23.05.16 - Two weeks in Sydney

Here I am again - somehow the past weeks were more intense and eventful than expected. Even though I haven't been in Sydney for a few days now, I still want to tell you about my time in Australia's largest city. After a relatively relaxed bus ride - there were only eight out of a total of 30 seats occupied - I arrived in the capital of the state of New South Wales at 6 am. While the city gradually came to life at this time, I went more or less straight to bed. On the one hand, I had some sleep to catch up on from the overnight bus journey, and on the other hand, the following night was not going to be very long. The alarm went off promptly at 3:50 am the next morning. Although I am a morning person, I don't voluntarily get up at this time. So there was a reason, and that reason was Helene. My former flatmate from Lüneburg times arrived at the airport at six o'clock, and I wanted to pick her up after her 31-hour travel marathon, of course. So, as planned, after a very punctual landing, I picked up Helene at the airport at six o'clock. From there, we both went to our accommodation. For the start, we rented a room from Nan via AirBnB. Nan is a true Sydney-sider and rents out one of the rooms in her beautiful little apartment near Australia's most famous beach, Bondi Beach. For the first two days, we didn't have any big plans in advance because Helene had to arrive in Australia and recover from jet lag. Nevertheless, we wanted to take advantage of the good weather, so we decided to walk the Coogee-to-Bondi Walk on the first full day. The track leads along the coast from Coogee to Bondi Beach and is perfect for avoiding the hustle and bustle of the city. Of course, a swim at Bondi Beach was also a must, even though the wind and water temperature didn't exactly invite us. But when you have the chance...

In the next few days, one topic kept us busy: finding a car. As I mentioned in the previous posts, you are really stuck without a car in Australia. Although you can travel the country by bus, it severely limits your options. Besides, you still have to book accommodations in addition to bus tickets. So, a car was needed. And that is generally relatively uncomplicated, if it weren't for this incredible large selection and the lack of expertise. So we searched backpacker groups on Facebook, sales portals, and websites for possible cars. As we both, as I said, don't know much about cars, our requirements were modest. One of the few prerequisites was that we wanted an SUV because cool spots cannot be reached without four-wheel drive. After many comparisons and weighing budget and equipment, three cars remained in the end, which we looked at and test drove, or rather Helene test drove. Helene already had some experience with driving on the left side of the road, and I was more than happy to let her take the wheel. After all, the car shouldn't be involved in an accident before we bought it. In the end, we decided on a Mitsubishi Pajero with a roof tent and a bit of camping equipment. However, there was still a lot of work to be done before we could finally embark on our first road trip. Visits to IKEA, the hardware store, or the authorities took some time. Nevertheless, we still explored the city. For example, we attended the Inside-Out event at the Sydney Opera House. To celebrate the opera's 50th anniversary, concerts were also streamed outside on a screen. So we watched the performance "The Golden Age of Broadway" in the shadow of the opera house with a view of the famous Harbour Bridge, where classics from Broadway history were performed. Actually, we had also planned to see a performance inside the opera house, but unfortunately, time didn't allow it. But since we will probably be in Sydney again, that's not too bad. We also walked a lot through and around the city. Personally, I don't like the city center of Sydney as much as Melbourne's. However, there is much more to do in Sydney away from the center. A visit is still a must in both cities and definitely worth it. Unfortunately, there is not enough time to write about all the Sydney experiences. But there are many pictures to look at. And the next post is already in the making.