Swan Valley

For our final day in Perth, we booked a wine tour through Swan Valley, which is the second oldest wine valley in Australia, beat out only by the Hunter Valley (which I’ve already been to). My mom isn’t huge on wine, especially red, but I still managed to get her to try most of them. Our tour also included cheese and chocolate tastings. In total, we stopped by three wineries, a microbrewery, and a chocolate factory. I think my favorite tasting of the day was the Late Picked Sweet Verdehlo from Houghton Winery. It was just the right kind of sweet. Unfortunately, I couldn’t buy any bottles because I have absolutely no room in my suitcase. It’s going to be interesting if I end up wanting to buy something in New Zealand for sure, but at least that’s the last leg of my trip.

My mom and I at Jarrah Ride Winery

Outside Charlies Estate Winery

After the wine tour, we wandered around the city a bit more. There were a lot fewer people than when we had gotten picked up for the wine tour from the central bus terminal. Perth really seems to be a 9-5 city, which is kind of sad. It makes me wonder where everyone goes for nightlife.

It was getting pretty chilly out though, as the sun went down, so we hopped on the train and headed back to the hostel. We walked down by the ocean one last time before picking up our bags and catching one of two buses to the airport. The bus driver was extremely helpful in telling us where we could get off to catch our transfer and avoid the downpour outside that had started a few moments after we stepped on the bus.

We killed time in the Perth domestic airport (which is actually rather small) until my flight left at 11:45. I said goodbye to my mom. It was fun to have her visit, but now it’s time for me to venture on to Wellington.

I slept for most of my flight to Sydney and woke up just in time to see the landing, which really is quite spectacular. Since the Sydney airport sits right on the ocean, it looks like you’re about to land in the sea. It was only a four hour flight though, so I was quite tired as I bored the airport transfer bus to the international terminal (which costs $5.50!). At the check-in counter for my connection to Wellington, they requested proof of a departure ticket from New Zealand. I hadn’t realized I needed one, but, thankfully, the Qantas counter was able to look up my flight information and print it off for me in case I need it again. I rechecked my bag and then had to go through customs in order to leave the country. It was really quite peculiar. It’s like they’re keeping tabs on everyone’s movements; they even stamped my passport.

I have a three-hour layover, so I stopped at bought a ham and cheese toastie from Krispy Kremes that I found for cheap. My eating and sleeping schedule is going to be completely screwed up by the time I get back from New Zealand because I doubt that I’ll eat at regular times there.

Fremantle

This morning we woke up naturally at 7 because we had gone to bed so early the night before, so we went for a run along the seawall. It was pretty quiet out, but we still passed a decent amount of people and were able to watch the kite boarders and surfers out on the ocean. Luckily, it wasn’t too hilly of a run either, at least compared to my runs in Sydney.

We spent the majority of the day in Fremantle, which is a town down the coast from our hostel, about ten minutes by train. It wasn’t very busy when we got there, but the town definitely picked up speed around lunch. We made a visit to the Roundhouse, which is the oldest building in Western Australia. It’s where “sick” prisoners were kept when Perth housed convicts from Britain. The building is built right on the coast, but since there aren’t any windows inside, the prisoners didn’t exactly get to enjoy the view.

On the way to the Roundhouse

The Roudhouse

To continue our tour of Fremantle’s convict history, we paid a visit to the prison, which was operational from the early 1800s to 1991. We took a guided tour through the cell houses, church, administration offices, and outdoor yards. The treatment of the prisoners really was quite terrible. All of the buildings on the premises and the wall surrounding the prison were built by the original prisoners. Even after everything was built, the prisoners went to work every day to earn their keep and the ability to buy small trinkets from the prison store, such as tobacco, canned goods, or (if they saved up enough) a secondhand color television with terrible reception. The only changes the prison went through over the years were slight, including addition of electricity to the cells (for use between April and November) in the late 1900s. Each cell, by the prison’s closure, had two occupants, but still only one tin for water and one for a toilet. Apparently, prisoners would sometimes confuse the buckets before electricity was installed.

It sounds like the prison was finally closed down because in 1988, the prisoners decided to call attention to themselves. They managed to overpower two guards and unlock all of the cell mates in a division before piling up their mattresses and blankets in the doorway. Since they had two guards as hostages, they decided to demand payment of Hungry Jacks (which is like burger king) for all of the inmates. Surprisingly, they were given their demands and the prisoners released the guards. However, they then decided to set the mattress pile on fire and burnt a hole into the roof of the prison. The fire trucks were called but they couldn’t get them through the gates of the prison as the gates had been built only to accommodate horse and buggies. Some of the prisoners were injured in the fire but no one died. Those who were injured managed to sure the state of Western Australia and won compensation money, contributing to the demise of Fremantle prison for a more modern facility in a neighboring town.

