Sydney is Awesome!

I had three days in this wonderful city and I certainly made the most of them! A friend said it was like London meets San Francisco – it is! It’s bustling and charming with tons of things to do and a lot to see that’s easy to access. Though I probably never will, I could definitely see myself living here if I had the Australian salary to afford it :)

Intermission at the Sydney Opera House

I arrived at 11am on an overnight bus from Byron Bay and within an hour, I was at the very iconic Sydney Opera House, buying a ticket for the afternoon show! It felt like it was kismet… Turandot was the one opera I had always wanted to see because of the song Nessun Dorma and it was here in Sydney! To me, Nessun Dorma is the quintessential aria and to get to see it in basically the quintessential opera house was incredible! I got to use my student ID and ended up with near-center orchestra seat for $55 instead of the usual $215 too! I spent the rest of the day blissfully wandering the streets of Sydney seeing Circular Quay and Chinatown and (literally) everything in between :)

In Sydney, for $21 you can buy a day pass valid for transport on all trains, buses, and ferries. I think I got about $50 worth out of the pass with a trip to the Blue Mountains, a ferry ride from Parramatta to the Sydney Harbor, a bus trip from Circular Quay to Bondi Beach and back, and a ferry to Manly Beach and back. The Blue Mountains – having no relation to Blue Mountain coffee – are a mountainous area about two hour outside of Sydney. The area is beautiful with tons of hiking trails and the famous Three Sisters view from Echo Point:

I was thrilled to be able to see the view and hike to the Wentworth Falls without paying for an overpriced tour to do so. Win! Still a bit beached out, I didn’t leave much time for Bondi or Manly, but the time I did spend on Bondi made me want more.

If i ever come back, I just might have to do a surfing lesson because the surfers looked like they were having a ton of fun. Incidentally, it’s pronounced “bon-die” as opposed to “bon-dee”… I never actually said it right while in Sydney :)

The night ferry ride to Manly was probably one of the highlights of my three days in Sydney.

last photo before my camera died...

I sat at the back of the ferry and as it pulled farther away from the Sydney Harbor, I got the picture perfect view of the Sydney Opera House against the Sydney Harbor Bridge. I got the mental picture at least… it was a bit cold out and my camera battery died before I could take an actual picture. It was just magical though and not something I’ll ever forget!

On my last day in Sydney, I was on a pretty spectacular all-day tour that checked off all the things I definitely wanted to do in Australia. First stop was at a wildlife sanctuary where I got to pet a kangaroo and swoon at two ridiculously adorable koala bears!

So cute! We weren’t able to touch the koalas because one had just had a baby; it was therefore very protective and testy apparently. The other one had been over-pet because of the other one’s pregnancy, so she was testy too. The kangaroos were soft though! I didn’t get to see them box, but that’s something to look forward to one day :)

After a chocolate tasting, we visited several wineries in the Hunter Valley region. I didn’t much like the wine from a boutique winery (even though their wines are supposed to be more pure and healthy than the big commercial wineries), but the view was great!

I really enjoyed the wine from McGuigan’s, "World's Best Winemaker," but couldn’t justify carrying a bottle for the next few months. They have apparently won the top rank at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in London several times. (I wouldn’t want it for myself but for someone back home…) They do exports to the US though, so I am determined find it! (Jojo, if you see a McGuigan’s Traminer Riesling, I think you’d love it!) I Did get two picolos from the last winery because they only sell their wines at the vineyard and nowhere else. (I’m not sure how, but with the wine and some other things, I’ve added five pound to my pack and am now at 19kgs!)

