Sydney again

Poor me...

After I arrived in Sydney I went directly to Circular Quay...
...and took the ferry to Manly.
Everywhere...
And yes, I saw something on the way back.

Phu, after this cake I was not feeling very well...

Sunset.

On the evening I met Leese (I contacted her via HC) She showed me a really nice rooftop beer garden in "the Rocks". I'm sure you can't find this is a secret spot without the knowledge of a local. The view was great.

The winner is...

Good start into 9/11. The winner of my short cafe test serial is... (I don't know the name...)

This tiny and nice store offers the stylest location in Katoomba. In addition you get the best breakfast with handmade jam while listening to jazz music.
I also want to point out, here you can read a lot of climbing magazines and Heinz Zack books.

Sport and Chill

Today I rent me a bike. Yes, it was more expensive than two nights in the hostel :-) but it was worth the money. That's the "dirt" track:

This is the plateau I drove along.

The tour was not really a big challange but harder than expeacted. Most of the ups and downs are not easy to tackle.

Resume: All in all a nice ride trough the Blue Mountains National Park.

After I've made the "day tour" in three hours :-) was a lot of time left to check out the cafes in town. I was able to test some of them. Wow, I'm quite awake now.

Tomorrow in the morning I'll drive back to Sydney - enough sport for the next days.

...

Blue Mountains / Kurranda

Stay ahead for the world leaders...
Ok, I packed my bag in Sydney and caught the train to the Blue Mountains. After a generous breakfast in Surry Hills of course!

I arrived in Katoomba, one of the major cities in the Blue Mountains around midday. I didn't expect such a lovely town, no I must say I'm in paradise. Some nice cafes along the main street and I think it's the centre of mountaineering in New South Wales.

I went into the first mountain equipment shop to inform about the area. The region offers plenty of rock climbing and mountainbike possibilitys! Did I say I'm in paradise?

At the guys at home: Now is the time to pack your stuff and come over! PS: Please take my bike with you! (de wissn scho wos fuers Radl herleichn verlonga kinnan...)


Every year 3 million people come to visit the Blue Mountains (especially the "Three Sisters") - so I saw approximately 8.219,17 people today :-) - but despite this mass tourism it's pretty easy to escape. Just walk down the giant stairways and you are far away from everthing else.

I did a midrange hike (run) around the walls - I was able to do it in around three hours despite my lousy shoes. Along the way: pure fascination.

Yes, I took a lot of pictures but most of them are pretty bad (wrong light). I tried to put in the best ones....


Perhaps it sounds a bit stupid but the YHA Hostel in Katoomba is the best I've ever seen.

Sydney

About 10 am - the longest sleep in of the whole trip, who would belive me that?! - we started a big sightseeing tour. Aehm Maxl: around the royal botanic gardens you would be able to check out some boulders...
I think the city was because of the APEC Meeting completely diffrent on this day. Nearly all streets were dead.

I my opinon the city is really contrary, on the one hand are the skyscrapers and the really huge buildings, on the other hand are the nice older houses. But anyway, it was really nice.

And they can't deny the english style - example shopping centre...

On the evening Satus sister arrived and we tried to find a nice bar...

Today in the morning we went to a lovely district called "Surry Hills". That's the place were Brett Whiteley, a famous Austrealian Artist, has his studios. How did we find this place? A real funny story: Satu met the gardener of his wife in the plain. Next to the studio was an other nice cafe...
Unfortunately the Finish sisters left me to travel home :-( Special thanks for joining me Satu, it was more than a pleasure!

Where the rainforrest meets the outback

Yesterday I rent a car and made together with Satu a trip trough the hinterland of Cairns (Atherton Tableland).
We saw a lot of impressive landscapes, especially the colours were amazing.

We also visited the "Coffee Works".... The region is probably famous for its coffee and chocolate production.
I let the pictures tell...


We drove around Lake Tinaroo on a gravel road...


Along the way I saw a road sign - Rex is actually everywhere famous... Afternoon we went to an extrem danger area - the boulders in the middel of the rainforrest.

On the evening we took the flight to Sydney - not an easy change from the quiet countryside to the really busy area around Kings Cross.
Thanks to my guide, with its help we found this ingenious tiny cafe next to our hostel.

Sydney, we are prepared.

Great Barrier Reef / Cairns

Today in the morning the ocean had called again.
The only way to see the Great Barrier Reef is to dive, so I took the chance of a last last last minute booking an did it again! The course through the high waves to the outer reef was pretty hard - I nearly lost my breakfast....

Normally I'm not a water freak but I'm in front of the fucking Great Barrier Reef!!!!
I never had though that diving is so easy... (with a guide of course :-)) Thanks for the inspiration Helmi and Gerd!!!