Exploring Sydney

After all the big cities I have seen in my life (London, Paris, L.A., San Francisco, New York, Melbourne), Sydney followed. And when I say I liked Melbourne... I think Sydney convinced me even more! I like the city and with the infrastructure it is so easy and cheap to get from A to B! I have been here for a total of 5 days, which was just right to get an overview.

Day 1 - Free Walking Tour and Bondi Beach

On the first day, I went on a walking tour to learn a bit about the history and sights. It was really necessary, as until then I had no clue about Australia's history. But now I'm a bit wiser! The tour was really informative (the tour guide was about the same age as me and studied Australian History :D). When you listen to the history, it's really sad how the Aboriginal people were more or less displaced from their habitat by the English. After the walking tour, I went to Bondi Beach with 2 other German girls. Unfortunately, without a bikini, as it was still in the hostel... But necessity is the mother of invention, and since the others wanted to go to the pool right at Bondi (and so did I), I just went in with my top. Who needs a bikini anyway?! It was definitely a bit different from the usual pool (except for the pool in the port of Helsinki at 0 degrees :D).

Day 2 - Day trip to Blue Mountains

Since backpackers are generally bargain hunters, we were smart and took the train instead of a tour for 130 AUD - attention: for only 2.60 AUD round trip! If that wasn't a bargain. On Sundays, you only pay a maximum of 2.60 for public transport in Sydney. The Blue Mountains are a national park about 2 hours from Sydney and really beautiful. I felt a bit transported back to Tasmania. I was there again with one of the German girls who happened to study sports teaching in Würzburg. We took a long walk along the cliffs there - creatively called Cliff Walk 😉 There are several spots worth seeing - the Katoomba Waterfalls, the Echo Point Lookout, from where you can see the Three Sisters. These are simply 3 cliffs standing next to each other and were named that way. We were really lucky with the weather, just a little thunder and lightning started shortly before the end of our walk, and just as we finished, it started raining - perfect timing! Then we sat in a gingerbread cafe 😊

Day 3 - Exploring on my own

Since I still didn't have a proper photo of the Opera House and hadn't been there yet, it was definitely on top of my to-do list. So I just started walking and first made a few stops at churches and then through the Botanic Gardens. I thought Melbourne was very beautiful, but Sydney has taken it to another level again. They had a super interesting exhibition about pollution, where a wall was completely decorated with flowers. At the end of the botanical gardens, I reached a viewpoint where you can finally see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House at once! Funny enough, I met a German woman there who was traveling alone. So we walked together to the Opera House. I actually wanted to attend a performance there, but unfortunately there was nothing that appealed to me during my time there ☹ So not... Then I set off alone again to the Harbour Bridge and walked to the northern part of Sydney and from there took the ferry back. It was definitely a very long "walk", so I was pretty tired when I got back to the hostel - but I didn't really get very far :D Right next to our hostel is a travel agency and I actually wanted to go in there the whole time to finally plan/book my next weeks, but because you're always on the go, you never have time for that. But now, for the 3rd time, one of the travel agents approached me, so I thought if not now, then never - and about 3 hours and a bit of money later - my plan until January 16th was finally complete. It feels good to know where you're going and that the tours you want to do are available 😊 So for those who are interested: I will be spending Christmas in Byron Bay and New Year's Eve in Brisbane 😊

Day 4 - Manly Beach

Since I had enough of walking for a while, I took the ferry to Manly for 30 minutes and went to the main beach there, which was definitely crowded, but still not as crowded as Bondi Beach. I really enjoyed just reading, listening to music, and relaxing. There were some surfers in the water whom I watched with envy. But of course, just when I go into the water, the sirens go off. At first, I was really confused until it turned out to be a shark alarm and everyone had to quickly get out of the water. I knew there were sharks in the area, but I still hadn't experienced something like this. So the beach was closed and about 1.5 hours later it was reopened. So I went back into the water, and of course, just when I was in, the alarm went off again - everyone out of the water - and the beach was completely closed. But since it also got a bit cloudy and windy, I also made my way back. Since you have to go out and have a big night out at least once when you're in Sydney, that was definitely a must on the 4th day. With my roommate, a Swiss girl who had her last day in Australia, and 3 boys she met in Sydney, we went to a club. It was definitely worth it!

Day 5 - The "do-nothing-day"

Uh well - actually, I overslept first, after I was supposed to be at the travel agency at 10:30 and I woke up at 10:15. But I still made it on time. After another 2-3 hours with my super nice British travel agent Noel, the basic structure for New Zealand was in place and all bookings for Australia were complete. Since I still needed to get some things before I get to the smaller cities on the East Coast, that was the last chance and the rest of the day was spent on packing, writing the travel plan together, and making the bookings.

That's the end of my time in Sydney - I have been on the East Coast for 4 days now. So that was my slightly delayed - once again very detailed - travel report from the other end of the world.