looking for work. Perhaps sometime in the future I’ll do one of those!
25th September 2011
Woke up and had my first experience taking a shower in a hostel. It wasn’t too bad and it was pretty clean so I can’t complain! After getting ready I ran to a convenience store to buy an umbrella in light of the fact that the weather was horrible – cold (17 degrees C) with plenty of rain. I then went to the Central Railway Station to ask the info desk the best way to get to the Sydney Aquarium. I ended up taking the light rail there, which was pretty simple although the closest stop was on the wrong side of the Darling Harbor so I ended up having to walk in the rain across a pedestrian bridge to get there. I met up with two girls I know from Monash, Stacy and Natalie, who are both from Malaysia (they are really lovely and I had a wonderful time touring Sydney with them!). We first toured the Sydney Aquarium. It was pretty cool because there was all the different fish and many tanks but also a Lego exhibit with all sorts of amazing Lego statues. Also there was a giant shark tank that had tunnels so you could watch sharks swimming over your head (crazy but still really cool).
After the aquarium we went over to the Wildlife Adventure place to check out the animals. It was fun although some of the animals were outside and I felt really bad that they were stuck in the miserable rain. We saw koalas, kangaroos, butterflies, wallabies, and a giant croc. It wasn't quite as cool as some zoos I’ve been to, but definitely something interesting to do when it’s raining.
After all the indoor things at Darling Harbor (aside from the Maritime Museum) we went to Circular Quay to see the famous Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. While we didn’t take any tours of them so I can’t tell you much about them, but they do make good subjects for pictures!
As it got later we realized that we were hungry so we went to ‘The Rocks’, which is an area in Sydney that Is older – has shops, galleries, is much more eclectic that the rest of Sydney. There we went to an amazing restaurant called ‘Pancakes on the Rocks’ with only serves meals that have pancakes! It was absolutely delicious – we split pancakes with eggs and bacon, and chocolate pancakes with ice cream and chocolate syrup. It was probably one of the best meals I’ve had here! I’ve been longing for some good pancakes – it’s been way too long! After that we bummed around Sydney looking in some art galleries and stopping at some interesting coffee shops while waiting for Stacy’s friends who live in Sydney to join us for a late dinner at Loewenbraeu Keller. If you haven’t guess it, the restaurant is a German Bier Hall, complete with waitresses in dirndels, waiters in lederhosen, a live German band, and plenty of German beers. The food was also quite good, traditional German. We ended up getting a giant meat platter to split which was delicious, although was too much meat for me. I need my carbohydrates! I also got to meet a few of Stacy’s friends and one of their little 7 year old cousins from Brisbane who was visiting. She was absolutely adorable but extremely shy!
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| The menu at Loewenbraeu - they were celebrating Oktoberfest! |
Once we finished our meals and beers we went over to tour Sydney’s casino, The Star Casino. It is a pretty nice place complete with many people gambling til late. We just walked around and caught a glimpse into the reality of how badly most people lose while gambling. It was also nice to learn some new games, although I don’t think I’ll be playing Baccarat or Pontoon anytime soon.
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| Light fixture in the lobby of the casino - a star! |
After parking we started walking in the city heading towards the Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge. On the way we had to stop for some coffee for my dad since he can’t survive without a decent cup of coffee in the morning. We then went over the Botanic Garden for my mother’s benefit. She really enjoyed all the plants, and flowers giving her a little break from the city for a while.
We tried to wander over to Circular Quay after the Botanic Gardens but we ended up in the park of the Government House. It was a pretty cool building, and the security guard was really helpful, pointing us in the right direction to get to Circular Quay. Needless to say after the casino it was time to head back and sleep which is pretty much exactly what I did.
26th September 2011
I woke up, showered and prepared myself for a long afternoon of eating fresh seafood! I met Stacy, Natalie and their friends at Town Hall Station which is a few blocks down the road from where my hostel was (I walked there to save money, and see a bit more of Sydney). We went to Darling Harbor to enjoy the sights while the sun was out. It is quite a beautiful Harbor and I was able to get a better bearing as to where I was and see where I had been in the city in relation to the Harbor.
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| At Darling Harbour! |
We then walked to the Sydney Fish Market. After looking around at all the shops we settled on getting two giant platters of seafood to split. It was delicious – calamari, crab, fish, prawns, oysters with chips and rice. The only problem was the heaps of pesky seagulls that occasionally tried to sneak over to our plates and steal our delicious food. It was quite annoying!
