On my last day in Sydney, I took a ferry to Manly Beach.  I walked to Circular Quay and then took a half hour long ferry to Manly.  It was a beautiful ride and I got great views of the city.

Once at Manly, I walked down the couple blocks of cute shops and restaurants to the beach.  There, I spent some time just enjoying watching the waves and and then walked around the beach area some more.  It was really pretty and if I hadn’t had to leave for my flight that afternoon, I would have loved to actually lay on the beach and get in the water.

I took the ferry back to Circular Quay and then walked back to my hotel to get my luggage before heading to the airport for my flight back to Christchurch.  This was my third time in the Sydney airport in about a week!

Overall, I had such an amazing time in Australia and I will remember this trip forever.  I got to see and experience so many cool and unique things and I am so grateful I was able to take this trip over my break.

On my third day in Sydney, I decided I would check out the beaches since it was such nice weather.  The beaches in Sydney, Bondi Beach being the most well-known, are famous for being great for surfing.  I took the bus to Bondi and spent the morning relaxing at the beach.  In the afternoon I decided I would do one of the coastal walks which goes between Bondi and Coogee beaches.

Bondi Beach

The walk is mostly on well paved sidewalks, but follows the coast and goes by a couple other beaches along the way.  It was a really beautiful walk along the water, although part was closed off due to construction so there was a detour through a cemetery.  It took a little less than two hours to reach Coogee Beach, so then I walked along the beach and then decided to catch the bus back to my hotel so I could shower and change.

That evening I walked back down to the Opera House so I could see it and the Harbour Bridge lit up at night.  Around sunset they have a short light show that projects on the side of the opera house, so I was able to see that which was pretty cool.

On my second day in Sydney I decided to take a day trip to the Blue Mountains.  It was only a 2 hour train ride away, so I packed a lunch and some snacks and took the train to Katoomba, a little town in the Blue Mountains.  From there, I didn’t have an exact plan of where I wanted to go, but I had looked up some hikes and knew that there was a place called Echo Point that has a beautiful view so I headed there first.  From Echo Point, you can see the three sisters, a famous rock formation on the side of the mountains.

View of the Three Sisters from Echo Point

After taking in the view for a few minutes I started down one of the trails.  Along the way, there were signs showing where you were and how long it would take to get to various places, so it was easy for me to know where I was going and gauge how much further I should go before heading back.  On the trail you go down quite a few stairs since you start at a higher elevation and then head down the side of the rocks into the forest.  There were several waterfalls that I went by, which were really beautiful, and I stopped at a few lookout points along the way.  Since I was on well marked trails with steps, the walk was not difficult at all.  Then, once I got to a fork where one way was a loop back to Echo Point, I decided to head back.

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The thing that I did not account for was what is called the Giant Stairway.  I had read about this online and had planned to go down it and then loop around and go up the Furber Steps, which are much less steep.  But, I hadn’t seen that path so I went the opposite way from Echo Point and went down the Furber Steps.  That meant that at the end of the hike I needed to go head back up via the Giant Stairway.  I quickly found out why it has this name.  After climbing about 900 steps and taking a couple breaks, I finally got back up to Echo Point.  From there, my legs were pretty tired and it was getting later in the afternoon, so I decided to get the train back to Sydney.

Here’s the awesome video that Diana made of the Australia trip while we were together:

On our third day of the Rock Tour, we were again woken up very early so that we could see the sunrise at King’s Canyon and do our hiking while it wasn’t so hot out.  The hike through the canyon was not too bad, with the only difficult part being the very steep stairs at the beginning.  The canyon was absolutely beautiful, and we made sure to stay far from the edge.

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My favorite thing that we saw that day, and possibly my favorite thing from the whole Rock Tour was the Garden of Eden.  This is a place in the middle of the canyon that always has water, even though it rains so rarely.  We climbed down the stairs and it was like being in a completely different climate.  There were so many more tropical plants and it was so much cooler – much different from all the red rock, sand, and desert plants we had seen during the last two days.  The water was so calm and quiet and it was nice being able to sit in the cool, peaceful garden surrounded by huge walls of red rock.

After heading back out of the Garden of Eden, we continued through the canyon and Damo pointed out different lizards and plants that we saw along the way.  There was even a plant that was over 500 years old!  Also, some of the rock that we saw in King’s Canyon had wave-like patterns because it was at one point the bottom of a river, so the sand had rippled and then put under pressure until it became solid rock.

After leaving the canyon, our destination for that night, Alice Springs, was a couple hours drive away.  We stopped for lunch and then at a camel farm.  Some people rode the camels and we got to see and pet them, which was a fun break from sitting on the bus.  That evening we got to Alice Springs and were all dropped off at our different hostels.  The first thing I did when I got there was take a nice long shower.  It felt so good to not have red sand all over me.

