Sydney

To finish our trip along the East coast of Australia we went to Sydney, one of the most popular cities around the world and that was base for the Olympic Games in 2000.






Regardless of not being the capital of Australia, Sydney is the biggest and most modern city of Australia. With a population of about 4 millions people, Sydney is the capital of the New South Wales.

The majority of the population is British or Irish but there's also Asian communities ..... Asian communities are everywhere!!! At least to every place that we visited!

Bontay Bay was the place were the first European ships arrived here in 1788. This British colony initially took into Sydney all the criminals coming from Great Britain. Leaving behind its penitentiary history, Sydney started to quickly spread thanks to the commercial relationships with other countries that helped to its social and economical development.

Located among montains and sea, Sydney offers a beautiful landscape.

Our first impression of Sydney was a very multicultural city where people from all parts of the world walk along its streets creating a cool multicultural society. Thinking about it a little bit we came to the conclusion that Australia is a country that, because of its historical circumstancies, lacks a deep culture nowadays. Aboriginal people, antecesstors of this "terra nulis" (land of nobody), are a minority and it is very difficult to see them unless it is something related with tourists and souvenirs.



Australia , a cultural tetris that has been built generation after generation shaping a very modern multicultural society but, from our point of view, lacks of idiosincracy.

Our arrival to Sydney was very cold!!!!!!!!!!!!! and rainy!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh Once we looked for a hostel in the city centre we went for a walk around town...

We ended up having dinner in an Asiatic restaurant.. cheap and nice ... where we met a group of very funny Cubans who were living in the city... Soy cubano mamaaaaaaaaaa!!! y amigo de la Mala Rodriguez mamaaaaaaaa!! hahahahaha

They recommend us to go for a drink to "La Cita", a latin place with live latin music...



We had to celebrate our arrival to the city so to cope with the cold that they we went to look for warm latin music hahaha and we found it!! and we danced lots!! hahahaha

Lots of latin americans dancing... Argentinians, Uruguayans, Brasilians, Spanish, Mexicans... great fun! Live music all the way!!




Still singing some of the songs that the band was playing the previous night we woke up with a beautiful sun that gave us all the energy needed to walk the city from north to south!!!





We walked for hours... enjoying the sunny day and the walk around the harbour... a beautiful area full of restaurants, museums, pubs, nightclubs, cafes...



And then we arrived to a little hill where you can have views of Sydney.... you could say that you can have Sydney on your feet!! hahahaha



After a great rest we walked along the streets in the city centre... big avenues and skyscrappers... and we went up the Sydney Tower... there you have an amazing 360 degrees view of the city!! Awesome!!








After that we decided to go to Circular Quay and visit the top attractions in Sidney...the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.






When you look at the Opera House from a distance it's amazing... you can see the architecture and the amazing roof... but when you see it close enough it is even more spectacular!!! And it is huge!!!!!!!!!!!! You look like an ant beside it!!





It is an extravagant building with lots of character!



The history of this huge building is full of contradictions, nationalism and mistery. It took more than 14 years to be built and now is the national symbol!!! It is doing its competence to the kangaroos and koalas of the country! hahahaha



At nightime the views of the Opera House are amazing too as it shines from all of its perspectives.



We also walked along The Rocks.. the old town where Captain Cook landed for the first time in Aussie land.



To finish our walk around the city we ended up in a central park where there was a Food festival going on that day.....







And lucky enough... that day it was about noodles and Asian food!! hahahahah Asia is following us!!!!!



After finishing our Pad Thai and the bottle of wine.... of course...Do you think we could have left Australia without trying one of the best things that the country produce??? We decided to go for a few drinks and see the night life.

We don't know how but we ended up drinking champagne with some Australian guys in a pub along the harbour... and then...




we went to a nightclub... yeah.... it was a club with electronic music where gangs have met to dance a certain kind of dance... a dance created in Brisbane and that now has been spread all over the counry....

Oh my God!! you try to dance like them for a couple of minutes and you can't breath!!! so tiring!! and difficult!! hahaha





It was a funny experience... as also at some stage some local policemen came with dogs to check all the place... yeah!!! Not sure if here it is usual but not back at home!!!!!! Shocking!!! this dance competition and police!! We better go to bed now :-)

Next day ... sunny again!! ueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee




We decided to go to visit other parts of the city ... there was market running on Saturdays in a local area... so there we went and then we head towards Bondi Beach...



