Hey, everyone! I have been in Sydney for the past several days. While I was initially apprehensive about being in such a large city again (after not “feeling it” in Melbourne), I actually am really liking Sydney.

Sydney

After a twenty hour bus ride, I arrived in Sydney. While I was able to nap on and off, I was desperate to lay down in bed. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t supposed to be able to check in to my hostel until 3pm. My bus arrived around 8am. I was hoping I’d be able to at least drop off my luggage, so I headed to the hostel. Luckily, the staff allowed me to check in early. Praise the gods! I went up to my room and had a brief rest.

I didn’t want to waste the day away, so after laying in bed, I decided to explore a little. The main attraction of the day for me was getting to the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It wasn’t that far of a walk from my hostel.

Seeing the Opera House for the first time was kind of emotional. I’d seen it in pictures, in the occasional movie, but here I was – seeing it in person. What a phenomenal display of architecture!

I admired it from afar but then decided to go have lunch on the steps. My favorite musician Amanda Palmer had a song she recorded live in Sydney and before it begins, she says to the crowd, “I heard you all had lunch on the Opera House steps.” I figured I’d live out the fantasy – so that’s where I had my muffin.

I walked along the length of the opera house and I’m glad I did because I was surprised to see a section cordoned off for… a resting seal! What a surprise it was to see this guy here, in Australia’s largest city. Actually, I think Melbourne is technically larger now because they recently included another neighborhood into their metropolitan area. Alas!

After the mini adventure, I was still feeling tired so I returned to my hostel to nap once more.

In the evening, I walked the length of the Harbour Bridge and ended up getting dinner at a lovely Indian restaurant.

The following day, I had plans to meet up with my friend Thomas whom I had met in Tasmania. He had recently moved to Sydney. We met up at Town Hall and walked around for a while. We ended up cruising through the botanical gardens, having lunch at Breadtop, and walking around the Opera House again. We didn’t have a particular destination in mind – we were busy catching up and wandering along. At some point, we stumbled upon a little square that had a number of beautiful sculptures on display. Francis Upritchard is the artist.

After some time had passed, I wanted to chill out for a moment before getting dinner with another friend so Thomas and I parted ways.

I went out for dinner with Lachlan – someone I’d met in Darwin who had traveled with Caravan Michael after I had. We got Thai and then froyo for dessert.

After dessert, I went back to the hostel. I had plans to wake up early and go snorkeling at Cabbage Tree Bay.

Cabbage Tree Bay

When I was on Magnetic Island, I’d met two fellow snorkelers who advised me to go to Cabbage Tree Bay while in Sydney. “There are resident cuttlefish there,” they told me. Cuttlefish! I’ve wanted to see one for ages.

I was apprehensive to go snorkeling. The temperatures down in Sydney are much cooler than in northern Queensland and I wasn’t sure I could handle it. Still, I decided I’d hire a wetsuit and tough it out.

I took the ferry from Circular Quay (which reminds me of a larger scale version of Elizabeth Quay in Perth) to Manley.

I decided to scope out the area before getting in the water. Along the path, I saw a man with a snorkel mask so I started asking him if he’d gone snorkeling. This guy was an absolute jokester. He showed me a video he’d made a few minutes prior of him doing a front flip into the water. It was hard to get a straight answer out of him as he seemed easily distracted and was a bit of a showboat. “Naw, you don’t need a wetsuit, mate. You’ll be alright.” I should not have listened to him.

I got down to the beach and put on my gear. I ended up going on three snorkels that day… but I REALLY should have hired a wetsuit. The water was so cold. It reminded me of my very first snorkeling experiences back in Perth, when it really just wasn’t warm enough for me to comfortably snorkel.

Still, I was amazed by the visibility. If you’ve followed me along for the duration of my Australian adventure, you know that good visibility has oftentimes been a real struggle. Here, in Cabbage Tree Bay, was likely the best snorkeling visibility I’d ever had in Australia (save, maybe the Great Barrier Reef or Green Island in particular). It was so clear. Clear water as far as the eye could see.

And then, the fish! So many schools of fish, swimming about.