We then went back to the city center to catch a bus to the infamous Bondi Beach. There we saw plenty of [crazy] people surfing even though it really wasn’t warm out. We took a trail to some lookout points over some cliffs and took some cool pictures. We also walked in the sand for a bit. It was pretty fun, although it would have been nicer if it was warmer out!
Once the sun set we went to a restaurant in Bondi called ‘Hurricane’ for a delicious half rack of ribs to share. It was quite good, although expensive, but I suppose I wasn’t really hungry after all the seafood we had earlier so it really didn’t matter that I didn’t get all that much to eat. We concluded the evening with a bus ride back to the city followed by a short trip to Chinatown. There we had some delicious (and supposedly famous) cream puffs along with some traditional Taiwanese desserts. I have to say that the cream puffs were quite good, and feel into the category of what I would consider ‘normal’ desserts, but the Taiwanese desserts were quite interesting and surprising. I got a ‘Herbal Jelly with Taro Balls’ which is herbal jelly with ice and these colored balls on top that don’t really taste like anything. We also split a ‘Crushed Ice’ which was crushed ice with condensed milk and sweet beans. It was all very new and interesting, but I’m not quite sure if I really enjoyed it, maybe because it was supposed to be a ‘healthy dessert’ it just didn’t meet the requirements of my sweet tooth. It’s ok though, because it was a new experience, and probably a dessert I’ll never have again unless I spend some time in Asia.
After dessert we headed home for some well-deserved rest after touring all day!
27th September 2011
I woke up extremely early (7:30am) because I didn’t want to miss meeting my parents! Yes they came to Sydney to see me and do some touring! I anxiously ate an apple for breakfast and sat around nervously in my hostel for a while until I just couldn’t handle it. So I went outside and waiting for them, too bad I didn’t just sleep in though, because they didn’t get there until 9:30am. Apparently customs took more than a few minutes and they had to use maps (no GPS!) to find the hostel. No worries though, they found me! We grabbed some coffee and a chocolate croissant and started off towards the Blue Mountains. It took us awhile to get to the freeway, but once we found the correct one it was pretty much smooth traveling all the way to Katooma and Leura (the towns/villages right next to the Blue Mountains). It did take us about 2 hours to get there, but that was partially due to an excessive amount of road construction and the fact that we needed to stop at a small town called Wentworth Falls because my dad was hungry. It was nice to spend time with my parents though; I haven’t seen them in ages!
Upon our arrival at Katoomba, we did a long hike starting from Echo Point (a lookout point with a beautiful view of the Blue Mountains) through the valley and saw some amazing waterfalls, and beautiful rock formations. The most famous rock formation is called ‘The Three Sisters’ which I have to say made me miss Shel and Jess quite a bit.
After the grueling two hour hike including a wonderful trek up 900 stairs we had a well deserved lunch! We went to a burger place and I got a delicious burger with the lot, my dad ordered fish and chips, and my mom ate a bacon and egg sandwich. It was all pretty delicious, but afterwards my parents were ready to head back and go to the hotel to get some sleep so we started the journey back to Sydney. The traffic was pretty bad on the way back so we stopped at the Olympic grounds in Sydney.
Once in Sydney we stopped in Chinatown to pick up some more cream puffs (they were so good and cheap that I just had to share them with my parents) and stopped by Darling Harbour at night to try a few night pictures.
At this point in time my parents were falling asleep so we drove to the hotel, but not without trouble – it’s hard to navigate a city without a good map or GPS. We finally did make it back and immediately went upstairs so my parents could sleep. I couldn’t sleep so I stayed up to write this lovely blog post for all you lovely people.
28th September 2011
In light of the fact that my parents were adjusting to the immense time change they woke up quite early and as a direct result decided that I needed to also get up at 7:30AM. I got ready to go into the city only to have to wait for my dad to come back to the hotel after picking up the jacket and cell phone my mom left on the plane. While we waiting for him, my mom and I went to Krispy Kreme – yes, lame I know to go to an American restaurant in Australia but it was right across the car park. Once my dad got back we drove into the city in search of a car park for the day. It was hard to find one and we had the unfortunate luck of finding one with a decent rate 4 minutes after their early bird special ended.
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| Monorail track in Sydney! |
After parking we started walking in the city heading towards the Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge. On the way we had to stop for some coffee for my dad since he can’t survive without a decent cup of coffee in the morning. We then went over the Botanic Garden for my mother’s benefit. She really enjoyed all the plants, and flowers giving her a little break from the city for a while. 
