Sydney (by foot)

These last five days have been all about walking around Sydney and exploring the city. But first I had to get here. I took the train from Adelaide to Sydney and enjoyed all 24 hours of it.

Indian Pacific

I was supposed to be in  day-nighter seat (read:  cheap) but decided that my lack of a view out the window, which was the whole reason for taking the train, made the upgrade to a cabin worth it. Happy birthday to me! They had a last minute deal that made it a lot cheaper than what I would have paid initially, and it was great! I ended up having a cabin to myself and an actual bed for the night. I had great views for the whole trip and actually slept at night.

So when I got into Sydney the next morning I was pretty well rested and was ready to tackle the big city. I realized that this was the first time I've had to fend for myself in a big city. It was a little overwhelming at first, but after I got out and started walking around I got used to the layout of the city pretty quickly.

Sydney

So I arrived in Sydney Saturday morning and spent that afternoon walking through the botanic gardens and out to the lookout point of the harbour bridge and opera house. I stopped in the Art Gallery of NSW before heading back to the hostel that evening.

Sunday I got out of the city and took the train to Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains. Here I took a few short 1 hour loop tracks into the gorge and back out. I had planned on doing a longer loop but it wasn't easily accessible from the visitor's centre unless you had a car...
After I had had enough hiking I decided to head into town and ended up grabbing a slice of carrot cake before heading to the park-where I think half the town was on that beautiful winter day-and had my cake and then took a nap in the park! It felt great!

Monday I walked everywhere! (And two days later I'm still paying the price) I walked through the botanic gardens once more to the opera house and then out to the bridge. The Pylon Lookout wasn't open yet, so I walked across the bridge and back. Once the pylon was open, I went on the self-guided tour and got some great views of the city from the top of the pylon closest to the opera house. It's only about one story below the top of the bridge (which you can climb if you're crazy and have some cash to spare).
After the lookout I headed to the Museum of Contemporary Art, grabbed some lunch at the argyle markets, and then made my way over to the Sydney Film Festival to see Creation, which was amazing! It's all about Darwin writing On the Origin of Species and the mental, and subsequently physical, issues he had to battle through while writing it. The screenwriter was there and fielded questions after the movie.
After the movie I walked around The Rocks and tried to get some views of the city at sunset, and then walked back to the hostel via the main tourist drag of the city.

I guess I should mention that the hostel I'm staying at is in Kings Cross, which is the red light district of Sydney. It's been interesting.....my hostel isn't in the crazy part of the area (thank god) and it's been kind of interesting to see another part of the city. I took a walk to the other side this morning for breakfast and it still seems fine and safe and all, just filled with adult shops! My hostel is also predominantly filled with German guests, which has been great since Germany beat Australia in soccer this week.

Tuesday I walked over to Darling Harbour, and stopped at St. Mary's Cathedral on the way, to go to the Aquarium. It's a really nice aquarium with lots of underwater tunnels and was a nice variation from the one in Perth which focused solely on the west coast of Australia.
After the aquarium I had my picnic lunch at Darling Harbour before trying to go find the fish market. My map doesn't really include this area, and so I got lost pretty fast. But I did stumble onto a great little cake shop to make myself feel better, and get some directions!
That afternoon I headed back to the botanic gardens for some down time in the park with a good book as I was exhausted from all the walking.

Today (Wednesday) I took the ferry out to Manly thinking this would be a relaxing day at the beach. But what do I end up doing? Walking. I decided to walk the Manly Scenic Walk and spent the first four hours of the day walking along the coast. It was gorgeous and I'm glad I did it, but I'm so tired! My feet don't approve of my broken Chucks as walking shoes and my hips make me feel like an old woman, but I'm just too restless to stay on the beach all day.
I made it out to the beach though in the afternoon and found a great lookout spot above the beach with great views of the ocean. It was here that a woman came out to the lookout area with binoculars and told me about the whales that were there! The migratory season has started and the tour boats where right off the coast. She saw the whales through her binoculars and I saw the spouts of water after they came up for air. A little while later the postman came out here, too as he heard the whales were back and was telling me about how they normally don't come this close to Manly. He said in September all the locals head several kilometers down the coast, bring picnic lunches and lawn chairs, and watch the whales migrate from off the farther down cliffs. He said one year you could see three pods all at once!
I took the ferry back to Sydney in early evening to get some night views of the city, and then made the long walk back to the hostel. Now I'm getting ready for my flight to Tasmania tomorrow morning, which will be a welcome break from the big city!