It was another long day, but a great end to our tour.  The next morning, Diana and I took the shuttle back to the Ayers Rock airport (about 5 hours away) and then flew to Sydney, where I would stay for a few more days.  Diana was heading back to Christchurch, so I said goodbye to her there.  She made an incredible video documenting the week and a half that we were travelling together, so I will post that in a separate post.

On our second day on the Rock Tour we were woken up at around 5 so that we could pack up, get ready for the day, and drive to watch the sunrise over Uluru and Kata Tjuta, another rock formation that is made up of 36 individual domes.  The sunrise was pretty and we were able to get over to Kata Tjuta and do a hike up and through the domes before it got too hot out, which was very fortunate.

Sunrise at Uluru

Our tour group ready to hike Kata Tjuta

The hike was not difficult at all, but the thing that got annoying was that there were tons of flies.  Every time we were out during the day in the Red Centre we basically had to keep waving our hands in front of our faces constantly or flies would land on your face or go into your mouth, even if you were wearing insect repellant.  This was slightly annoying, but definitely manageable to see such an incredible area.

Kata Tjuta

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On this day, Damo taught us more about the geology and formation of these huge rocks in the middle of the outback.  From what I can remember, basically, they formed hundreds of millions of years ago from sediment that was once a part of a quickly eroding mountain range.  There were large, deep rivers through the area at that time and deposited and buried the sediment at the different locations.  The sediment was put under so much pressure that it became solid rock, and then eventually was pushed up towards the surface of the Earth and eroded away until it became the rock formations we see today.

The interesting thing about Uluru is that the lines of the sedimentary rock are actually vertical.  This is because what we see is actually just one side of the rock that is now tipped on its side.  The way that it was pushed up was uneven and made it tilt over so that now we only see a small end poking up above the Earth’s surface.

After hiking through Kata Tjuta we drove a couple hours towards our next campsite, stopping along the way for lunch and to get firewood.  When Damo told us we would be stopping to get firewood, I thought he meant he would buy it.  But no, he pulled over on the side of the road and told us to go out and find pieces of dead trees that were thicker than our arms and bring them back to the bus.  We had to break apart some branches and drag big pieces of wood over to the trailer, but eventually we got enough wood that was up to his standards – quite an adventure!

That night we watched the sun set while Damo made a fire and cooked our dinner.  It was too bad that we didn’t have any marshmallows!  Again, we slept out in our sleeping bags and swags under the stars, and again I was able to fall asleep quite quickly.

After a nice relaxing day by the pool in Cairns, we woke up very early the next morning to go to the airport to catch a flight to Sydney and then to Ayers Rock (Uluru).  Once we landed in Uluru it was the early afternoon and we were picked up at the airport by Damo, our tour guide from the Rock Tours.  We loaded our suitcases into the trailer in back of the bus and first drove to the cultural center where the rest of our tour group was already.  We had a short amount of time there but were able to read some stories told by the aboriginal people who live in the area and learn more about why they consider Uluru and the other rock formations so sacred.

After everyone filled up their water bottles (the park requires each person to have at least 3 liters of water because it is so hot and dry), we drove to Uluru, the big red rock that you’ve probably seen on postcards or calendars depicting central Australia.  Damo led us around the base of the rock and told us some more creation stories that have been passed down by the aboriginals for thousands of years.  He pointed out areas where the men and women would meet and sit around fires or cook.  Because Uluru is considered so sacred, some areas we were not allowed to take photos of and it is considered disrespectful to climb the rock.

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Right now there is a path to climb up the rock, even with signs right next to it explaining why it is dangerous and disrespectful to climb on it.  We obeyed these signs, but other people sadly do not.  Damo told us that in the few cases where someone has tragically fallen and died at Uluru, the aboriginals feel so saddened that someone lost their life at a place with such significance that they will fly across the world to pay respects to those people at their funerals.

Also, in order to learn the details of the stories that have been passed down for so long, a person must earn the right to the knowledge.  Damo had been told the stories at the level of a small child because he is not an aboriginal and has not yet earned the ability to learn more.  He showed us a cave area with aboriginal drawings on the walls which was used to teach children how to navigate the area and live on their own.  After the teachers felt that the young adults had learned enough to survive, they would send them out to live in the outback alone for around three years, and this is a place where it might not rain for months or years at a time so just getting fresh water is extremely difficult.  I would definitely not be able to survive for long!

After walking around Uluru, we drove to a lookout area where Damo made dinner and we could watch the sunset.  The rock was really beautiful with the changing light and we could see Kata Tjuta, another rock formation which we would visit the next day, as well.  After the sun set, the stars began to come out and because we were out in the middle of nowhere, we were able to see so many more than I am used to.  It was pretty incredible.  Diana, an astronomy major, was able to point out some constellations and I was excited to be able to actually see the Milky Way for the first time.