Inside the cells

The Fremantle Prison

The guillotine

The whole tour was rather interesting. It was my mom’s first time visiting a gaol. I seem to manage a visit to them every time I travel, somehow. They are quite fascinating to hear stories about though.

We stopped at Dome for lunch, which appears to be a sort of chain restaurant around here. You order at the counter and they bring your food out to you. I thought the chicken foccaccia we ordered were really good. The iced chocolates they served looked decadent too, but I didn’t get one because the sun was blistering hot (and blinding), which tends to make me stay away from dairy.

Before catching the train into Perth, we stopped at the Fremantle and E-Shed Markets to have a look around. I had found a book written by a local Western Australia in the secondhand bookstore earlier, so I just picked up some postcards of the area to round out my souvenirs for the trip.

In Perth’s central business district, we wandered around a little. It was like a ghost town on a Sunday, but we managed to find Kings Park (which is like Central Park, but a little outside of the city). We were pretty tired from walking all day, so we didn’t make it all the way to the botanical gardens, but we did find a nice outlook over the city and the inlet that Perth surrounds.

On our way back to the train station, we stopped in a couple of smaller parks and by the Bell Tower. It’s probably the weirdest bell tower that I’ve ever seen—a straight blue glass point that shoots up into the sky. Apparently, they play bells there. I really liked the way it was built in the middle of a little fountain though with a boardwalk leading up to it. The chain-link fence surrounding the boardwalk was stuck with locks that looked similar to the locks of love I saw in Italy. Some of them were shaped like bells and others were just basic combination locks, but most of them had writing on them. I’ve always thought it was a really cute idea, but I particularly liked the location of these locks because it seemed so random.

The Bell Tower

Chains outside the Bell Tower

Random Kangaroo Statues

View of Perth

We caught the train back home shortly after dark, exhausted once again. I have no idea how I’m going to manage adjusting to the time zone in New Zealand.

Cottlesloe Beach

We got up at four this morning to head into Sydney and catch our plane. Between the walk to the train station, two transfers and another 20 minute walk to the domestic terminal (so we could save $24 instead of getting off the train in the airport and paying the access fee), it took us just under two hours to get to the plane. The Sydney airport is both cool and weird. All of the check-in process, at least for domestic flights, is automated. You check-in and print your boarding pass, but then you’re in charge of stickering your luggage and putting it on the belt yourself as well. It was a little confusing for 7:30 in the morning, but we managed.

I was picked out for a security check when we went through security, so I had to step aside. All they did was wave a wand over me and my bags though, so much simpler than the US. By the time we walked down to our gate, the plane was already boarding, so we didn’t even have to sit down. It’s amazing how quickly things move when the process is automated and there aren’t any lines. I wonder if it’s the same situation later in the day too.

Our flight was pretty boring. It takes four and a half hours to get from Sydney to Perth, but there’s a two hour time difference (Perth is two hours behind Sydney, putting it 12 hours ahead of New York) so we made sure to get some sleep on the flight in order to prepare ourselves. Granted, with as early as we woke up, I’m not sure we helped much. Even though it was a domestic flight, we were still served an in-flight meal of cereal or eggs as well as a granola bar for a snack. I really love the service on international airlines.

Stepping off the plane, we managed to pull our bags off the carousel right away and headed to the bus stop outside. It took a few minutes to find, but that was okay because the buses here don’t run as frequently as Sydney and it only picks up about every half an hour from the airport. It’s nice though that our tickets only cost $4 each and allow us to transfer between other buses for two hours.

We ended up having to take three separate buses to get to the hostel we’re staying in—Ocean Beach Backpackers. Our first bus took us into the city where we transferred to the Cottlesloe/Fremantle line. The bus driver on our second bus was very helpful in directing us to a better place to get off so that we could transfer to a bus that would take us directly to our hostel. It all worked out and we were let out right outside. It took almost two hours though.

Our hostel is decent. We decided on getting a private room and we ended up with three beds in it—two twins and a double. I’m not sure why they gave us such a large room, but it’s probably all they had. The hostel is basically right on the water; all we have to do is cross the street. That’s not to say we have an ocean view though. Our room looks out into a courtyard that the hostel surrounds. They do charge a lot in deposits for things though. We had to pay a $20 key deposit and $15 each for towels. We’ll get it all back, but it still seems steep on top of the room charge.

