Here is a map of Australia in case you are wondering where Megan and I went. We started in Brisbane (where I live), flew to Sydney, flew to Cairns, and ended back in Brisbane.
April 12, 2009: Megan arrives
Today, Megan arrived. I was so excited for her to come! Her flight got in around 6:05am, but I was wide awake by then to greet her. It was Easter, so mostly everything was closed, but we found ways to entertain ourselves downtown. We made our way back to my apartment to pack for the next morning. Megan ended up falling asleep at 7, despite all her efforts to prove me wrong ( I told her she would be asleep by 8, she thought otherwise).
Me inside the fishbowl
Meg kissing the fish
Kangaroo sniffing Meg's butt
These little guys were so cool! Made of scrap metals.
The two of us waiting for the bus right by my apartment
April 13, 2009: Off to Sydney
Today started off extremely early. Megan woke up around 2:30 am and because I am such a light sleeper, I obviously woke up as well. I was pretty excited about the week so I wasn't able to fall back asleep. We left for the airport around 5:45am. This is the conversation that took place after we arrived at the train station:
Me: Excuse me, where is the 6:30 train?
Transit Lady: There is no train at 6:30.
Me: I checked the schedule last night, it said there was supposed to be one at 6:30.
Transit Lady: We are on our holiday schedule.
Me(annoyed): And what holiday are we supposed to be celebrating?
Transit Lady: Easter Monday.
Seriously?! Easter Monday? We ended up paying almost double what we would on the train to catch a cab. Let's just say, I was NOT a happy camper on the way to the airport.
We arrived in Sydney at 10:30 am. We checked into Wake Up! and got lunch at a pretty awful pizza place. It was pouring all day, so we were pretty miserable. We spent the afternoon walking all over Sydney, going shopping, taking pictures of the Opera House, the Harbor Bridge, the Sky Tower, the botanical gardens, etc. We walked for about 5 hours straight and we were both exhausted. We came back to Wake Up! to take a nap before dinner. That night, we met Phil, our new friend from the UK. He came to the Ice Bar with us that night. It was pretty cool, but would have been better if we weren't the ONLY people in it. We also weren't allowed to take pictures so it was a pretty disappointing experience overall. We decided to head in early because we had to be up by 5:45am to catch our train to the Blue Mountains.
It was POURING in Sydney our first day!
View of Sydney Harbor/The Harbor Bridge
I just found this randomly in the middle of the city
Awesome waterfall in the Botanical Gardens
The Ice Bar! (Don't go-it sucks!)
April 14, 2009: Conquering the Blue Mountain Canyon
Meg and I woke up at 5:40 to catch our train to Katoomba. After practically missing it because I thought it left at 6:36 instead of 6:26, we sat for 2 hours and talked/stared out the window. We arrived in Katoomba at 8:26, right in time for our 8:30 canyoning trip. As soon as we arrived at the Blue Mountains Adventure Company, our journey began. We were fitted into wetsuits (so uncomfortable!) and packed our bags. There were only 5 people total in our group, including the guide, so it was a very personal experience. Dylan was our instructor. He was super nice and used the word 'mate' all the time. Greg was probably in his mid-20s and extremely fit, and Terry was in his mid to late 50s and in great shape for his age! The trip was divided into 2 parts. The first part involved making us feel comfortable abseiling down rock. The second part was actually navigating through the canyon and finishing with a 30 metre abseil down a waterfall (that's about 100 feet, or the same height as the big drop on the Excalibur at Valley Fair).
Part 1:
We drove for about 20 minutes until we arrived at our abseiling location. Once we arrived, we went bush walking for about 20 minutes. Seriously, Dylan was one of the fastest walkers ever! Megan and I were already struggling to keep up with him. Once we got to the site, we started on a baby cliff (probably about 10 feet high). Megan and I had a little trouble getting used to the abseiling but we quickly moved on to a bigger cliff.
Side view of the abseil down
The second cliff was much harder to abseil down because it was steeper and was very uneven. The trick to canyoning is slowly lowering yourself down while keeping your feet on the rock until you are basically parallel to the ground. Then you can slowly lower yourself down. Once we had perfected the medium cliff, we moved to the 60 foot cliff. This was literally vertical and quite scary to look over. Because of the steep angle, you could actually push yourself off the wall and 'hop' down the cliff. Dylan and Greg were the only ones who were actually able to do it. Megan and I went down this about 6 times until we felt comfortable enough to conquer the waterfall. We took a break for lunch and treats before heading to the canyon.
Part 2:
Once we arrived at the canyon, we had to walk for over 30 minutes down hundreds of stairs. We should have known what that meant-a hell of a walk back up to the top. However, we were too excited about getting into the water to notice. In the canyon, we had to wear wetsuits, shoes, backpacks with flotation devices in them and helmets. The water was fairly cool, but not too bad. Right away, we got soaking wet. We were walking through the canyon when we arrived at an 8 foot drop. Dylan had us jump as far out as we could and land right on our backs! We all went completely underwater until our backpacks brought us to the surface. It was definitely an adrenaline rush but it was a great way to start the canyon! The views inside the canyon were absolutely beautiful. I took lots of pics with my waterproof camera so unfortunately, I won't be able to post them for awhile. The walk through the canyon was probably about an hour-we were sliding down rocks slides, jumping from cliffs, swimming through trenches, jumping into holes, etc. It was hard to walk through the canyon because the rocks were so slippery. Meg was pretty bruised up by the time we got back. On our way, we saw a poisonous snake-a baby Brown Snake. They are actually more dangerous than adults because when they are young, they can't control their venom and will actually strike numerous times. We quickly passed by it. (Australia has 7 of the 10 deadliest snakes in the world) We finally made it to the waterfall. As soon as we got close, we could hear the rushing of the water. I was the last one to go down. I wasn't too nervous when I got there until I was strapped in and getting lowered down. The water was shooting onto my face, my feet were slipping, the rope was slipping through my hands and I felt like I was going to plunge to my death! The water pressure was so strong it was knocking me off course, but I finally made it to the end and fell into the water. It was such a rush! Dylan met us at the bottom and we all celebrated successfully finishing the canyon!
The trip up the stairs was hell. Megan almost puked, and I got stuck carrying the 10 lb rope on the my backpack. It was an awesome workout, but after 40 minutes straight of climbing up stairs, I was exhausted. We arrived back at Blue Mountain Adventure Company were offered beers as a reward. Meg and I were so physically drained that we went to bed at like 7:30 that night. It was an amazing day overall and probably one of the highlights of my entire study abroad experience!
Beautiful lookout in the Blue Mountains
April 14, 2009: Lazy day on Manly Beach
Today was beautiful! The weather was absolutely gorgeous-there were no clouds in the sky and it was one of the nicest days Sydney had had in a long time. We caught a 30 minute ferry to Manly Beach. The ferry ride was quite beautiful! I took some awesome pictures of the Opera House/Sydney Harbor.
On the ferry-it was so sunny!
The Sydney Opera House
Once we arrive in Manly, we set up camp and laid out for about 3 hours. We made our back to Sydney for dinner. After, we went to the Sydney Tower. The view at night was awesome-Sydney was all lit up and you could see heaps of stuff.
Manly Warf, obviously
Meg and I on Manly beach
Sydney at night from the Sky Tower