It's amazing how the city changes when you leave the city centre... no more skyscrappers and then little houses and beaches.... quite nice!



...and the beach full of little black spots... we mean.. surfers!! hahahaha there's plenty of people here enjoying the sunny days... lots of surfers and friends having barbaqeues...







We spent all day there .. and after dinner and a couple of beers... we decided to go to bed...



And here we are... the last day in Sydney.. the last day in Australia...




A Sunday at the end of October we said goodbye to the country going to a festival in Sydney...Danks Festival!!!





Sun, music, art... joy in the street...







Live music, shops, food stalls, art.... even paellas!!!!!!!!!! hahahahaha Great way to say bye to Australia!!



Australia, a country where we had a bit of everything.... things that we have loved but also other things that left us with a feeling of emptyness.

We also say bye to Coles... supermarket where we have been every single day!!!!!! Uff!!! Too much thinking!!!




We have decided to do a "RESET" ... in a long trip you can have everything.. you can have some difficult days... some breakdown... but now we have uploaded our energies again and we go to Fijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii






Bye Sydney...bye Australia

Next stop... Byron Bay

After the great cruise around Whitsundays we continued our route towards the south .... next stop.... Byron Bay.

It took us a couple of days to get there... the thing is that the car that we rented started to make a strange noise... and yeah... we checked everything but we didn't have a clue what was wrong with it!! ....as we didn't see any smoke or liquid coming out everything seemed to be grand for us...hahahhaa
Eventually, we had to stop in Brisbane and then change the car for another one. I don't think even the guys there knew what was wrong with it but they just gave us another car and we were happy with it.

Brisbane is a business city. The city centre (Centre of Business District) is full of skyscrapers where all the offices are. When the office daily work finishes there's none around!! It looks like a phantom city! Completely different to day time!



Brisbane river cross the city and.. beside it.. of course, there is a fake beach!! This Aussies love artificial beaches! yeah... in this ones they don't have to worry about crocodiles, sharks or jellyfishes!! hahahaha



Brisbane has also lots of parks and pathwalks. One thing to stress about the Aussies is their concern about sport. Everywhere where we have been ( beaches, countryside or city) you can find lots of people doing some exercise! Running, cycling, skating, surfing... and all kind of people :old people, young, childs...

We went for a walk around the city and visit the parks around and the riverside...

The next morning, as soon as we woke up, we decided to go to Byron Bay. From Brisbane to Byron Bay there are about 3 hours driving. On the road you pass by the famous "Surfers Paradise". We decided to stop there to walk around and have something to eat. Ok... there are some waves to surf... but there are also thousands of skyscrapers apartments on the seashore... and restaurants, and shops, and pubs... It is like the Benidorm but in Australia!! Awful!!!


Aqui te pots trobar al Mitch Buchannon de Los Vigilantes de la playa!!!


After we headed off to Byron Bay. Some travellers recommended us the Arts Factory; a hostel with a special character where you can also camp. They run lots of daily activities such as yoga, reiki, cinema, live music, etc... so we decided to camp there. Unfortunately they were doing some refurbishment on the place so they didn't have that much going on....



First of all... picth the tend. Yeah,... now a new issue... one of the sticks is broken from last time! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh



But some of our little friends helped us and we finally put it up... yeah little strange animals who come to say hello all the time!!



We stayed a week here.... so we had time to visit the town and its beaches. To be honest, we found that it was a quiet town... the beaches are very long and wide and the waves seem to be good for surfing. We found lots of people who stays here for months.. even for years!! They come here... they look for a job and learn to surf and they save money to keep travelling.



It's a town with a hippy atmosphere full of organic restaurants and markets. During the evenings there is also some live music going on and everyone meets there for a few drinks. Most of the people are young backpackers but you can also see some Aussie families who come to spend their holidays here.




For those who want to do some exercise (as the slope is sooooo steep) or just have some wonderful views of the ocean , they can go to the Cape Byron Lighthouse. This one is located on the top of a 100 m cliff and it is also the Eastest point in Australia.





It's an stunning place where you can breath peacefulness.



So.... we are in Australia... in the Surfers Maca... do you thing that we shouldn't try to learn surfing????? Came on!!! Let's go!!!!

We decided to join a Surfing school for a couple of days... it was great! It is great fun!!! Everytime that we standed up it was a record!!! Well, when the teacher push you is ok, but when you have to look for the wave yourself then the problems come!

