Sydney and Beyond pt.2

I started another day with a quick walk to the local Northbridge Baths. The walk, after a rainy day, was beautiful, often making use of small paths between the roads. I wasn’t sure what to expect from local public baths, something I had never heard much about in California. I was impressed to find a relatively low-maintenance set-up, with locker rooms and showers, placed along the edge of an elevated pool rim structure, allowing harbor water to come in, but breaking waves/wakes and allowing for tied-on lane lines and access all around the edge of the pool. Unfortunately, I also noticed nobody in the pool and a sign saying not to swim during/within 24 hours of rain. This kept me from trying out the water but left me a little confused. When I later asked my hosts about it, the answer seemed obvious, the suburban runoff would dirty the harbor’s waters and take time to dilute across the ocean to safe levels. After my walk and another breakfast featuring vegemite, Tony offered to drive me to the Zoo, which I gratefully accepted. He also mentioned that I could get a ferry from the other side of the zoo once I was finished if I wanted to get into Sydney proper and take advantage of familiar transit routes to return to the house. Unsurprisingly, the zoo had a remarkable diversity of wonderful animals, many endemic to Australia. The koalas, one of the first animals I saw in the morning, were the most active and engaging I have ever seen them. I got great views of climbing, jumping, and all sorts of adorable koala behavior. There were dozens of fascinating reptiles, many venomous, and a number of beautiful and fascinating birds, including a Pelican that stood up and walked right toward me (I realized moments later that his (or maybe the nearby seals’) feeding team was approaching from behind me. I’m confident now that he was looking right past me and towards the potential of incoming fish. Unfortunately, the kangaroos were feeling very lazy when I passed by them, and I didn’t see a single one rise from the ground. So many of the animals, particularly mammals, were so different from the ones I have seen or spent time thinking about, that I was almost constantly impressed.

After finishing up at the zoo, I made my way down to the base of the hill on which it sits. After a little walk and a short wait, I was able to catch the public ferry right across the water into the heart of Sydney Harbor. For the first time, I got a great view of the city skyline, the Harbor Bridge, and of course the world-renowned Opera House. After landing, I walked around the Opera House and realized not only that I may have never seen most of the different angles on the impressive structure, but I had never seen it close up, and thus never realized its white surface is made of small white tiles. After enjoying the views and exchanging photos with a nice couple who spoke very little English, I got a quick lunch and wandered into the Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens, at first not even realizing where I was.

After walking for a while past large buildings and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, I found a map and realized where I had found myself. Dotted with large lawns and government/historical buildings, the map included the entire botanical gardens and surrounding area, but also the location of smaller gardens within the complex. I wandered through a beautiful cactus garden, foreign flowers, and of course more of the beautiful Australian White Ibis. I really enjoyed the whole garden and had a locally popular snack of potato wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce on my way back to the house.

The next day, Tony and I left early for a trip to the Australian Reptile Park. After a sizable drive, we arrived at a sizable parking lot with a beautiful statue/entryway of a flared lizard. Walking over to an animal show about to start, I quickly realized that I would be getting a good kangaroo encounter. After walking through a gate I found myself in a remarkably large central picnic/gathering area with a number of kangaroos hopping around casually and going right up to people. We watched the show first, seeing a very poisonous Sydney Funnel-web and learning how to avoid them. After a few other animals, the show ended and I managed to get up close and pet a big kangaroo. The mammal selection was remarkable for a supposed reptile park, and I got to see a Tasmanian Devil, Echidna, Quokka, and much more. Lots of venomous reptiles were seen as well, from the Inland Taipan to the Death Adder to the Komodo dragon. I learned that the reptile park had a second business extracting venom from a number of these creatures and manufacturing antivenom for sure if someone is bitten. The park was incredible and I was really glad that I got to go, and extremely grateful to my wonderful hosts for making it possible.

On the way back from the park, Tony and I stopped at a beautiful viewpoint with a restaurant called Pie In the Sky. I had a wonderful Moroccan lamb pie and a smaller fruit pie with a delicious shortbread-like crust. an hour or two after arriving back at the house, we had a delicious dinner of Gravlax, a preserved fish made by Tony and served on bread and with some classic Australian sausage as well. Another great day!

The next day Heidi and Tony were both available to go for an outing, so we drove together up to West Head, where we saw beautiful views and some nearby stone engravings from a pre-European culture (looking quite faded– extremely difficult to see in my photos). The walk continued down a steep slope to a beautiful beach filled with camping families and hopping Wallabies, much more skittish than yesterday’s kangaroos. I swam in the beautiful water for a little bit and enjoyed the sunny weather before hiking back up to the car. We stopped at a beautiful garden shop on the way back and saw a number of beautiful plants and a surprising amount of chickens available for sale.

I retired early because we had a good forecast for tomorrow, and Tony and I had a plan to drive up to the Blue Mountains. When I woke up, I had a small breakfast and we headed off. As we rose in elevation the terrain became impressively dramatic, and numerous eucalyptus and gum trees, complete with lots of flowers and changing leaves. Our first hike began by quickly plunging into a beautiful canyon. I had no idea this kind of terrain existed in Australia, so I worked my way through the canyon in awe. I saw a beautiful crayfish in the river and dozens of waterfalls coming down from the edges of the canyon. The path took us up and down along the river, and even through a natural tunnel old enough to have a tree growing into the fallen rocks. Eventually the path looped up to the rim of the canyon and we made our way back to the car. After a nice lunch we found another hike down into the canyon, featuring views of a beautiful waterfall that we walked to the middle of, and lots and lots of stairs! I was constantly amazed once again, but starting to feel my legs a fair bit after the second steep canyon ascent.

After our second hike, Tony drove us back toward the city to go for an evening run with Sam. The timing was perfect, and as we moved the sunset illuminated the sky. Eventually, the sky went dark and the lights of downtown Sydney came to life. After the run, we had a wonderful dinner and then returned to the house, where I was extremely happy to shower and head to bed already battling serious tiredness from my longest run in a very long time.