Leaving Sydney was slightly stressful only because my transport there was late. I had been traveling all the way from Cairns on a hop-on-hop-off Greyhound bus pass – traveling was easy and I had a ton of flexibility. I was using my very last ticket to get to the airport. The buses were not late once the entire time I traveled except the one time I needed it to be on time to get to the airport. My (international) flight was scheduled for 1:15pm and the bus was originally going to get me to the airport at 11:15am. The bus didn’t show up until 11:15am (!) and then I sat stressing out while the driver took his break and stood there chatting with people and having a cigarette. Gah! I made it on time and even had a minute to enjoy a pie from the famous Harry’s Café de Wheels. Actually, I had to eat the pie before security because though I had asked if my mashed potatoes and peas would be allowed through (yes), they had gravy on them…. I had the signature Tiger pie from Harry’s – a beef pie with mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy on to. Good stuff, if you like pies… (Pictured here: http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1C1_____enUS411US411&biw=1024&bih=475&tbm=isch&tbnid=afsnTOYOHYy0NM:&imgrefurl=http://www.thefoodpornographer.com/2010/03/24/curry-tiger-pie-harrys-cafe-de-wheels-haymarket-sydney/&docid=90uX2JTRceCEoM&imgurl=http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4446993176_76a8bcceda.jpg&w=500&h=375&ei=Iq5OT6yZG6ejiAfRnIVQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=341&sig=105326899021656049553&page=1&tbnh=131&tbnw=170&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=86&ty=85 I didn't chance a photo at airport security) :)

Next stop: Aotearoa – New Zealand!

Beach Bummin' and Brisbane!

Before I got to Australia, the two things I definitely wanted to do were dive the great barrier reef and sail the Whitsundays. Done!

The Mandrake

The Whitsundays are a group of 74 islands that form the Whitsunday National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Region. The islands are amazing! I set sail from Airlie beach aboard the Mandrake and spent the next two days sailing this magical place. I had heard from several people that Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island is a must-see. It is!

view from Hill Inlet Lookout

I hiked up to the Hill Inlet lookout to see stunning views of the swirling sands and then a little while later, I was on what might possibly be the most beautiful beach in the world (Whitehaven Beach). Beautiful blue water and sparkling white (99% silica) sand make this place its own little paradise.

I would definitely love to get back here one day. Another highlight was hiking on Hayman Island, a privately owned island with hotel stays starting at around $4000/night! (They have their own seaplane to fly guests in and out of the resort!) A small part of the island has a public-access beach and from there, I did a hike to see a really beautiful sunset.

One minute later and we would have missed it! We snorkeled off the island the next morning – Blue Pearl Bay – and with tons of coral and the biggest napoleon wrasse I’ve ever seen, it was the best snorkeling I’ve done in Australia!

It was a truly amazing experience that I think everyone can appreciate. Our skipper aboard the Mandrake was a bit of an ass, but apparently that goes with the territory. :)

Lately, I’ve had A LOT of sun and as a result, am the darkest I’ve ever been in my life. I’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather because apparently it is cyclone season (and jellyfish season) and those days sailing were just perfect with no rain or stingers :) But if I’m being honest, I’m a little sick of the sunshine and have had less appreciation for some of the beach towns I’ve been visiting than I should have. In Agnes Water for instance, I arrived in town on an overnight bus, bummed around the town (that didn’t really have anything to see), and then spent an hour or two on the beach until a sand fly started bothering me. I spent most of my time and energy in the grocery store trying to figure out what I could eat that would cost the least while feeding me the most meals. I bought some stuff to make sandwiches and a kilo of carrots because it was on sale for $0.80! (The sandwiches were a good idea, but I ended up carrying those damn carrots all the way to Sydney!) I made five sandwiches in total but only got to eat four of them – someone in my Rainbow Beach hostel stole one :(

Rainbow Beach

Rainbow Beach: Another beach town. I went to the beach and sat in the shade. I was pretty bored after an hour and went exploring to the nearby Carlo Sand Blow. The Carlo Sand Blow is a massive sand dune that sits at the top of a hill, surrounded by trees. This, too, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, though not so impressive, was a nice change of pace from the beach.

Carlo Sand Blow

Mooloolaba: Pronounced mah-LOU-luh-buh, I was told this place was awesome. It was okay – another beach town. I walked to the beach and didn’t even stay for five minutes. It was Valentine’s Day and so instead of bumming around the beach for the third day in a row, I treated myself to $6 worth of Internet, a coke slurpee, and a large dominoes pizza. I wasn’t particularly sad to be spending the day by myself or anything, but I somehow ended up eating that entire pizza :)

Brisbane: Being in Brisbane was like a breathe of fresh air. A city! I love cities! Or rather, I like places where there’s more to do than just go to the beach. :) I realize I’m not a relaxed enough person to want to spend more than a day or so just hanging out on the beach so this was definitely a nice change of pace. I started the morning off with a free tour of the botanical gardens. The lady was very nice and had some really cool photos of what the park looked like when it was flooded last year. But, when she kept going on about the ficus, I left to explore on my own. (Who cares about ficus'?) I was able to explore a lot of the city on foot, walking everywhere from the Kangaroo Cliffs, through South Bank, and to the Central Business District.