Kata Tjuta in the distance

That night we drove to our campsite and put out our sleeping bags and swags (basically big canvas sleeping bag covers with a foam bottom) so we could fall asleep under the stars.  I made sure to sleep in the middle of the group in case there were any snakes/spiders/other creatures that tried to get near us in the night.  Luckily, we were not bothered by anything at all!  After a shower at the surprisingly nice bathrooms, I was super tired and ready to go to sleep.

While we were in Australia, I found out about the Commonwealth Games, which is actually a pretty big deal there, especially since it is being held in Gold Coast, Australia this year.  We saw signs and people in uniforms in the airport and around Brisbane and Cairns, and I kept saying the way it’s advertised looks a lot like the Olympics.  Until going to Australia I had no idea what the games even were, so it was exciting that we happened to be in the right place at the right time to enjoy the festivities.

It turns out that the Commonwealth Games are a lot like the Olympics, but only for countries in the British Commonwealth.  They happen every four years and athletes from all over the world gather to compete in many different sports over a few weeks.  Because the games were being held in Queensland this year, many cities throughout the area were having festivals and celebrations.

In Cairns, there were fireworks on the opening night that we saw as we were being dropped off from our rainforest tour.  There were different bands and musical performances that would be happening each night for the next week, and the entire central area of Cairns had been decorated with art, tents for events, a stage, and giant televisions to watch the games.  We walked down on the opening night and sat out on the lawn to watch the opening ceremony.  Like the Olympics, there was a parade of nations and lots of musical performances, but instead of a torch they ran a baton holding a letter from the queen across all the countries before arriving in Australia.  Even though neither Norway (Diana’s from Norway) nor the US are part of the Commonwealth, it was still exciting to watch and we had fun cheering on New Zealand and Australia.

The next day we didn’t have anything planned so we decided to go down to the downtown area where there is the big public pool they call the Lagoon.  Since you can’t swim in the ocean because of crocodiles, Cairns has definitely been good about having alternatives for people to enjoy the beautiful views and cool down.  We spent a lot of the day by the Lagoon and there was a huge screen showing the Commonwealth Games all day, so we could watch competitive swimming while lounging by the pool, which is right next to the ocean – pretty much a perfect day to me!  Side note: I did have possibly the best bubble tea I have ever had from a place right next to the lagoon.  It was peach and passionfruit flavored, both of my favorites together!!

At night we came back to get dinner and sit and watch more of the games and listen to some of the performers.  It was a fun atmosphere and I enjoyed getting to experience how excited everyone was for the games.  Later on in the trip I tried to put on the Commonwealth Games in my hotel room at night so I could watch some of the rhythmic gymnastics, diving, track and field, and other sports that were being competed.

On our third day in Cairns, we went on a tour of the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation with Active Tropics Explorer.  We were picked up early in the morning and first drove about an hour and half on the bus to Mossman Gorge.  There, we went to the cultural center and learned a little about the aboriginal people who live in the area and then walked through a bit of the rainforest to the gorge, a small waterfall, and a very bouncy suspension bridge.  We didn’t have much time to change into swimsuits, so I didn’t want to get wet, but some people did swim in the river.  It was a really beautiful area though, so I could still appreciate the time we did spend there.

Our next stop was at the Daintree River, where we took a river cruise to try to spot some crocodiles.  We did see a few, and the boat driver was really good about spotting them and bringing the boat closer so we could all get a good view.  The whole trip our tour guide had been telling us stories of people who had been eaten by these crocodiles, so we were all careful to stay inside the boat.  You definitely don’t want to mess with these huge reptiles, but our tour guide did tell us “smart people don’t get eaten by crocodiles,” so as along as you’re not doing anything crazy you should be okay.

After crossing the river, we drove to Cape Tribulation to have lunch and enjoy the beach for a little bit.  Cape Tribulation is pretty remarkable because it’s the only place on Earth where two World Heritage Sites exist side by side, the Wet Tropics of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef.  The beach was very beautiful, but in Queensland you don’t really want to swim in the ocean because of the crocodiles.

Cape Tribulation beach

After lunch we drove to the Mardja Boardwalk (which means Rainforest Boardwalk in the language of the aboriginal people who live there).  Our tour guide took us on a walk and told us about a lot of the plants and animals that live in the Daintree Rainforest, which is actually the oldest rainforest in the world.  He pointed out trees that grow long tubes that are filled with clean water, giant ginger plants that are ten times stronger than the ginger that we use for cooking, small ants that apparently taste like lemon (although I did not test this), and many other interesting plants and animals.

This plant was fascinating because of it’s shape.  It’s a strangler fig, which, as you can imagine, strangles another tree.  It grew around the tree until it’s roots hit the ground, the tree began to fall over, and then the inside tree died and rotted away, leaving just the strangler fig’s interesting shape with lots of holes.

On the way back to Cairns we stopped to get ice cream and then went to a beautiful lookout area before driving back a couple hours to drop everyone back off.  It was a fully packed day, but we got to see a lot of different parts of Queensland and learn a ton about why the area is so significant.