We tried to wander over to Circular Quay after the Botanic Gardens but we ended up in the park of the Government House. It was a pretty cool building, and the security guard was really helpful, pointing us in the right direction to get to Circular Quay.
Upon arriving right outside of the Sydney Opera House my mother didn’t know what it was, most likely due to the lack of sleep and perhaps the long walk over. It is a really a unique building and it was nice to look at it again during some slightly better weather (no rain), even though it was still cloudy. We also took some time to check out Sydney Harbour Bridge before walking over to The Rocks. There we went to Pancakes on the Rocks because it was so good and breakfast at Krispy Kreme wasn’t great. 
It started raining sometime during our meal so when we went back outside we decided to do an indoor activity. I had some prepaid vouchers to go to the Maritime Museum so we walked under overhangs to the museum (although I had an umbrella so I really didn’t need the overhangs, but I didn’t want my parents to get too wet!). We got to go in a submarine and a battleship which were both very cool, although I don’t think I could handle being in the Navy and having to live on either of those vessels for long periods of time.
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| Awesome boat in the museum made out of bottles! |
We then went back to the car to head to the airport and pick up my necklace (locket) that I accidentally left at the hotel. Thankfully they found it and I was able to pick it up with ease! We got to the airport quite early (way too early in my opinion). I think we arrived around 4PM and our flight wasn’t until 6:30PM. Waiting around the airport I did some window shopping and got some dinner from Subway, not a very exciting experience but there was free Wi-Fi so I did get a chance to check my ever important e-mail and Facebook. We had a transfer in Brisbane and didn’t end up getting in to Cairns until a bit after midnight. We caught a shuttle to our hotel, a Hilton which just so happened to be right next to the casino (but don’t worry I didn’t go gamble, instead I worked on this lovely blog post for all of you).
29th September 2011
I was woken up early because my parents couldn’t get the outlets to work in the bathroom. Therefore I got to enjoy the sound of a hairdryer around 8AM even though I didn’t need to be up until 10AM to get ready to check out of the hotel. I suppose on the positive side it gave me more than enough time to get dressed and packed up. While I was busy doing that my parents booked some trips to the Great Barrier Reef and to Kuranda (a village in the rainforest). After that my dad and I went to pick up the rental car – a cute little green two door, not quite as cool as a sports car, but I suppose it drives so it’s ok.
We then picked up some groceries at Woolworth’s to avoid having to get take-away or go to restaurants for all meals. Afterwards we checked into our new hotel, and started driving towards another town, Port Douglas. On the way there stopped at a beach – there are many beaches along the coast between Cairns and Port Douglas. The beach was absolutely gorgeous – palm trees, clean sand, and beautiful blue water. We walked along the beach for a bit, but then continued to head towards Port Douglas.
Once we arrived at Port Douglas we parked and checked out some of the stores and walked down to 4 Mile Beach. It was a really nice beach but much more populated than the beach we had been at before. Many families were there which seemed to be due to the fact that it is a resort type town.
From Port Douglas we went to Mossman Gorge, which is a rainforest park with a creek running through it. It was nice to get out and do some hiking again, plus all the trees and foliage were really cool.
On the way back to Cairns we stopped at K-Mart to pick up some towels for my parents for the beach and snorkeling. It was then time for dinner (according to my father) so we took a walk around Cairns and settled on Cactus Jacks (a ‘Mexican’ restaurant). It wasn’t very good, and it wasn’t spicy at all which was disappointing, because although I can’t handle super spicy food, I still don’t like bland food. Once we were fed we went back to the hotel to get some sleep because we had a 6:30AM wake up call to get to the boat on time to go to the Great Barrier Reef!
30th September 2011
Snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef was on my list of things I must-do while in Australia. Therefore I was ecstatic to go to the reef for a day trip and completely ok to get up at 6:30AM to get ready to go. We went over to the harbor and hopped on a boat for a tour to the reef with Ocean Quest (a touring company). On the boat we were greeted by some of the crew and some fruit, danish and coffee for breakfast. The danish wasn’t that great but I suppose it was a rushed meal so I wasn’t expecting much.
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| A sailboat that was leaving shore at the same time as us! |
Our first stop on the trip was Upolu Reef. It was absolutely gorgeous; we saw plenty of colorful coral, and fish. There were these cool Parrot Fish that are super colorful, and have ‘beaks’ that they use to crunch on coral to eat. We also saw giant clams that would quick close up when you swim over them. It’s too bad the clams don’t have pearls in them, because if they did they would be huge! My dad also found a small reef shark hiding in the coral – one of the crewmembers helped identify it as the ‘Escalette Shark’??? We also went on a ‘glass bottom boat’ ride around the reef which wasn’t too exciting, but the crew member that drove the boat was pretty funny so it made things more interesting.