A lot of cities in Australia that don't have their own beach (or have beaches full of stingers) have these cool lagoons were people can just hang out and swim for free! This is Brisbane's version at South Bank Park.

I actually liked Brisbane a lot – it was one of the first cities I could actually see myself happily living in. Highlight: Having a few beers with friends from my Antarctica trip and learning that “pitcher” is called “jug” here :)

Surfers Paradise: Unfortunately, I didn’t even have a whole day here. As I got on the bus heading from Brisbane to Surfers Paradise, I realized I’d left my passport back at the hostel. Damn! Had to run back to get it, missed my bus, and arrived in the evening in Surfers Paradise. I spent an hour on the beach in the morning and then had to leave soon after to catch a bus to Byron Bay. The beach in Surfers Paradise was beautiful though – cool, refreshing water with really soft white sand. I also happen to really like the skyscrapers along the beach:

Byron Bay: 7 hours in this town – planned. Accommodation was too expensive here ($30+ for a dorm bed) so I spent time on a beautiful beach and did the gorgeous lighthouse walk with amazing views of the area. I was storing my stuff at a place that closed at 6:30 so for two and a half hours, I sat waiting for my bus. Although I did everything I wanted to in Byron Bay, it wasn't nearly enough time - I definitely have to get back here someday.

...one of the views from the lighthouse walk

On Food: In Brisbane, I stumbled upon this amazing farmer’s market on Queen’s St. that seemed to be a true test of willpower. I guess I both passed and failed. Mangoes went on sale – 10 for $5!!! I wanted them so so bad but I was still lugging around bread and carrots, I couldn’t possibly carry 10 mangoes too. But, one mango was $2 and you can’t pay $2 for one mango when you know you can pay $5 for 10! Bah! I had to say no and here I sit, unfortunately mango-less. They were selling ½ kilo/1 kilo bags of produce though – 1 bag for $2 or five bags for $5. This time I couldn’t resist. I got a kilo of potatoes, onions, apples, string beans, and garlic. Then I had to go to the store to buy more food to cook with: Milk, butter, and chicken. I ended up making (and having to carry) enough food for five meals. I looked ridiculous shuttling my stuff from one place to another giving a whole new definition to “the bag lady.” Oh the joys of budget travel :)

Mashed potatoes, green beans, and chicken :)

Down Under!

I’m 25 years old and have officially made it to all seven continents! Woohoo!! (On this trip, Australia is technically #6 since I don’t get to Europe until April… but I’m on my way!)

Darwin: I had the best introduction to Australia I could have asked for! There’s not too much to see in Darwin itself, but I spent a lot of time with my couchsurfing host – he was awesome! Darwin marks my first official couchsurfing experience and it was more than I could have ever hoped for. Couchsurfing is a web site in which individuals have a profile, post pictures, and offer free accommodation to other travelers. Travelers give each other references so you can get a sense as to whether or not someone is legitimate… their place is clean… etc. It was very hard to explain this to my mom and my aunt but I guess the idea of emailing a stranger and asking if I can stay at his house just isn’t that weird to me anymore. :) Greg, my host, picked me up from the airport, drove me around the city so that I could see more of Darwin, and gave me my own room to sleep in. Though he refused to let me buy him dinner as a thank you, it was really nice sitting at Stokes Hill Wharf watching sunset and enjoying a seafood dinner :)

Yes, I am!

I wandered around Darwin by myself the next day…. doing the heritage walk and learning that just three weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Darwin was attacked by the very same Japanese fleet. The city was attacked 62 times in total! There are WWII oil storage tunnels to see here as well as an American B-52 bomber. I didn’t make it to the storage tunnels or the aviation museum, but I did take the Heritage Walk around Darwin seeing the sites have survived all the bombings and a devastating cyclone in the ‘70s. That night, Greg made us dinner and I got to try kangaroo for the first time!

