The Last Week in Australia: Sydney

For those of you who don't know, I'm back from Australia. Pretty sure all of you know, but hey, I still like to think I have some crazy unknown reader who is freakishly devoted to reading my wonderful blog.

Anyway, I spent my final Aussie week in the Sydney area with my mum (I'm determined to popularize this spelling/pronunciation in America). Rather than tell a long story with words, I will tell an even longer story with pictures, one that equals more than 22,000 words! (if the equation holds that 1 Picture=1,000 words)

Beautiful Darling Harbour, where my mum and I spent our first evening. Sadly, we later found out her camera was set to 0.3 megapixels, so the first few pictures from her camera aren't the greatest quality, but you still get the idea.

Can't resist a good jumping picture. Also can't resist that hott half jacket I've got on. Would it surprise anyone if I said I've had that jacket for 8 years now?

On our first full day in Sydney we went surfing with three instructors and seven students (including us). We drove to the beach in a beat up surfer bus and on the way the main instructor, Deano (like Flinstones but spelled different) said we had to stop by and pick up some "mushrooms." The look on my mum's face was priceless, and truth be told, I was a little questionable, I mean, it wouldn't be too far to say this guy resembled a druggy. Turns out he meant literal mushrooms, and part of me still wonders if he does this for the soul purpose of freaking people out since really, who has to make a stop at the grocery store just for one mushroom?

I SURFED!!!

Yes, it is true, I managed to stand up on the surfboard about a dozen times. This would have been much more fun had the water not been FILLED with jelly fish. No joke, within a square meter there were probably 10-15 jelly fish. I got stung lots on my feet. But, I went surfing, and I braved jelly fish infested water. I feel pretty proud of myself.

MY MUM SURFED!!!

Yes, not only did I surf, but my mum did too. Notice the shoes, which we decided to try after getting stung numerous times by evil jelly fish. They were rather effective and made the experience so much more enjoyable.

The next day, Sunday, we decided to go hiking in Blue Mountains National Park. Apparently it's a gorgeous park. Too bad it was rainy and foggy all day and we could barely see the scenery through all the clouds. But, we did manage to see this site, called the Three Sisters.

There is a hike called Giant Staircase. I expected something like the Grand Staircase in Utah (which, truth be told I've never been too). This was nothing like what I think the Grand Staircase looks like. This is literally a giant staircase, in that there were more stairs than we could count. Since the visitors area is on the top of a plateau, we began our hike going down, and by the end I began dreaming about going up stairs.

Scenic Railway: The Steepest Railway in the World! I think. Yes, it was steep. Was it worth the $10? Not really. Was it worth $10 to not hike up the thousands of steps we would have had to climb had we not ridden it? Maybe.

All the Japanese tourists were doing this exact same thing, so how could I not?

Since it was raining, we decided to take a drive rather than hike more. Then we saw a random turn off and decided to take it. It lead us to this amazingly beautiful view that, like so many other beautiful views, reminded me of Middle Earth.

My mum was freaking out the whole time I crawled, nearly on my stomach, towards the cliff edge (so I could look down it). Turns out she was actually slightly justified in her freaking outness, since the drop was easily about 300 feet straight down.

Tourist.

May look like a tourist, but really, not a tourist.

I FOUND IT!!!

Yes, Aussies do get pretty drunk on occasion. Luckily the road sign people are aware of this. This row of signs extends more than double its length to the left. And it wasn't even the most amusing thing we saw. A few miles before this we saw signs just like this, only they were seriously about 7 feet tall. Gotta love how they cater to the drunks.

We went to the Featherdale Wildlife Park on Monday. It was easily the best zoo/wildlife park I've ever been too. This was partially due to the fact that it was nearly empty due to the rain so we basically had the place to ourselves. Oh, and ps, these are koalas.

And these are koala mums and their babies.

The kangaroos and I were pretty tight by the end of my Australia experience. (The cone isn't full of ice cream, it has kangaroo food in it. Though the kangaroo still liked the

I'm not sure what to write, I think his face says it all.

Buddha Koala.

Phantom Koala.

I didn't think koalas were active until I met this little guy, who tirelessly jumped from his tree to the edge of the enclosure just to get placed back into the enclosure by the worker, then climbed back up the tree and repeated the process, too many times to count.

Not sure what to write with this one either. Some pictures just don't need words.

Prime example of a picture that doesn't need words, except these: this is a chicken.

On Tuesday morning we drove past some botanical gardens. Since it was rainy and the planned beach day didn't seem so appealing, we decided to stop and walk through. Didn't look at the plants too much, but we did have fun taking pictures.

BEES!!!

BEES!!!

I knew I had the right mum when we were walking through the gardens and she stops, looks at me, and points at this spot and says, "What does that look like a good stop for?" The answer? A jumping picture.

Are words needed here?

Jumping picture gone wrong.

We got lost. At a dead end we saw a trail leading away with a sign warning us that the trail led to cliffs. Rather than turn around and continue being lost, we decided to hike the trail, and were met with this view.

It only took about twenty takes to actually get a picture that included both us and the scene behind us.

We decided to try the beach idea despite the bad weather. This place is called Cave Beach, and my mum is doing a wonderful job of completing the picture.

I, however, am aware of my inability to look good posing, so I decide to go the complete opposite direction. I still think it looks cool.

The setting was beautiful, so we had a little photo shoot, me being the main subject. My mum suggested I crawl out of this little hole so she could get a picture of it (somehow it was supposed to end up looking good). I decided a much more accurate pose would be to look like a monster crawling out of a hole. I think I did well.

I match.


SYDNEY!!!

We spent the last full day we had in Sydney, shopping, walking, exploring, you name it. Oh, we also spent a good deal of time taking pictures. All in all, I have nearly 1,000 pictures from that one week.

This might be my favorite jumping picture... ever.

Though this one is still pretty cool. I think. And if you don't agree then shame on you.

Last Sydney sunset taken from Manly Beach.

My last day in Sydney I met up with my German friends Maike and Vera, after my mum left on her flight (which left hours before mine). I saw this dude making giganto bubbles and couldn't not stop to see more.

Why Australia is so freaking awesome. Man I miss it there...

My first view of the United States after 4 months away.