We spent the rest of our afternoon walking along the shops on the oceanfront. There are a lot of fish and chips takeaways as well as a few nicer restaurants. We ended up getting sandwiches and chips (that’s fries in Aussie) from the convenience store/takeaway place. They were pretty good, although they squished the croissants our sandwiches were on when they toasted them. We went to the grocery store nearby too and picked up some Shapes—which are like a chip-like cracker in a variety of flavors--(to feed my mom’s new addiction), apples, and popcorn. Finally, we checked out the train station which will take us to Fremantle tomorrow.

Cottlesloe Beach

Cottlesloe Beach

The sun was starting to set, so we took some pictures along a boardwalk we found that juts out into the sea. It started to get chilly because of the wind though, so we grabbed sweatshirts before heading down to the beach and sticking our feet in the Indian Ocean. The sand was actually colder than the water, but it was really pretty with the sun setting.

I pet a koala!

We woke up really early this morning to head into town and meet our Blue Mountains tour bus. Unfortunately, we had to sit at the bus stop by my townhouse for about 25 minutes because the bus we were supposed to be on into the city decided to not show up. There were a few other frustrated people with us at the bus stop. I managed to get message Adam on facebook from my phone and get the number for our tour company, as they didn’t provide it in their confirmation e-mail, and call them to let them know we were running behind. It turns out it didn’t matter though because our bus was completely full and skipped the last couple of stops so we still made it to the meeting point on time. We had to wait yet again though for our tour bus to show up 25 minutes later. Overall, a lot of waiting and a little too much excitement considering it was still before 8am.

Our tour today was great. We headed out into the Blue Mountains, which is the mountain range that surrounds Sydney. It was different from the area I travelled to on Saturday though. We stopped at Featherdale Wild Life Park first where we were able to pet koalas and feed kangaroos. My mom even held a snake! There were a bunch of other Australian animals there as well. We located the dingo, wombat, kookaburra, Tasmanian devil, wallaby, and a few penguins, among others. I was surprised by how friendly all of the animals were, and how free. The koalas were climbing the trees right above our heads.

My mom held a snake!

This koala was super photogenic

My new friend, Mr. Kangaroo (or mrs!)

Penguins in Australia! 

After the wildlife park, we stopped at Wentworth Falls. It was a bit of a walk down some stairs to get to the lookout point, but it was beautiful. You can see out over all of the mountains and across to the actual waterfall. We took some pictures and climbed on all the rocks before getting back on the bus and heading to our lunch stop in a quaint little town. My mom and I ended up eating at Red Door, which was a small café. I finally found a place to get an iced chocolate, which I heard is all the rage in Australia (that might be a complete lie). It was pretty good; basically just a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup decorating the glass, a little bit like a liquidy milkshake. I paired that with a ham and cheese croissant. We popped into the bookstore and bottle shop across the street to kill some time as well, but we didn’t find anything.

The mountains near Wentworth Falls

Wentworth Falls

Three Sisters was next up on our tour. It’s a rock formation located in the Blue Mountains. We stopped at a lookout point in Katoomba and took some pictures. It is really weird how the rocks just managed to end up in that formation, but at the same time, I expected them to be more off by themselves instead of just next to the side of a cliff.

Three Sisters

As we were leaving Katoomba, we stopped in the rainforest. We took a scenic railway journey down into the forest. It was actually surprisingly step considering our rail car didn’t have any seatbelts. I guess I didn’t really consider the 52 degree angle fully beforehand. We got a little bit lost wandering along the paths in the forest, but we spotted some really strange trees. There were information plaques on the mining that used to be done in the area too, so that was interesting to find out about. Luckily, a nice couple pointed us in the right direction and we made our way back uphill to ride the scenic cable car to the top. This ride went a little bit slower than the railway so we were able to take some more pictures of the mountains as we ascended.

Scenic Railway

The rainforest is pretty intense

Our final stop on tour was at the Sydney Olympic Stadium Park. It really is quite huge. It apparently cost $3 billion to build on top of the $4 billion spent in roadwork and maintenance to the city. However, they installed solar panels around the stadium to cut costs on some of the electricity used to power the lights and the nearby Olympic Village. They turned the torch circle into a fountain and put up a decorative mindfield of poles to honor the volunteers and medalists, so we took a few pictures. The stadium is used for concerts and conferences now.

