Sydney to Canberra

Our campsite in Sydney’s suburb of Dural had set us back a rather brutal $40 but at least there was a bus stop directly opposite to allow us to get into town. Annoyingly we then had to shell out on a second $40 on another night so we could leave the van in the park as there didn't appear to be anywhere nearby which offered all day parking. Sydney was already proving to be rather expensive. An hour after leaving Dural we arrived in the heart of Sydney where we followed the usual protocol when arriving in a major city and boarded the sightseeing bus. Within an hour of our arrival in Sydney we could tick the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Darling Harbour and the Sydney Tower off our list of famous landmarks. As always we would be exploring these later on foot but the tour gave us a pretty good grasp of the city as well as more information than a mere Lonely Planet can manage.

Our packed out tour bus



The sightseeing company offered a second route round the city but a combination of hunger and wind (more of an issue for Linz and her hair) forced us off the bus. Lunch came courtesy of a food court in the heart of the CBD which is clearly meant for those in the office buildings around it to get a cheap meal. The food court was packed to such an extent that the burger place we chose were so overwhelmed with people they forgot to charge me. I hung around for long enough to ensure they weren’t going to ask for any money before moving on. Due to a complete lack of seating we chose to eat on the floor which only cost a few odd looks from the business types walking around us. On the walk back to the sightseeing bus I gave my unwanted Coke to a homeless man which I felt made up for effectively stealing my lunch.

The Harbour Bridge on a pretty perfect day in Sydney

The second circuit of the city would travel east to the famous Bondi Beach. Although we both knew of this beach in advance of our travels neither of us actually realised it was in Sydney as much further up the east coast we found ourselves searching through our various maps to confirm we hadn’t already gone past it. We had an alternative motive to taking this second tour of the city as we had hoped to scout out a suitable parking spot around Bondi, and possibly a cheaper accommodation option, so we wouldn’t have to pay for a third night at the $40 campsite.

Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach was surprisingly small which came as more of a shock to Linz as the only one of us to ever commit to TV shows such as “Bondi Vet”. It was rather overcast but it was still fun to wander round the shops before venturing further from the beach in search of parking. After a thorough hunt we threw in the towel but had actually come up with a better plan although it did involve a third night for $40. The drive back into the city centre offered us a spectacular view of the skyline and bridge at sunset as we passed over a hill in another of the suburbs. We had to be back at the campsite before 7pm to be able to pay for another night so left after the tour and we soon back in Dural.

The city skyline from the tower to the Harbour Bridge

I realise it wasn’t that long ago that I was talking you through car parking stories in Brisbane so I’ll keep Sydney’s issue considerably shorter. We had established that the $40 site was the cheapest option but now, being the weekend, there was no bus into town so we had to take the train. However, irritatingly it wasn't until after we had paid for our third night that the lady on reception told us that there was free parking in the train station so we could have got away without it. Anyway, we decided to go and investigate the train station in advance and having found it were very pleased to see a lack of high restriction to powered in. It became very clear that it should have had a height restriction warning. There were a few spaces available by the entrance but beyond that we were stuck meaning the only way for us to get out was through the entrance which is immediately on a busy intersection. Consequently we had to time our car park break out with the traffic lights or else we would have been stuck a while. So it appears I was unable to keep that from being long winded and boring but the point of it all was we had somewhere to park provided we were prepared to bend a couple of laws.

Our double-decker train pulling in

The next morning we were up early to catch the 7:30am train into town as we needed to ensure we got the few spaces available to us in the car park and also so we could make the most of the day. Our first day had been a bit of a research trip given that all we did was do the bus tours and look for car parking so today was planned out to one of our biggest sightseeing day of our travels. Having arrived in the city centre, thanks to our double-decker train, we found it completely dead. It seems no one gets up in Sydney on a Saturday morning giving the place a strange “28 Days Later” effect.

