New years eve at Sydney habour, random exploring, and the zoo

(No biking, lots of pictures)
In Copenhagen at new years eve, the sky is literally set on fire. Everybody have fireworks and more or less go nuts at midnight. It's usually a spectacular experience even if you are just a spectator, but in Australia fireworks are not allowed for the public, and with good reason too. Australia sometimes seems to be very flammable, and when it does catch fire it doesn't kid around.
Anyways Sydney supposedly do a mean show new years eve, but two million people know that and want a piece of the action so finding a nice spot in the centre would be tricky. As it turns out it wasn't. It might not have been the BEST EVER spot, but a good spot still. Could not see the Opera house but was up high, and could see the bridge. Now the anticipation and waiting begins, but the beauty of writing is I can just skip that part and go straight to the booms and the bangs.

It's not as crazy as Copenhagen, but it is very orchestrated and for that reason it takes the price. What a show they put on here and people love it, lots of wuhus and wows. I got us some bubbly for the big night, that quickly turned late. And get this, on the train station on the way home I ran into an English dude that also stayed at the backpackers place in Adelaide while I was there, I didn't mention him before, but we had a few beers together in Rad. What a small world.

As a tourist on foot the city is quite interesting. In the centre if the city is the harbours and train station called Circular Quay. There is a station called Central, but it's not really central, go figure. On one side of Circular Quay is the Opera House, and on the other is The Rocks. It's an area that today houses many small shops and restaurants, and is a popular tourist attraction. It has its name from the local sandstone most of the buildings where made with. For a long time it was a rough sailor and prostitution hangout, I have head enough, I like the place already.
Just over the Rocks is the Sydney Harbour Bridge, I do want to walk over it, as in not just across but climbing over it, but when I was there it was literally rigged with explosives, for New Years eve, but I did get to go up in one of the pylons. Sometimes you just got to give in and be the tourist with the camera.

Just north east of the centre is Taronga Zoo, you can get there by boat from Circular Quay and for that reason alone I want to go there. The zoo is cool but nothing spectacular. I like zoos but have a problem with enclosures that seems small, and some of them did. Animals didn't seem to care much though.

The very rare primate Homo Turistas. Not know to be venomous but can get very aggressive when sunburned.

An actual golden goldfish

I get the change to see a spider show, no not dancing spiders, but a guy explaining how much more scare of us the spiders are, than we are of them. This is also the first time I see a Red back and a Funnel Web. I'm quite happy with them being in the glass, they didn't seem to trilled though.




The last night before I need to head out, I take a small trip to Bondi Beach. I have never been much of a beach person but I have been told this is something else. It is not that big really, but the mass of people that are there don't seem to know that. Here are all the kinds of beach goers you can imagine, from families with hyper kids to the big dudes who pretty much can do nothing but have muscles. Oh yeah, and girls in very small bikinis, but this is a family show so I'll leave it at that.

Invading Sydney from the south

Just like I was put to sleep by the sound of the ocean, was I woken up by it. It does not get better than this, really, it doesn't.
I do not plan to stay here, just get up, pack and be out of here, but on my map there is a little note; "Kiama blowhole", and its just next to the campsite. I don't want to miss a that so I pack up and go to see this blowing hole of theirs.
A bit of a tourist attraction it would seem, I'm by far not the only person there. so basically it's a hole. No no I'm not trying to make fun of it, it really is just a hole. Right in the middle of some strange looking rocks. The big huha is that the waves hitting the rocks will sometimes get trapped in a small cave and be forced up the hole and make a kind of geyser, and when it does, the tourists goes "wuuhoo".

There was another thing though that caught my attention more, and that was the wood-like rocks they had here. It's very strange, but the texture of the rocks was just like wood when seeing them up close, yet they felt like rock, not surprisingly. Odd, I wonder if it's a normal thing on this coast. “wuuhoo”, there it was again. Right, I have been in Kiama long enough, but I will say it looks and feels very nice, and I would recommend this to anyone travelling along the coast up to Sydney.

