Sydney and Blue Mountains

It is now late afternoon when we arrived in Sydney on 06.08.2018. To visit and explore the city, we planned 2 days. Since long drives always make us tired, we didn't want to go to the city anymore, but rather relax to be fit for tomorrow. New day, new energy to the city. First stop in Sydney, as expected, was the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. After taking enough pictures, we were also tempted to see the Opera House from the inside. So off to the information point and book a tour. We were there at the perfect time, as the next tour was in German. During the tour, we learned that the design was initially not considered. Only through the late arrival of a member of the committee were all proposals reviewed again, and then the decision was made on the design by Jørn Utzon. Inside the house, there are various halls that can be used for different purposes. So they not only perform operas but also stage plays. Prince also held a concert here. However, ticket prices starting at $600 (about €380) were very affordable. What will definitely be remembered is the disgustingly ugly purple carpet in the foyer (see in the pictures). Right next to the Opera House is the Royal Botanic Garden. This is also beautifully designed and a nice retreat to relax from the big city stress. The highlight was "the Calyx" (more about it in the pictures). Next, we went straight to the State Library of New South Wales. It was not as crowded as the one in Melbourne. In the entrance hall, there was an outline of Australia on the floor, but that was all there was to see here. After looking at the city map and our schedule, we realized that we had already seen almost everything we wanted to see today, so we decided to do the things that were planned for the next day as well. And we continued towards the Parliament House of New South Wales and St. Mary's Cathedral. Unfortunately, there was a church service going on in the cathedral, so we will visit again later. So off to the shopping streets and stroll through the stores. However, we didn't find anything really. So we went back to the cathedral. When we arrived there, the church service was over and we could take our time to look at it. The day is slowly coming to an end, so we went back to the Opera House to take some pictures at night.

After another slightly colder night in our camper, we set off towards Watson Bay by ferry. The public transport prices are incomparable to Germany, they are much cheaper. A day ticket costs around $15 (about €9.60). From Watson Bay, you also have a great view of the city center of Sydney with all the skyscrapers. After arriving by ferry, the first place we visited was Hornby Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1858 and was the third one in New South Wales. The view of the sea was breathtaking and we enjoyed the view and the sound of the waves. Next, we continued by bus towards Bondi Beach. Since it is winter in Australia, there weren't too many people there, just a few surf courses. The way back to the city center was going to be a bit complicated, but we didn't know that yet. When we arrived back in Watson Bay, we waited for the ferry with about 50 other people. However, no public ferry came from the city, only private ferries, which also didn't say that there was no public ferry. When the sun was almost setting and the third private ferry arrived, we asked when a public ferry would come. The answer was that no ferry would come anymore and we could ride with them, but we had to pay an additional $7.50 on top of our day ticket. In the end, we made it back and planned our next day, as our stay in Sydney was over and there was nothing else to see that interested us.

After getting up relatively early so that we could leave early to arrive before the tourist masses, we reached the first viewpoint after 1.5 hours. The view was spectacular and the trees and fog had a slightly bluish color, which is why they are called the Blue Mountains. The next stop was the Three Sisters. When we arrived, we unfortunately had to realize that our plan didn't quite work out and there were already at least 6 tour buses with Asians ahead of us. As it was too crowded, we only quickly took pictures and quickly moved on to see the Three Sisters from another perspective. When we arrived at the next viewpoint, we were relatively alone and could enjoy the view. After that, we went back on the highway towards Brisbane.