A completely deserted Sydney at around 8am on a Saturday

Our first stop was the Opera House which we could enjoy in perfect cloudless weather and offered great views over to the bridge on the other side of the harbour. Contrary to popular belief the harbour is not actually called Sydney Harbour but is in fact still officially called Port Jackson from the colonial days. The Opera House is an undeniably impressive looking building which has been likened to everything from sea shells to horny turtles, designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon following a worldwide competition in 1957. The building wasn't completed until 1973 after the construction to overcome incredible design problems which arose due to its groundbreaking form. Given that the Opera House is still as 1970s building it can’t help but show off large amounts of concrete which you can’t help but see from close up. In addition, even though being covered in over a million hand placed ceramic tiles is very impressive, from close up they do just appear to be bathroom wall tiles. Maybe B&Q had a sale on.

We both took it in turns to shamelessly pose in front of the Opera House

We opted to go on a guided tour of the inside of this great building rather than just stand outside. Our guide called Steve was particularly good as he really did care about the building and the shows performed within, and he was easy to hear, despite the large group we were in, as we each had wireless headphone to hear him through. I can’t help but think back to the days of China where it seemed tours could only be lead by people with megaphones. Unknown to us the Opera House actually has the main auditorium, a second slightly smaller auditorium, three drama studios and can even stage events on the steps out the front.

The largest auditorium used for musical events from International
orchestras to the Foo Fighters and even a one of sumo wrestling match

Steve was so good at his spiel that we were even convinced to buy tickets to a show called Terminus in one of the drama theatres which we would see the following evening. On our way out we were suddenly hit by a horde of Celtic fans who had arrived in town as the club were due to play the Central Coast Mariners later on as part of their pre-season tour of Australia. The Opera House is usually associated with classical, however the singing Celtic fans broke this tradition with various chants and songs creating quite an atmosphere outside the building. I can’t imagine they were in quite such high spirits that evening after watching their team be beaten by the Mariners.

The Scots powering through a verse of "You'll Never Walk Alone"

After the Opera House we walked back into town towards Hyde Park but stopped on the way as we decided to pull into a free exhibition: World Press Photo 2011. The exhibition showed off images from photo journalists from around the world at all the major news stories of the last year from the Icelandic volcano to in the heart of Thai riots. We only intended to stop briefly but ended up staying for much longer as the photos were amazing and we found ourselves constantly wondering how these photographers get themselves into some of these locations.

Linz: Live in Hyde Park

We then walked through Hyde Park and past St Mary’s Cathedral to the Anzac Memorial in remembrance of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps members how had died in World War One. For some reason a group of weirdly dressed teens had grouped outside it performing some kind of strange dance to music I’d never heard before. I realise how old I just sounded. The memorial was very impressive from the outside but even on the inside there was more to see including thousands of gold stars positioned on the ceiling representing each individual soldier who had died.

Our busy day then took us to Sydney Tower which, although an easily recognisable part of the city’s skyline, isn’t one of the best looking towers we’ve seen. The views from the top were very good and allowed us to see other areas of the city that the bus the day before hadn’t included such as the Olympic Park and Sydney Cricket Ground.

From up the tower

We planned to eat dinner in the Darling Harbour area due to its high density of restaurants and bars but also wanted to see it during the day so headed over there after the tower. As we walked across the bridge, which passes over the centre of the harbour, we saw a notice about fireworks that evening so hoped to make it back in time. Other than a street performer who was unbearably cringe-worthy there was nothing particular to point out from our walk round the area, it was just generally a nice place to wander around. We couldn’t stay long as we had to get back to the Sydney Harbour Bridge by 4pm in time for our main activity of the day which would see us walk to the summit of the bridge.

Walking over Darling Harbour

The bridge climb hit us hard in the pocket but it was one of a few things which we had planned to do well in advance of starting the trip, so it was always going to happen. We were in a group of nine and firstly had to be kitted up including jumpsuits, head torches, gloves, hats, harnesses and assortment of various other attachments. There was nothing much to report from the group members except one of the guys had bought his girlfriend the trip on the bridge as an anniversary present. This sounds fine but it was their two month anniversary. What’s that about?

After a lot of preparation, mainly involving our individual radios used to hear our guide while on the bridge, we set off onto the catwalks which run underneath the traffic platform at 50 metres over the sea. The bridge is an incredible feat of engineering considering building began in 1923 but is an even more impressive example of foresight. The designer insisted, again overwhelming opposition, that it should be wide enough to fit eight lanes of traffic despite there only being five cars in existence on the other side of the bridge. The city is now grateful that he insisted on this as, ninety years later, it sees over 150,000 pass over it each day.