I wish my time hadn’t been so short in Darwin, but I’m really looking forward to visiting again and maybe perhaps venturing out to the famous Litchfield or Kakadu!

Cairns: I left Darwin at 345am to catch an early flight to Cairns. I had to move my clock forward a half hour when I arrived. So strange! I didn’t know time zones could shift in half hour increments! When I got to Darwin, I was officially 17.5 hours ahead of California, but now I’m 18 hours ahead. About Cairns… I don’t really have much of an impression of the city – it’s the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and I was able to book a 3day/2night liveaboard diving trip within an hour of arriving at my hostel. The city caters to backpackers and I was able to find the cheapest accommodation I’ve seen in Australia. I stayed in an 8-bed female dorm for $12 AUD/night! Most hostels also give you a voucher for a free dinner – I definitely took advantage of my free spaghetti bolognese and it wasn’t half bad! Like Darwin, there doesn’t seem to be much in Cairns either. I at least didn’t see much of the city, but it didn’t help that it poured rain all day long.

I love giant clams!

ProDive Liveaboard: I agonized a bit over choosing which company to dive with, but I supposedly ended up with the best of the best: ProDive. They designed their boats specifically with diving in mind and though 11 dives in three days is a lot, it was a great time! The entire trip, you are eating, sleeping, or diving – it’s a really different way of living than I’m used to. Since getting certified, I’ve wanted to dive the Great Barrier Reef but fresh off of diving Sipadan, I wasn’t so impressed initially. Unfortunately, parts of the Great Barrier Reef are dead/dying because of tourists who damage the reef. But, it’s just so massive that there are still really beautiful parts of it. I loved Flynn’s Reef in particular - it was so colorful and alive with tons of fish, coral, and swimthroughs.

Seeing sharks and turtles will always be exciting for me too! I got to feed a turtle this time! It was a hawksbill turtle... it bit my finger and it kind of hurt, but I’d never had a turtle in such close proximity before! Worth it!

I’ve also realized that although I am an advanced diver approaching 50 dives, I have zero capacity to navigate underwater. The dives were unguided so it was just me and my dive buddy Sarah who turned out to be just as bad at navigating as I am. Our first dive, we surfaced super far from the boat and had to get picked up by the zodiac/rescue boat. After that (and being teased a lot), we’d have to pop up pretty much every dive to make sure we knew where the boat was. Even if we had to swim a ways, we always made it back to the boat after that :)

When we were lost on one of our dives, we stumbled upon this friendly eel....

Normally they peek out and swim away, this one posed for many, many pictures.

Bowen: I took an overnight bus from Cairns to Bowen the day I got back from the dive trip. I purchased a Greyhound hop on hop off bus ticket that’ll get me from Cairns to Sydney – about 3700km down the east coast of Australia. Anyway, Bowen sucked. I walked to one hostel in the blistering heat and it was closed! It was a working hostel that had closed for the season. I walked uphill to another hostel and the guy said that because I was coming from Cairns, I’d have to wash all my things in case I was transporting bed bugs. Hot, tired, and grumpy, I didn’t want to deal with this so I ended up booking a bus ticket to the next town – Airlie Beach. I spent the day bumming around Bowen, seeing nothing, and just waiting to get out of there. Wikitravel says that Bowen is perhaps the “best kept secret of the East coast.” Lies! This sign was in the bathroom - it just epitomizes Bowen for me:

I was very happy to catch the bus to Airlie Beach, the gateway to the incredibly beautiful Whitsunday Islands :)

Next Up: Sailing the Whitsundays and Beach Bummin'!

Malaysia Truly Asia

Kuala Lumpur: I parted ways with my family in Singapore to catch a six-hour bus to Kuala Lumpur. (Because of traffic in Jakarta, I actually made it to Kuala Lumpur before my Aunt and Uncle made it home!) I left myself really only a day for KL and I was mighty efficient with my time. I walked everywhere! Starting with Chinatown and Petaling Street, I continued to the Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square), the botanical gardens, the national monument, the orchid and hibiscus gardens, the national mosque, the Menara KL Tower, Suria KLCC, the Petronas Towers, and finally followed the malls on Bukit Bintang back to my hostel.

fancy mall in KL

United Buddy Bears - Surrounding the Pavilion Mall

They are meant to symbolize tolerance and unity;

every country had one. The US bear was painted as the

Statue of Liberty. Egypt's bear was painted like a pharaoh.