After a couple hours on the reef we had lunch – chicken, prawns, meat, bread, and salads. It was quite delicious especially after a long morning swimming around the reef. I fell asleep on the boat shortly after lunch which was good timing because we had a short trip to another part of the reef – Upolu Cay (a cay for those of you that don’t know is like a sand bar, or an area in the middle of the ocean where the sand is built up and shallow enough for one to walk on it). It was pretty cool, we saw a sea turtle swimming through the reefs, and found Nemo! Unfortunately we didn’t have an underwater camera so we don’t have any pictures of these, but I suggest that you all go to the Great Barrier Reef if you get the chance! In addition we saw some more cool fish and even got really close to them – close enough to touch them. It was amazing, I wouldn’t think that fish would be comfortable being that close to humans! I only wish that I could’ve had the chance to actually scuba dive there – I think it would have been even more amazing! On the way back to the docks we got the chance to talk to one of the crew members. He happened to be from Germany therefore he had to test out my German. It was tough to speak German, but I must admit that I still haven’t lost the knack to understand. He was also my age and had already had the opportunity to travel to South Africa, Thailand, and a few other places before seeming to settle in Australia to work as a crew member for diving companies is Cairns and Sydney. I must admit that I was rather jealous – I would love to have the opportunity to travel at some point I time.
We arrived back to Cairns around 5PM, making it a very long, but exciting day. I finally had the opportunity to take a much needed shower and get ready for dinner. We ended up going to a wood-fired pizzeria called Rattle & Hum where we split pepperoni and margherita pizzas. After dinner we went to a Gelato place. I had a scoop of mint chocolate chip gelato which was good, but didn’t taste quite right. It was much more like ice cream than our Gelato back home. Then we went to Woolworth’s to pick up some supplies for a picnic at Lack Eachim.
1st October 2011
Had the wonderful opportunity to sleep in til 8AM but was woken up by our really noisy hotel neighbors. So I reluctantly got up to get ready to hit the road. We drove south of Cairns to a crater lake called Lake Eachem??? The weather was extremely beautiful so it was perfect for PB&J lunch with cracker and Gatorade. We could have gone swimming but instead we decided to drive on to see some waterfalls.
We ended up at a waterfall circuit outside of Milla Milla. We saw three waterfalls. The first was really beautiful and perfect for swimming but since we didn’t have our bathing suits and there were a number of other people swimming there.
After the falls we ended up stopping at another park – Paronella Park – where there were some interesting concrete structures. The only issue was the fact that there was a fee to get in to see the park so we continued on to a winery (at my mother’s request).
We ended up at a small winery called Murdering Point in Slipston??? which offered wine tasting of a wide range of fruit wines. These wines were actually very good and made out of some very surprising fruits including mango, passion fruit, and pineapple. After a few samples my parents decided to buy a Mocha Crème liqueur. I didn’t try that one so I’m not really sure if it was all that good, but they seemed to enjoy it so I suppose it was a good choice.
On the long trip back to Cairns I fell asleep so I’m not really sure if anything interesting happened, but I’m sure I missed some great views. Once we arrived back in Cairns my dad was hungry (per usual) so we stopped in the city center to get him some take-away Chinese food, which wasn’t all bad because he got me some calamari! We enjoyed his Chinese take-away while watching the Rugby World Cup. The match was England vs. Scotland. Now I’m not exactly sure as to the rules or how to play but Scotland was winning at first, but England came back and crushed them in the end I think, or at least they had more points by the end of the game (16-12)! After the match was over we went to get dinner at an Italian restaurant called Bel Paese. I had a delicious plate of Four Cheese Gnocchi, but my dad wasn’t overly impressed with his Lasagna, although I’m not quite sure if he really likes Lasagna at any restaurant. After dinner it was time for a well deserved sleep!
2nd October, 2011
I had to get up at 6:30AM in order to be at the bus stop by 8AM. The only problem with this is the fact that the bus didn’t leave until 8:50AM. Therefore we got to sit around waiting for the bus for about an hour instead of sleeping – I guess that’s what I get for allowing my dad to read the travel schedule! No worries though we were on time and didn’t miss the bus as a result! The bus took us to a bus station in Freshwater (a small town outside of Cairns) to catch a train on the Scenic Railway to get to Kuranda, a small tourist destination in the rainforest. On the train we learned all sorts of interesting facts such as the railway was built in the 1800s by workers with shovels and pick axes. This is quite impressive considering the rail goes through the mountains and has a number of original tunnels. On the train ride we saw two waterfalls – at the second one we even saw some crazy people jumping off rocks into water basins in between sections of the waterfall (actually it didn’t look that crazy – more like fun and definitely something you can’t do in Wisconsin).