We couldn't take our own cameras so here's what we would have looked like

From the catwalks we passed above the traffic level and onto the lower arch and then up to the summit, on the upper arch, after about an hour. Every so often we would stop so that our guide could fill us in on some information or take photos of us. Of course when we got to the bottom we yet again paid for the souvenir photos, but it made sense seeing as you are not allowed to take you own camera in case you drop it. We even got to enjoy sunset from the bridge and then all the lights in the city coming on which was great, but a particularly interesting feature was the “black rainbow”. The 300 lights illuminating the bridge from below are so strong they cast a shadow of the bridge on the night’s sky, despite it being a completely clear evening, giving it this nickname. The walk back down was considerably quicker as rest breaks were less necessary and three hours after arriving at the base it was all over. Despite costing around £120 it was easily worth it and unquestionably one of the best things we had done so far.

Rather than walk back to Darling Harbour we opted for a taxi as we had already been exhausted before we did the bridge climb, but now were utterly knackered. I asked for Darling Harbour but the greedy driver took that to mean anywhere in Darling Harbour rather than the closest part, so consequently he took us right round the far side almost doubling the price. We found ourselves a spot on the bridge we had walked across earlier in the day for the fireworks where I got rather shutter happy and took far too many firework photos. I probably watched more of the display through my camera screen that not. When it had finished we found ourselves a restaurant to have dinner overlooking the waterfront. Darling Harbour looks even nicer at night but unfortunately I left having been pretty disappointed with my burger.

One of hundreds of similar photos I took

That was our last stop in what had been an extremely long day of sightseeing and we ended up getting back to Dural around sixteen hours after we left. Having broken out of the train station car park again we returned to the campsite for some much needed rest.

We were determined not to pay for a fourth night at the campsite so checked out for good the following morning despite having more plans in Sydney city centre. We had booked tickets to see Terminus at the Opera House but it didn't start until the evening so planned to head to The Rocks Market an hour or so before it. Consequently we spent the morning parked outside Woolworths recuperating from the previous day before returning to the train station and heading back into town.

The Rocks is an area of Sydney near the harbour bridge which, until not that long ago, used to be a seedy and rough neighbourhood with heavy crime rates, but which now has been completely reborn as an area of high end apartment buildings. Each week it has a market selling everything from artworks to aboriginal crafts and we had a good time strolling around the stalls before our evening show.

Exploring The Rocks

Before entering the Sydney Opera House we took yet another opportunity to take photos of it as well as the Harbour Bridge despite filling half a camera’s memory card already with identical photos. Even having been in Australia for over a month by now we had yet to come across free wifi anywhere as everyone sees it as a chance to make some easy money, but amazingly the Opera House offered it so we took the chance to get downloading new songs and games on the iPod. We were seeing Terminus performed by an Irish theatre group with just three actors who would each take it in turns to recount stories relating to their character which would all intertwine by the end. To begin with I found it rather gripping but then it all got a little weird, around the point a character fell in love with a demon made of worms, and then failed to deliver a satisfying ending. The links to each of the three stories was tame at best and I found myself leaving disappointed that it after a good start it all fizzled out. Regardless of the ending I still enjoyed my night out and can now say I’ve seen something at the Sydney Opera House rather than just show offer a few hundred photos of it from the outside.

The classic Opera House photo

Having escaped the train station car park for the final time we had a choice to make regarding that night’s accommodation: McDonald’s or Woolworth’s car park? We decided to go for McDonalds as it was 24 hour and we could always buy something if they asked us to leave, as in addition we could use their free wifi providing we parked close enough to the doors.

The next morning we wouldn’t be heading back into Sydney but venturing west into the Blue Mountains. As we didn't really know how to properly visit an entire mountain range in a day we first stopped at the visitor’s centre for various maps and leaflets, and left shortly afterwards with a plan. The mountains are covered in eucalyptus trees which give off oils to such an extent that a blue mist appears above them which is where the name originates.