Back on bike, earplugs in, helmet on, sunnies on, turn bike around, drive off, realise I forgot about gloves, realise they have fallen off, turn bike around, go back, try to reach gloves on ground, fail, get off bike, put on gloves while smiling awkwardly to spectators, back on bike, head off, exhale. The coast road quickly ends but it is a short drive to Sydney, only 130 km or so. Now I don’t know if I'm just lucky, or if my map reading skillz have levelled up, but I manage to find the front door or Jason's home in Marrickville just using the paper maps. Well ok ok I did ask this one guy about the number because that made little sense. Apparently they don't believe in numerical continuity here. I'm here, I get unpacked and introduced, and get my self a nice long shower. The next few days will be urban exploration and new years eve. Sydney City, your number is up.

Canberra can has two Palement House

Old, no grass on roof

New, now with grass on roof

It's a strange thing to witness as a tourist. It is a roundabout. A really big roundabout, and around the roundabout is a the city, just about. Go to the centre and your standing on a hill, and in front of you is a strange looking building looking back at you, apparently convinced it's the Parliament House. But it's not, at least not anymore. If you turn around 180 degrees you will face an even stranger looking building, this one with grass on it's roof, and it too is convinced it's the Parliament House. In this case it's actually true. This odd looking building has cost the Australians a staggering 1.1 billion Australian Dollars. No I don't think you heard me, one thousand and one hundred million dollars, for a building with grass on it. OK I'm not being fair, the grass roof does help insulation, and it has a symbolic value, to enable the people to stand above parliament, and not vice verse. Also it has thousands of rooms. I guess that's worth a billion and a bit.

Enough picking on a pour building that can't defend it self, it probably doesn't even read my blog. Canberra as such is not a pretty town, it's not even an ugly town, but it is a town. A town that was founded because they couldn't agree if Melbourne or Sydney should be the capital, but still a town nonetheless. It even has its very own state, smack down inside New South Wales. It has many museums and one of them I want to see, the war memorial.

The parking lot is pretty big, and it actually has a MC designated area. Not everyday you see that. I can't really take all my stuff with me so I just make sure everything is locked, bring some pants and go in. I do wonder what it might cost, but it turns out its completely free. Even the wardrobe  they just smile and ask if it's ok they hang this stuff up on separate places because I have so much and its quite heavy. What lovely people.

I cover pretty much the entire place. I start with WWI and move on the WWII and then all the other stuff. I must say I didn't expect to be laughing  but it is very depressing. It's also very beautiful and amazing how they are displaying everything. and They have a lot of things to display.

The stretcher carrier is to the left, with long boards on his shoulder

There are free tours as well. I don't join in, I just bump into them every now and again. One guide tells a memorable story about a particular soldier from WWI. He is a stretcher carrier and does not have any room for a weapon. His job is simple, to assemble stretchers and carry injured men to the hospital, or whatever equivalent they might have. This man was special because of one story. One day after a bit battle, many are dead and wounded, and weapons are silent. He carries away men, one after another, but later find him self without a stretcher and one wounded man. He walks up to an enemy soldier, also a stretcher carrier, also not carrying a weapon, and asks if he can borrow a stretcher. The other soldier does not speak much English but he gets the point, and says, "you be here this time" and points at his wrist watch. It is agreed and of he goes with the enemy stretcher. He gets his man to safety and as they are all ready to get to bed and try for some sleep, he gets up and leaves. "Where do you think you are going" they yell after him, "I promised to return the stretcher, and I intend to keep that promise", they laugh but let him go.. He goes back to the same spot and the other soldier is waiting for him. No backstabbing or gunfire, just two professionals who understood each other. The stretcher returns to its rightful owner, they shake hands and never see each other again.

I don't know what it is but I find that story fascinating, no matter if its true or not.

I think I spend a good three hours or more in there, and on the way out I meet a Danish couple. About 6000 kilometres and I don't meet any Danes until now. We naturally have to have a talk, as you do. I get to my bike, everything is still there, I suite up and get on my way.