But look, after two days look at us!!! Such a style!




Hhahahahaha yeah... of course they are not our pictues! We wish they were!!! If we were those we wouldn't be here!!! We have photos but they are in a protected CD and we can't download them... to be honest... not sure if we wanna show you!!! Such a disgrace!!!

The days that you are learning with the school is fine because they teach you to surf with a very wide board and you are able to stand up... but the third day we decided to rent a board and try.... yeah right!!! the board was half size the previous one!!! We couldn't even keep the balance when we were lying down!!!!! So, how do you stand up now?? Padle padle padle!!!! But honestly...even though it is good fun ... and dangerous too if the board falls on your head!! hahahhaa

And do you know what? We saw whales!!!!!! Yeah!! they were there... less than 100 m from us!!! They were splashing down with their tail as if they wanted to wave us! Amazing!!

As everything could not be about surfing , one of the days we decided to go for a day trip to Nimbin. Nimbin is a small hippy town located at 70 km from Byron. This place is famous because its Mardi Grass festival where every year attracts lots of musicians and artists. But do you wanna know the secret? The reason why people come here is to buy weed. Yeah!! they sell you weed everywhere and the cookies and chocolate with it!

It seems to be illegal here but they have high tolerance for it.




Nimbin is tiny!! just a couple of streets!! but it is located in the middle of valley and mountain and the landscape around it is very nice.




Now, after 7 days here and become professional surfer is time to change destiny... now we are going to Sydney!!!!!

We'll keep you posted from there !


If you wanna check more photos about our trip around Australia enter here :


http://www.flickr.com/photos/29210326@N07/

Arlie Beach and Whitsundays

Our adventure continues towards Arlie Beach. This small village on the East coast of Australia has a beach but again... you can't swim in it!!! This Aussies have beautiful beaches but they also love artificial ones!! hahahha There was a great swimming pool beside the beach! Yeah... lots of beaches but you can't swim in half of them!!

Arlie beach is the point to stop if you wanna visit Whitsundays ... one of the most beautiful beaches in the world...



The best way to visit this beach and the islands around is on a cruise... also is the only way to reach the islands and the coral reef.



So... there we go... we checked a few agencies in order to compare prices.. we have to say that they were quite expensive! But if you are lucky there's always some last minute offers which are very good. We got one of those and we arrange a cruise for 2days and 2nights on a sailing ship.



We were lucky and the calmed waters and the sunny weather came with us so there was nothing to complain!

There was around 15 people on the boat... from all over the world: English, Thais, Germans, Australians... and of course... Irish!! They are everywhere :-)



Sailing with Pegasus (name of the boat) was great... sunsets and nice breeze...nice people... great atmosphere... what else do u need?



During two full days the deck was our home.... our space... there we ate, rested, sunbathing, drinking... we even slept there.... under the stars!



What we enjoyed the most was the feeling of freedom that you have on the boat, the beach of Whitehaven, the coral reef and the turtles!!!! Earth and sky, human being and nature... then boat and ocean....




The first night we anchored the sailing ship in a quiet bay... there we stayed and rest during the night. Next morning we went to Whitehaven beach... ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my god!!! The sand and the sea shine differently there... they seem to shine more!!! It is an awsome place to visit!!



We couldn't go on a cruise without rising our flag... of course!!! hahahaha Ausralia and La Rapita!!



We went for a long walk along the beach... it is so beautiful!! we had never seen some beach like this one before!!! ueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee




No words can explain it!!



... just resting on the white sand and enjoying the amazing ocean.


After a while we came back to the sailing ship and we went to a small beach to do some diving and snorkeling.
It was great!!! We even saw turtles!!!!!!!! This was a thing that we have been saying during our trip... yeah.. we have been diving and snorkeling in different parts of the world but we have never seen a turtles!!!!.... but there they were!! In Australia!! and we were swimming with them... in the deep blue sea! It was magic! They are so slow and sweet!

Seeing the turtles in their habitat was a surprise! It was a present for us! And as you can see... they are like humans... they are born, they grow up and they reproduce themselves! hahaha



The trip was coming to its end.... it was very nice... pure and wild nature on the sea.... whoever goes there is astonished for its beauty!!

We would also like to thank all the people whom we shared this cruise.... it was great fun!!! and also thanks to the tripulation!!!



So...the Spanish pirates send you a huge hug!!!!

Take care!!!