By the time the wind-battered water reached the bottom it was merely spray

Out first stop was at Wentworth Falls where we got a great visual representation of just how strong the winds were that day as before water could reach the base it was being blown about twenty metres to the side. Our second stop was at Echo Point overlooking the most recognisable part of the mountain rage: The Three Sisters. These are three rocky outcrops visible above the trees and easily the most photographed part of the Blue Mountains.

The Three Sisters from Echo Point

From Echo Point we headed off on a walk of the region by first setting off down the Grand Stairway involving around 1000 stairs. We planned to then walk 2.5km to the base of the railway which would take us back to the car park higher in the mountain where we started. Our issue was that the last train was about an hour and a half after we started the walk and if we didn't make it then we would have to walk back and then, more dauntingly, back up the 1000 steps. Pleasingly we made it with plenty of time after having a great time on the walk as views from the Grand Stairway are possibly better than those at the tourist-heavy Echo Point.

Linz at the base of the Three Sisters

To get back to the car park we had to take the funicular railway which climbs a staggering vertical distance of 206 metres in just a horizontal distance of about 250 metres making it the world’s steepest railway. To make that easier to understand, at its steepest point the track it at 52^o. We were the only ones on board so sat right at the front which made for a rather exciting journey to the top. To get right back to the van we had to take a cable car across a gorge which really took a hit from the wind as it appeared to have got stronger since we were previously at this height.

What almost looks like a vertical ladder at the back is in fact the train track!

Having got back to the van we travelled out of the Blue Mountains and then back onto the Pacific Highway in the direction of Australia’s capital city of Canberra. On the journey we got to listen to the Ant and Becks show on Mix FM which stands head and shoulders above all English radio shows with regards to music and banter. That day they we celebrating their own creation called “Punday” and spent the majority of the show combing household objects with film titles to brilliant effect: The King’s Bleach, Alien vs Predatorch, and Planet of the Drapes to name a few...

The future of radio...

The journey to our free rest area just north of Canberra was a rather unpleasant one as the winds from the mountains had kept with us and I had to fight the van the entire way there to stay on the road. We arrived at night so when we woke up the next day we amazed to find we had parked overlooking an enormous plain with a wind farm in the distance. That wind farm must have been raking it in that day as the wind hadn’t died down at all and the final few kilometres in to the capital was again a battle.

I was asked not to put this photo on the blog due to Linz's "silly hat" but its
the best one we took

There can’t be many capital cities in the world less impressive than Canberra. It was an alright town but offered very little in the way of anything as even on the day we had arrived, due to the wind, the Lake Burley-Griffin fountain had been turned off. It is meant to jet water particularly high into the air but the wind had made it potentially dangerous so we had to settle for just the parliament building as an attraction.

Following a takeaway pizza lunch we visited the parliament building where we found out it was Question Time so could sit in either the House of Representatives or the Senate and hear MPs going at each other. Rather than queue to see the Prime Minister in action we settled for the Senate and were surprised to see we actually understood what they were talking about. On the radio we had heard no other news other than a controversial introduction of a tax on carbon usage so we sat and enjoyed the opposition slating the MP for energy conservation for almost half an hour. It was interesting at the time but I can’t believe I'm actually going into details about Question Time. Other than a brief glimpse of Prime Minister Julia Gillard as she entered the House of Representatives, we didn't do a lot else. On our way out of the car park we saw one man alone with a placard demonstrating out the front of the building about the tax, but assumed the MPs inside paid as little attention to him as we did.

Its not quite our Houses of Parliament but at least the silly hat has gone

Having seen of the easily overshadowed capital city we had to drive north to get to get back to the main road heading south to Melbourne. It was about an hour north that we pulled into the town of Yass to sleep for the night in a relatively cheap campsite. At $24 dollars it came as a welcome change to Sydney. Still the wind continued to batter everything so we picked a site well away from any trees only venturing out of the van to do some laundry.

Our time in Sydney hit us pretty hard in the pocket but it is joins Hong Kong and Singapore on a list of our favourite cities so far, but we had always expected it would. Canberra was always expected to offer less than Sydney but we did find ourselves shocked at just how much less there is, but I suppose it gives the MPs less to be distracted by. From Yass we will be embarking on a full days driving down into the state of Victoria and the city of Melbourne, where almost exactly 23 years ago I was born.