While it is easy to be entertained by marine life, it was only a temporary distraction from the frigid waters. After some time, I started to make my way back to shore. But then along the way, I spotted… a Port Jackson shark.

Have I mentioned Port Jackson sharks before? They are these gorgeous, harmless sharks that are often found near Port Jackson… which is not far from where I was snorkeling. I had first heard about them when I began my snorkeling adventures in Perth. I joined a Facebook group and people would post videos of them occasionally. Oh, how I wanted to see one! After Perth, I’d given up hope on seeing one of these guys. I was simply snorkeling outside their range – they don’t really go up to northern Queensland. I also didn’t think I would be snorkeling while I was in Sydney, so I kind of forgot that seeing them might be a possibility. I thought the closest I would get to seeing them was seeing the epaulette shark on Magnetic Island.

And yet, there it was. Visibility, amazing. Port Jackson shark, swimming right below me, allowing me to observe it and its awesome features. “Thank you, God,” I said through my snorkel – something I often say when I spot some wildlife I’ve been aching to see.

The shark came and went and, shaking, I swam back to shore.

I could not stop shaking. The combination of wind and cold water had turned me to an ice cube. I decided to do a little hike to warm up.

There is a walking trail near the beach that takes you to a little bush walk. It has viewpoints of Manley and of the ocean. On the walk, I saw some whale blowholes exhaling far off in the distance. It reminded me of my exciting time swimming with a humpback at Hervey Bay recently.

The walk was really nice but more importantly, it did the trick… I was warm again. Pushing my limits, I decided to go for two more snorkels.

Before getting back in the water, I saw two really cool lizards along the walk. I’m not sure what the first one was, but the second was a water dragon. I didn’t even know those guys existed! And there it was… hanging out next to the footpath.

The second was somewhat uneventful. I warmed up much faster the second time since the wind had died down. I debated whether I should go for a third snorkel. My history with snorkeling has been as such… the third and final snorkels of the day always tend to be the best. It’s the one where you COULD decide not to do it… but if you don’t… you’ll probably miss that really cool thing!

I went back in.

This time, I swam along the other side of the bay. I was greeted by at least four Port Jackson sharks. I couldn’t believe how close they were to me! I could have tugged on one’s tail if I really wanted to. Immediately, the third snorkel was worth it.

I decided to swim to the other length of the bay, keeping my eye out for cuttlefish.

Halfway to the other side of the bay, I spotted another beautifully patterned marine creature. What is that thing?

It ended up being an eastern fiddler ray, which I’d only seen in picture thus far. Rays are actually somewhat related to sharks. What a cool creature! Moments later, I spotted another ray – one without patterns.

Once I’d arrived to the other side of the bay, I was met by none other than… an octopus. Not a cuttlefish, but a cephalopod. Close enough. This was the closest I’d been to an octopus and the clearest visibility in which I’d been able to watch one. The waves pushed me closer to the octopus and like the Port Jackson sharks, I could have grabbed it if I wanted to. It moved its tentacles around, swam a bit farther away. It was truly lovely. Perhaps it was the octopus friend I had made in Coral Bay who had also made her way down to Sydney? Imagine that.

With the octopus sighting as the cherry on top, I made my way out of the water. Between the Port Jackson sharks, the eastern fiddler ray, and the octopus, I felt I had experienced the grand finale of my snorkeling experiences in Australia. I decided that will be it – the water is simply too cold for me to comfortably return while in Sydney. And that’s okay. I have had so, so many amazing underwater experiences. I have been lucky to witness all the incredible marine life that I have.

I didn’t end up seeing cuttlefish, but that’s okay. As I’ve said before – I need things to look forward to. Can’t see it all!

Once I was out of the water, I was shaking once again. The wind had picked up. Eek! What had I done to myself?!

In the evening, I met up with Mason for dinner. I met Mason in Tasmania but he recently moved back to Sydney. I’m really glad we were able to link up!

Blue Mountains National Park

After my snorkeling experience, I came down with a pretty gnarly cold. I’m thinking maybe I had been exposed to a super minor cold and my immune system got completely derailed by the cold water exposure. Anyway, I spent a day napping and trying to heal my body. I slept majority of the day and night.