Once we got to Kuranda we found there really wasn’t much to do except for shopping, eating, and going for a walk through the rainforest. For lunch we got some Bratwurst at a German restaurant, and then went on a walk through the rainforest. It was actually quite beautiful with the sun shining through all the green leaves.
After the short hike we went to get on the Skyrail, which is like a ski lift or a gondola. It was really cool to see the rainforest from above and it allowed for me to take some nice pictures of the landscape.
We stopped by a bar after the Skyrail to watch some of the Rugby Grand Final (similar to the Superbowl). The match was Manly Beach Sea Eagles vs. New Zealand Warriors. The Manly Beach Sea Eagles were heavy favorites to win since they have won a few Rugby Grand Finals in the past few years. While the match was interesting to watch the Sea Eagles pulled ahead early and ended up winning in the end even though the Warriors managed to have a decent run near fully time.
After the match we grabbed some take-away food from Nando’s and went back to our hotel room to relax and give me some time to catch up on some of my studying.
3rd October 2011 – Last Day In Cairns
A very sad day – the last day of my official mid-semester break holiday (yes, I realise this is a Monday and that I did skip one day of Uni, but I really am not ready to go back to class). My parents woke me up at the literal crack of dawn to watch the sunrise over the mountains at some time around 6AM. Thankfully the sunrise was completely gorgeous so it was definitely worth getting up that early (Although it was really cold outside which did not make it easy to keep waiting patiently for the sun to rise).
It wasn’t surprising that I feel asleep after watching the sunrise, but my parents went to get breakfast and look for a market to buy some mango. Unfortunately they didn’t find a market that was open and just wandered around for a really long time (and seemed to forget that they left me in the room sleeping/ getting ready to go to the beach). While they were gone I watched the NFL which was pretty interesting I suppose considering I’m in Australia (don’t worry I know that the Packers are having a wonderful start to the season – undefeated right?). When they got back we headed off to Trinity Beach to walk the beach and swim! It was absolutely beautiful out and the beach was a decent length – perfect for beach walking. We ended up walking down the beach to some rocks to check out some sea life. We saw a pretty big crab in a tide pool, a bunch of other smaller crabs on the rocks, and had the opportunity to see some sea turtles!
It was pretty amazing to see all of that wildlife especially after my parents were thinking that there weren’t an animals or bugs in Australia (they are most definitely wrong). After the walk I took a swim in the ocean. It was quite nice – not too hot or too cold, and the waves were all too strong. After my swim I laid in the sunshine and did some readings for class (yes, I still am a Uni student so I do have readings and such to do). While I did this my parents wandered the area around the beach – I’m not really sure what there was to see, maybe a few shops and restaurants. When they came back we decided it was time to go to a place to ‘cuddle’ a koala (which is essentially just holding a koala for pictures purposes).
After a quick PB&J sandwich we went over to Pullman Hotel where they have a wildlife center featuring koala cuddling. Needless to say my parents nominated me to cuddle the koala which was interesting, they are pretty lethargic creatures – it just chilled in my arms for the duration of the pictures.
We went to the marina and walked around after the koala fun. We ended up staying around to watch the sunset over the city. It was quite beautiful, although I felt a little silly watching both sunrise and sunset in the same day. But they were both pretty amazing so I can’t complain.
After the sunset we went to get dinner (of course!). We went to a place called The Coffee Club which was offering a two for one meal deal with the purchase of a drink (my dad got a drink to solve that problem). My mom and I split a pretty good plate of nachos, the only issue what the fact that it wasn’t spicy at all which was quite strange. My dad finally got his burger which he seemed to enjoy considering the fact he said ‘this is really good’ two times while he at the burger. We went back to the hotel after eating because my parents were wiped out (keep in mind it was only 7PM at this time), and they decided I should do some studying. As a result of this plan they fell asleep and I watched the review show for Barclays Premier League (soccer), edited some pictures, and wrote up some more for my blog (now that’s productive, haha). Studying is for travel days.
4th October 2011
We traveled back to Melbourne which took us all day (12:45 – 7PM) with flights from Cairns to Brisbane and then on to Melbourne. Not really exciting...
