Sydney

08.05.17 - 12.05.17

As I write these lines, we are in the Outback and have just spent the sunrise at Australia's iconic landmark, Ayers Rock. But more on that later.

We have safely landed in Sydney after a 3-hour flight. The first thing we notice is that it is still pleasantly warm, even though the sun has already set. We collect our luggage and take the train to Central Station. We walk the rest of the way to our hostel. We have checked into Maze Backpackers, which is a very large hostel but in a great location. We have a small room, or rather a tiny room with bunk beds. We need some distance between us again :D

Before we go to sleep, we take a walk around the block to get a little overview.

The next morning, we walk through different neighborhoods towards the harbor. There, we can admire Sydney's famous Opera House and landmarks. Then we cross the Harbour Bridge to the other side of the coast. From the bridge, we have a great view of Sydney. We feel at ease with the greenery growing between and on top of buildings. We also see many beautiful rooftop terraces and wonder how much an apartment with a view of the opera house costs.

Once we reach the other side, we stroll through an upscale neighborhood along the harbor and enjoy some salad and fish and chips. We take a ferry to get back to the Opera House side. There, we encounter a street artist who includes me in his show. Meanwhile, Claudi watches as the artist juggles knives and rides a BMX bike around me. After the show, we pass by the Opera House, walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens, and take a short rest on a bench. Back at the hostel, there were free burgers and a few rounds of pool with two French guys before we go to bed.

The next morning, we take the bus to Coogee Beach and walk along the coast to the famous Bondi Beach. The weather is great and the ocean is a beautiful shade of blue. But it's too cold for swimming. We see some surfers riding the waves at Bondi Beach, but we take the bus back to the city. While we drive, I book a skydiving experience in Wollongong for the next day.

After a bowl of pasta at the hostel, we visit a free art gallery located in the Royal Botanical Gardens. In addition to Australian and New Zealand artists, there are also European greats such as Picasso and Van Gogh. On some paintings, we see motifs that we have in our memory, such as the Milford Sound. After wandering through the gallery, we walk to the dimly lit Mc Chair, where we enjoy a beautiful view of the illuminated Opera House and Bridge in the background. After these romantic moments, we go back to the hostel tired.

The skydiving experience takes the whole day, so we wake up at 7 am on Thursday. We are picked up by a tour bus along with other brave participants. Claudi accompanies me because she doesn't want to miss out on this experience. We drive to Wollongong, 84 km away from Sydney, and I'm still quite relaxed. After 1.5 hours, we arrive at Wollongong Beach and I wonder how it will look from above. But first, I am a little disappointed because there are about 30 people and we are divided into 4 groups, so the day drags on. I am told that I will jump in 2 hours and then wait for 2 hours after the jump. Well, it can't be changed now, I think to myself and sit with Claudi on the beach to wait. When the time is up, our group is fitted with safety harnesses and we are given wide pants and fleece sweaters. Then we receive a brief instruction on how to behave just before and after the jump from the plane and before landing. Of course, we don't jump alone but with a professional tandem partner. Mine is named Winnie and he is from Ireland. While he checks my equipment again, he tells me that we will land on the beach. I think that's pretty cool. :) Then we get into a small shuttle bus, 20 minutes away from the beach, to a small airfield. We board the cozy propeller plane, which can accommodate about 20 people, and off we go into the sky. I enjoy the magnificent view of the kilometer-long beach and the green-blue ocean. I'm not excited, but I'm internally excited like a little child about the view. We are informed that we have reached our jumping altitude, 14,000 ft or about 4200 m. One by one, we jump out of the plane, and it seems like I'm the last one to jump. Since you can't stand in the plane, Winnie pushes me towards the hatch from behind. I tuck my legs under the plane and we jump out of the plane headfirst. We tumble for a few seconds and I don't know where is up or down anymore. Winnie stabilizes us and now we have to stretch our arms and legs and push our pelvis forward. We are in freefall and it's just amazing. I can feel my grin getting wider on my face. My gaze sweeps over the golden sand, the blue-green bays, the clouds in the distance. After nearly a minute of freefall, Winnie opens the parachute and we slowly glide down. I try to spot Claudi from above, but I'm not lucky. I have a few minutes left in the air before we land on the sandy beach. When we arrive in one piece, Claudi comes running towards me with a big smile on her face.

This won't be my last jump.

Two hours later, we are back on the bus to Sydney. We take a stroll through Chinatown and then go to bed because we have a flight to Adelaide in the morning.