Blue Mountains and Sydney

Our journey led us through Sydney before we drove to the Blue Mountains. Initially, we thought it would be another largely uninhabited national park with bumpy gravel roads, but we were quickly proven wrong. There are several larger towns connected by the dual-lane highway. So, we realized that we were close to the largest city in Australia, but still far enough away to enjoy the beautiful nature away from the traffic. Since we arrived in the afternoon, we only took a short hike to the impressive Wentworth Falls, which drop about 100m and we could admire them from the top. We loved the vastness of the national park, it felt a bit like the Grand Canyon, but with forests all around us. We managed to visit almost all viewpoints at a sporty pace, some trails were closed due to landslide danger. Our first campsite was slightly elevated and quite small, we managed to get one of the last official pitches. The place seems to be very popular with climbers, it was a bit remote and therefore quite peaceful. After chef Philip cooked a delicious dinner, we quickly retreated to the camper because it was quite cold due to the altitude. Once again, thank goodness for hot water bottles!

The next day, we went on our first "real" hike in Blackheath. We walked along the cliffs from one beautiful viewpoint to the next and had plenty of time to chat. In the afternoon, we drove to Katoomba, where the probably most famous - and easiest accessible, consequently overcrowded - viewpoint of the so-called "Three Sisters" is located. This rock formation consists of 3 adjacent "sisters", it was nice to look at but not a huge highlight. What we almost liked better was the extreme vastness around it. And you can walk down and (unfortunately) back up the "Giant Stairway" along the cliffs, a very steep staircase with over 900 steps. We had enough after about 350 steps of descent and struggled a bit to climb back up 😄 After a last beautiful viewpoint of the Three Sisters - just a few kilometers away from the big bus parking lots and therefore naturally deserted - we drove to the next campsite. It was located in the valley and slightly larger and more lively, but again we managed to get the last available pitch. Around us, there was the rainforest and behind it the steep cliffs of the Blue Mountains - it was really beautiful! By the way, the mountain range is called that because from a distance it sometimes looks like the mountains are blue. This is caused by the light refracting differently due to the high humidity and the high content of eucalyptus oil in the air. We didn't fully understand the details, but it's a nice side fact 😄

On Sunday, our last day in the Blue Mountains, we finally experienced our first real rainy day in Australia. The fog hung between the trees everywhere and it was really wet and cold. But we seasoned hikers weren't deterred, according to the motto: There is no bad weather, only bad clothing! We bundled up and walked the "Grand Canyon Walk" with only a light drizzle on our necks. This trail led several hundred meters down into the valley, through the rainforest (which lived up to its name) and back up the mountain. It was very beautiful, despite or maybe because of the weather. Back in the van, we decided that getting wet once was enough for the day and we didn't want to do another hike in the rain. So we drove towards Sydney, through its heavy traffic, and found a free rest area near the airport, where we returned our camper the next day.

After saying goodbye to Lotte, we took the subway to downtown and to our hostel, which was really cool and where we could do laundry for free. Both us and our clothes needed it more than ever 😄 After we smelled presentable again, we went on an exploratory tour of the city. We immediately liked it here! We walked past the large harbor and through the botanical garden, which was decorated for the annual "Festival of Lights". Of course, we absolutely wanted to visit THE landmark of the city, famous from movies and television: the Opera House! Somehow, Jana was constantly reminded of the movie "Finding Nemo", which is mostly set in Sydney and its waters, and left a seemingly important childhood memory. The Opera House was beautiful from afar and close up, and we took way too many photos of it 😅 In the evening, the festival started, which consists of various light and sound installations spread throughout the city center. Man, that was amazing! We were captivated and walked around for hours, spending a long time in front of the illuminated Opera House, where various famous Australian artist's paintings came to life, and found the city even more beautiful than we already thought. The theme of the festival this year was nature, its protection and diversity. Among other things, we sat in a large room with walls made entirely of movie screens. Around us, turtles, large stingrays, and whales swam, or we simply saw pictures of the beautiful Australian nature. Overall, it was really grand and super beautiful! We lost track of time a bit and had to walk quite a distance until we found something to eat - once again near Chinatown, where apparently everything stays open the longest in every city. With delicious Thai food to go, we made our way home.

The next highlight didn't take long, because we had booked a whale watching tour. With a large boat, we set off from Sydney Harbor to the "Humpback Highway" located off the coast. That sounded promising! Just like in Byron Bay, the whales are currently migrating from the cold waters of Antarctica towards the warm waters in northern Australia. Since they don't have sonar, humpback whales can't dive deep and have to come up to the surface to breathe about every 5 minutes. They also usually swim close to the protective coast. So, after just a few minutes, we saw humpback whales from up close for the first time! At first, we mainly observed their breath, the warm air shooting up like a small geyser, and the humpback when they dived back down. But suddenly, one of the larger whales jumped almost completely out of the water and splashed loudly onto the surface. It was breathtaking, especially from such a close distance! Later, we saw other humpback whales swimming in synchrony and holding their tail fins above the water. One of them also leaped halfway out of the water. We were blown away!

Afterwards, we strolled through a beautiful shopping alley with colorful windows and old-fashioned tiles on the floor, where there were many small shops, including a hat maker and a shoe polisher. Then we briefly sat in a service in the beautiful and large St. Mary's Cathedral. Not that we are religious, but the atmosphere and the sound of the children's choir were really beautiful. As soon as it was evening, the many lights came on again and we watched some beautiful shows.

For the last day - somewhat illogical in terms of timing, but oh well - we finally planned a city tour. It was a free walking tour, where you decide at the end on how much you want to pay the guide. The tour took us to some of the places we had already seen, but we also saw some corners for the first time, walked through small secret alleys, and heard many interesting background stories. Sydney was originally used as an exiled prison for British settlers, without cells because they weren't worried about someone escaping. On one side, there was the ocean and on the other only sparse bushland - so there were no bars, which in a way sounds like a rather pleasant prison 😄 Nevertheless, a bit of infrastructure was needed, especially a hospital, but the government in England didn't want to pay much for it. Then a clever person had the idea to finance it with the sale of rum, which was consumed in large quantities among the prisoners. So, the distilleries built an oversized hospital, and in return, only their rum was sold exclusively. That's why it's called the "Rum Hospital", nowadays mainly a museum and parts of it are the seat of the Sydney government - financed by alcohol 😜 We also found it interesting that the British arrived only 4 days before the French and occupied Australia ... otherwise things would probably look very different here, and Philip would have a lot more trouble communicating. After the great tour, we walked across the impressive Harbour Bridge and took the ferry back, once again enjoying a great view of the Opera House. In the afternoon, we took a short walk along the coast from Bondi to Bronte Beach. In the evening, we packed our backpacks because tomorrow we're going on a charming 35-hour trip from Sydney via Los Angeles and Houston to Santiago de Chile.

Thus ends the time on our second continent. We really liked Australia. Not only the diverse nature and beautiful beaches, but above all, the diverse wildlife impressed us. Furthermore, Australians are a really nice, relaxed, and funny bunch of people! We definitely want to come back because there is still much more to see. For now, we're glad to escape the cold and get to know new impressions and cultures in South America.

We'll be in touch soon (probably a bit wrinkled and crumpled) from the other side of the world!