Sydney is my destination and I could get there today, but I don't want to. I have been trying to get a hold of my cousin Jason and his girlfriend but they are not getting back to me. I want to make sure they are actually home before I attempt to get there one day earlier than we agreed. Oh well no biggie. I just head back to the ocean road and keep driving and see where it takes me. at around eight in the evening I come to a small, as in very small town called Kiama. Its pretty much just a beach and tourist town from the looks of it, but I could be wrong. I see a camp sign and head down that way. All booked, nothing left not even for a small tent. The ladies in the reception are very nice and say they will try to call another caravan park in Kiama. They say they have one spot left and send me up there. How lucky is that. The lady at the other place is a little tipsy, it's actually a little funny. She is nice and says its not really a real spot, but if it will fit my tent I can have it for twelve bucks. The site looks fine so I accept. Cheep accommodation, I like it. Just when I finish putting up my tent Jason gets back to me saying I can just come by, but it’s no problem, this way there will be no stress tomorrow.
I put up my tent and climb in. The sound of the ocean puts me to sleep fast, I love that sound.

Bye bye Melbourne

It's time to move on. Melbourne and mostly Adam and his folks have been great, but the show must go on, the bike doesn't drive it self.
I want to get to Canberra before Sydney, so the next two days I'm going to break my rule and not drive along the coast. Canberra is inland, and I should be able to get there in 1 day, but I plan to head out late in the day, and sleep one night somewhere on the road. That way I can be in Canberra very early and get a good look around before I head for Sydney.
Do I have everything? Packing is not my favourite part, it amazes me every time how little space it seems to take up on the bike, and how much of a mess I can make of it when I have the space and need to unpack it all. But there is a system now. A specific order in which it all comes together, it also helps me remember it all.
We have a nice lunch, and they send me on my way, or rather they send me to the driveway where they watch me fiddle with earplugs, gear and all that stuff for a good five minutes. The earplugs especially can be really annoying sometimes, taking forever. Finally I'm all set and off I go, down the dirt road to open the slowest moving electric gate in the history of man kind.
I have said it before and I'll say it again, as much as I love stopping and exploring a place, I love leaving. The feeling of freedom, knowing you don't actually live anywhere, you live nowhere and everywhere, is hard to explain, but I think you know what I'm talking about.

On the highway I get to experience quite a special sight. The sun is going down directly behind me leaving the sky lit up in all the different nuances of blue and violet. I see it in my mirrors in stereo vision. In front of me is the moon. It's full but not only that, it looks like it's at least three times its normal size. Its bright white and the sky surrounding it is deep purple. It seems almost outworldish.
I get a bit carried away though, I drive until nine or so in the evening, a bit late to be finding a campsite. I try in a small town but they are all closed. One owner even comes out and one of the places and chases me away. the first unfriendly person I have met here, but then again I did come after hours. This is not actually fun. It's late and I'm getting tired and I have not found a place to camp. It's not like I can just find a place near the road, it’s a highway. Oh well, just gotta keep looking for opportunities, and if it gets bad I have to get off the road and look for fields or something. I come to a petrol station that seems to have a rather large grassy area around it. I fill up the iron horse and ask the lady at the counter if I can camp here. “not a problem, just go over there by that green patch, we get people camping there all the time”. Sweet!
No other campers there so have it all to my self. I'm not even sure how far I actually am, will check tomorrow. I go through my routine and shortly after I'm fast asleep.

Lazy tree huggers and friends

(Short post, no biking)

One of the days here Adam and I go on a little excursion into the forrest and then later to a zoo, or ratrher a sancturary that works as a zoo. Now it should be said that a forrest around here is not like back home.
Here trees grow on other trees, or at least in the rain forests they do. It makes for a very intersting atmosfear and you almost feel like you are in a movie set half the time. I tried to capture it but pictures don’t really do reallity justice.

Tallest Moss in the world, OMG!

The sanctuary that functions as a zoo is dealing only with Australian wildlife. They have a small animal hospital where they take in wounded, orphaned or otherwise unfortunate animals. It is part of their programs for endangered species. It was here I saw my first Koala, but they didn't seem to excited to see me.