Afghanistan's bear had a weeping mother and son...

Long, exhausting day, but I saw everything I wanted to see in KL! I first visited KL in 2007 on a tour booked through Semester at Sea. I remembered going up the Petronas Towers (so I didn’t go up this time), but I had no recollection of the city tour we took. It was a really odd feeling to stumble upon the National Monument and realize that I had been before – I just never knew that what I saw in 2007 was, in fact, the National Monument.

Probably disappointing to read, but the two meals I had in KL were McDonald’s and KFC. That McDonald’s was Amazing though, and by far the cheapest one I’d ever been to!

Weirdest sand I've ever seen... (@ Tanjung Aru).

When I looked closely, I could see tiny crabs digging

up the sand to make these tiny balls

- the sand balls covered the entire beach!

Kota Kinabulu: This city annoyed me. It was hot all the time with tons of mosquitoes. I got started off on a sour note and things didn’t really improve all that much. I had read about an airport bus that comes (at no set schedule) approximately every hour. Because it was 1.50 Ringgit for the bus versus 30 Ringgit for a taxi, I decided to wait. After an hour, the bus literally blew by me without even slowing down. I ended up taking a taxi and feeling super unhappy about it. I think I was also generally annoyed in Kota Kinabulu because I had so many days in a city where there wasn’t much to do. I went to the rather unimpressive Sunday market on Gaya Street, visited the local Tanjung Aru beach where it started pouring rain, and spent time with other tourists at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park.

I will admit that the marine park was definitely worth a visit. I went to just one of the seven islands – Sapi Island – and had a whole afternoon to relax in the sun and sneak a few glances at a creepy-looking monitor lizard scavenging for food.

Kota Kinabulu, btw, had decent food… One night, I played it safe with a delicious seafood noodle soup from 5 Star Hainanese Chicken Restaurant:

and then was a little more adventurous at Yee Fong’s with a claypot chicken and rice:

The Best Diving Ever (!!!): I flew from Kota Kinabulu to Tawau and met Jojo while we were still on the runway. Her flight had been delayed just long enough so that we landed at the same time. :) We took a taxi 50km away to Semporna, the base from which we would spend three days diving Sipadan and the surrounding islands.

We spent the first day diving Mataking and Timba Timba – Turtles galore!

I think in one dive I counted nine different turtle sightings. We also saw a massive 1.5m barracuda. The next day, we dove off Mabul Island…more turtles, eels, stingrays, and crocodile fish, schools of jackfish, and a jumping frog fish! Our last day diving was reserved for Sipadan!

I’d never seen a shark before so seeing about five of them on the first dive was exciting! Seeing 15-20 of them on the second dive was even better!!

But finding devil rays and hammerheads on the third dive was just unbelievable!

We were swimming out into the blue (away from the reef) and were already starting to surface when one of the dive leaders starts going crazy and, as she bangs on her tank, starts diving deeper and deeper. Hammerheads!!!

Two of them came swimming at me really fast before making an abrupt turn away… very scary… but So cool! I’d never felt so excited about diving before this day. It was just incredible! In 200 dives, one of the dive leaders had only seen hammerheads once so we were extremely lucky. The last dive was just icing on the cake with sightings of a school of about 1000 jackfish, a school of hundreds of barracuda, and a school of the bumphead parrotfish.

Barracudas!

Bumphead Parrotfish

Jojo and I would both definitely come back to dive Sipadan, but as we were talking about it, we realized that almost nothing could top this. *sigh*

To celebrate that night, we returned to a Malaysian seafood restaurant we had tried a few days ago. They allow you to bring in your own drinks so on impulse, we bought all the varieties of Es Cincau (grass jelly drink) on offer at the store and systematically taste-tested each one at the restaurant.

Other patrons and the wait staff thought we were nuts – you could see the looks on their faces but we didn’t care. It was the best diving trip I could have asked for and I’m so happy Jojo was there to share this amazing experience with me :)

So I've got five more months of traveling… who else is joining me?! :)

Happy Valentine's Day btw! <3