Byron Bay to Sydney

Brisbane is the last place in Australia where we took pictures.  We left early in the morning for a 4 hour bus ride to Byron Bay where we were just spending the day until heading to Sydney.  About halfway there we realized that we didn't have our camera.  Then spent another hour agonizing over where the hell did we leave our camera and how are we going to get it back.

At one of the bus stops we called the Brisbane hostel to let them know that we left our camera there and could they please please look for it.  We'll call back in another hour or so to see if you found it.  Then got back on the bus and headed to Byron Bay.

Random statue at one of the bus stops

We got to Byron bay at around 11am and immediately found payphones to call the Brisbane hostel again.  They found it!  Apparently we left it in the kitchen (or more likely the camera wanted to stay an extra day in Brisbane and catch an express flight to Sydney, so it snuck up to the kitchen during the night while we slept).  They took down our credit card information and would be overnighting it to the hostel in Sydney where we were going to stay.  Phew.

In Byron Bay we did the only real point of interest, the lighthouse walk.  It was drizzling a little bit but it was a pleasant walk with views of the ocean and a short fat lighthouse.  Luckily Andy brought his iphone so we have a couple pictures.  We decided to buy lunch and make dinner.  So lunch was from a local deli, Andy got a chicken salad baguette and I got the chicken curry.  For dinner we made pb&j, and bought some snacks at the grocery store; potato chips, crackers, red pepper cream cheese dip.  We got on the bus at 8PM and didn't arrive in Sydney until 9AM the next morning.

We took the ferry to Manly Beach and hung out there for an hour or so.  The weather was cold and it was late in the day so it wasn't really a beach day.  But neat to see Sydney from the water.  And that rounds up our trip in Australia.

Andy's note: it's hard to express on this blog the amount of kindness we experienced from YHA staff during this whole camera losing debacle. Matilda in Brisbane was a great help and I believe personally overnight posted (mailed) the camera herself. The two guys at the front desk at Sydney Railway Square helped us get in touch with Matilda the following day to see if she successfully posted the camera and how much it cost. We even were assisted by the staff at a random truck stop somewhere between Brisbane and Byron Bay. The stop had no pay phone but they graciously allowed us to use their phone to ring the Brisbane YHA. People rock.

Sydney Day Two

Today was a somewhat lazy day. We stayed up late (midnight) talking to two Canadians we shared a room with - they were just finishing up a three month tour of Australia so they had plenty of advice and suggestions. It's been great meeting people on this trip that have either been to or are from the places we are going. The Australians we met on the Routeburn Track in New Zealand gave us some great advice and more people along the way have recommended some of the same or different things.

After waking up around 9 AM we had breakfast (scrambled eggs and cereal) and did some laundry. It was overcast in Sydney so it was hard to get motivated. Not long after lunch we finally got out of the hostel and took the free shuttle bus down to Circular Quay. We spent most of the day walking around admiring the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well as the opera house. The opera house really looks better from farther away than close up.

We made our way along the shore to Mrs. Macquaries Point where you can get a good view of the opera house and the bridge at once.

Even though it was cloudy there were some blue patches in the sky and visibility was good below the clouds. We hopped back on the free shuttle and went to the Sydney Skytower (we had tickets from the four-in-one deal we had purchased the day prior).  It was neat to see the city from above, but really a lot like any other sky tower in any other city.  We didn't spend too long there.

Each night at the hostel in Sydney they featured a different dinner made by the hostel available for purchase.  Tuesday night is $5 burrito night.  With a deal like that we couldn't pass it up, especially as we hadn't bought anything for dinner that night anyways.  One option for topping was tomato chutney which added an interestingly sweet flavor to the burrito.  They were yummy if not authentic.
During dinner I started up a conversation with a guy wearing an official looking tour shirt, asking him what he does. The schools (or just private schools? I forgot to ask if it was a public or private school thing) in Australia have the kids go on a field trip (camp) of sorts for a couple days during the school year.  Every grade does something different so all the kids get to do all the trips as they pass through the grades. The guy I was talking to worked for a company that organizes the year ten trip which was four days long.

The year ten "camp" includes:
- a day as a backpacker (staying in a hostel, seeing the sites, traveling by public transport)
- a day in the wilderness (tramping, hiking, camping, whatever you want to call it)
- a day as a homeless person (they allegedly sleep on the street)
- and a final day that is similar to the Amazing Race (a scavenger hunt made up of clues throughout the city)

For the backpacker day the students are each given $10 to spend at the grocery store for lunch, dinner, and breakfast.  Most of the kids team up and pool their money together and make food together. We saw lots of pasta which is pretty much how it goes when you're backpacking on a budget.
In the morning we are taking a super budget airline to Melbourne for a couple days.

Australia

Yay Hooray we've moved onto our next country.  We had a wonderful 4 hour flight where we were served a meal (we both chose fish with couscous, a salad, a roll, and a chocolate mint) with a drink of choice and an ice cream bar. Each of our seats had a TV in the headrest in which we could watch one of 14 movies or a variety of tv shows (including a news segment specifically for the airline).  It was the best four hour flight I've ever taken.

Upon arriving in Sydney we took the train to Central station and walked around the corner to our hostel, which we had booked at the Sydney airport using their free wireless internet. After settling in we headed off to the grocery store where we bought three bananas for $5 and other foods for breakfast, lunches, and a dinner. I was quite shocked to find out how much bananas were and will not be buying them again in Australia if they continue to be this expensive.

The exchange rate is $1AUD = $1.10USD which really stinks.  The actual number price of most things are about the same as NZ or the US, excepting the bananas, but the conversion rate is worse so everything is more expensive. This means we've had to adjust the budget we hastily tossed together to reflect the fact that we will not be able to spend $120USD a day and still wish to leave Sydney and see other parts of the country.  But that's okay because SE asia will be cheaper than we budgeted.
In the morning we bought a multipass ticket for four attractions, the Sydney aquarium, the Sydney wildlife center, the Sydney Tower, and Manly aquarium.

The Sydney aquarium was full of all sorts of wonderful sea creatures such as the platypus

and penguins

and sharks

Next door is the Wildlife center where we encountered a crocodile

koalas

and kangaroos

Then we found a McDonald's with free wifi and had a chocolate milkshake while browsing the internet for a couple hours.  We bought plane tickets to Melbourne on Wednesday morning from Tiger air.  The idea is to stay in Melbourne for several days then fly to Cairns where we will buy a hop on hop off bus ticket back to Sydney and take a little more than a week to make our way back.  We spent a majority of the morning and a couple hours on the internet figuring out this plan, let's hope it sticks.

Dinner was a pre-made refrigerated soup to which we added rice to make it last longer. Tomorrow we head to the tower.