I was feeling much better the next morning so I decided to head to the mountains.

It was a two hour long train ride there and I wasn’t completely sure what to do. Mason had mentioned “Three Sisters” so that was my starting point.

The Three Sisters are part of an Aboriginal creation story. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned, but most creation stories are private and not shared outside the communities. One popular exception is the story of the Rainbow Serpent, who carved the shape of earth’s features (mountains, rivers, oceans, etc).

I got off the train at Katoomba and walked down to the viewpoint. Oh, yeah, the mountains DO look blue off in the distance. The name makes sense. Apparently, it’s from the eucalyptus trees?

I continued along down a walking path that took me to Katoomba Cascades. Not an impressive waterfall by any means, but still lovely. Some cockatoos were screeching nearby.

There were a lot of people around. A lot. Of course, Blue Mountains National Park is reasonably close to Sydney – a major city in Australia. Surely lots of tourists would be there. I acknowledge that I’m a tourist as well but I like to walk around where the paths aren’t too busy. Loud people scare away the wildlife.

After the cascades, I decided to wander down to Leura which was much more my speed. Hardly any people along the trails and it felt like I had a small piece of the place to myself. The trail took me to the outlook of yet another waterfall. These waterfalls were mere trickles compared to those of Queensland. I think there are some larger, more powerful waterfalls in Blue Mountains, but I didn’t do much research and wasn’t sure where they were.

I had been walking around for quite some time and felt I needed to do a bit more resting. After a quick lunch break, I took the train back to Sydney. Along the way, I rested my head on the back of my seat and accidentally fell asleep. That is the first time in my life I’ve done that – fallen asleep on a moving vehicle without the intention of doing so. I wish I had that ability anytime. Maybe I’ll learn!

I ended up retiring early that night as I had to be up early in the morning to head down to Canberra with my friend John from Darwin.

So many visits with friends from other places lately! I’m loving it.

Miscellaneous

A few random things… when I was leaving Noosa after my time on K’gari I went for a walk along the coastal trail and was surprised to see SO MANY SURFERS in the water. I’d heard Noosa was a popular spot for surfing, but this was unreal. Surfers, surfers, everywhere. I’ve never seen anything like it. The coastal walk was lovely, too. I ended up walking down to Hell’s Gates, which seemed like a good spot to turn around haha.

On the Greyhound from Noosa to Sydney (20 hours – I can now conquer any bus/plane ride in the world), I happened to look out the window at the exact moment we were passing the “Welcome to New South Wales” sign.

While waiting for the train to meet Lachlan for dinner, I saw the most peculiar image pop up on the TV screen along the platform. Chicago’s skyline, and it said “voted best big city in USA.” What are the odds of that? It’s like Chicago is calling me home. Soon enough!

Art of the Week

No art to share this week. I have been so busy! SOON!

Reflections

I am so thrilled I was able to see those Port Jackson sharks! A total dream come true. So many wildlife dreams have come true here in Australia.

I’m writing this post from Canberra, and I was talking with John earlier about Australian wildlife. I told him about people’s reactions to spiders when I went on the K’gari tour. We had a laugh about it. When I was leaving America, so many people cautioned/teased me about the spiders and the snakes here. Before coming here, I was pretty worried myself. How would I deal with a huntsman spider? What would I do if I saw a snake? And here I am, eleven months later… ACTIVELY seeking out these creatures. I have been able to appreciate their beauty and their power and their place to exist in this world. I’m really grateful for that. I feel I’ve only come to appreciate wildlife even deeper since being here. Sigh. I love you, Australia!

What else?

I am with John in Canberra for a few days – I will write a separate post about that once I’m back in Sydney. I’m not sure what we’re going to do while here but John used to live here so surely he has some ideas up his sleeve.

Once back in Sydney, I don’t have any grand plans. There are plenty of things I want to do still, but once I get back from Canberra, I honestly think I need to just chill. Lately, it has been tour after tour, bus after bus, hostel to hostel.  Lots of moving around. So, I will need to be still for a little while before adventuring some more!

I suppose that’s all for now.

Sending you all my love xx