Where they kept the torch

In commemoration of the volunteers and medalists

Sydney Olympic Stadium

We took a harbor cruise back to Darling Harbour from the Olympic park wharf. It was actually a pretty informative cruise given by Captain Cook Cruises. Every time we passed a major landmark, we were told something about it, which is much different than when I took the government ferry to Manly. It was interesting to learn though. My mom didn’t get seasick either, which is good.

We walked around Darling Harbour after disembarking, but neither of us were hungry so we caught the bus back to my house instead.

Bridge Climb

My mom arrived yesterday and I picked her up from the train station after my tourism class ended at noon. We managed to get her luggage up to my townhouse without too much difficulty, but going grocery shopping was definity tiring. Her jet lag was really starting to show when we entered the windowless mall to shop. She was really surprised by the prices of things too, especially of multi-packs of soda. We found probably the only store in the mall though that sells Mountain Dew and bought a 2-liter, so hopefully that will last us until Perth.

We bought a bus ticket after putting the groceries away and having lunch then wandered around campus for a bit before returning for dinner. I finally let her go to sleep around 9. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t too early or she’ll never break the cycle of jet lag.

This morning, we woke up around 8 to head into the city for the Bridge climb. It was a beautiful day, thankfully, and after walking around Circular Quay, we headed into the Rocks for our climb. There’s actually quite a bit of equipment that they make you take up onto the bridge with you. You have to wear a one-piece suit (clothing underneath optional) as well as clip-ons for any glasses, a hat, a headset, and the latch that hooks you to the tethers on the bridge.

Our group for the climb was rather small, with only two other people, so we were able to jump ahead of another group and spend a bit more time enjoying the scenery. It really is a pretty view. I was able to point out places I’ve been on the harbor to my mom and give her sort of a map of the city. Our guide was pretty informative too. I just can’t remember any of the cool things we learned off the top of my head.

Our Bridge Climb photo

We spent about two hours up on the actual bridge and got our picture taken. I actually really like the group shot, which is good because it’s the only free one that you get with your climb. After coming back down, we walked over to one of the pylons of the bridge because it has a museum and lookout point inside it. If you do the bridge climb, you get into the pylon for free, so we thought we would check it out. We were able to take some pictures of the harbor from the top since we couldn’t do that on the bridge.

Views from the pylon

Next we headed over to the opera house and wandered around the grounds. I hadn’t realized that each of the “fins” of the opera house is actually a separate building nor had I realized the “fins” are made of ceramic-like tiles. It was quite strange. We took some pictures of the layout before heading over to the botanical garden. My mom thought a lot of the trees over there were pretty strange, so we took pictures of those as well as some sunset shots of the harbor, the bridge, and the opera house.

The tiles of the opera house are pretty peculiar

They're actually separate buildings

We headed further inland to see St. Mary’s Cathedral and wandered inside. We couldn’t stay long because mass was about to start, but it’s huge. It’s really pretty too, but I’ve seen enough old churches over time to not really be awestruck anymore.

We tried to go to Jacksons on George for their happy hour, but it was pretty strange. We went into the bar to order but she told us the cocktail special was only upstairs. However, there was absolutely no one upstairs. It was confusing, so instead we left and went to Lowenbrau, which is a German biergarten in the Rocks. I had sparkling strawberry wine and my mom had a Lowenbrau original and we both had a pretzel. They gave them to us with butter, which I thought was actually a really good pairing.

Sparkling Strawberry Wine and Lowenbrau Original with our Pretzels

After our snack, we headed back to the bus stop and caught a ride home, completely exhausted. We didn’t walk nearly as far as I have before but the bridge climb was quite a bit of stairs, so I think that’s what made us so tired.

Open House Sunday

I went to the Rose Seidler House today, which was built by Harry Seidler, an Austrian famous for his architecture. He has contributed quite a few buildings to the Sydney skyline, as well as building this house. The area around the house is beautiful and smells of hickory smoke because at this time of year they are burning some of the bush in the surrounding area to prevent uncontrolled summer bush fires. It smelt amazing as soon as I stepped off the bus.

I was basically in the middle of suburbia though, so my friend Ed who lives near the house joined me with his dad’s car. We took the short tour through the house and watched a video downstairs about the architect. I found it fascinating, but I could tell he was bored (as most guys would be). I was really excited to find a wallaby in the backyard though!

Rose Seidler House

I believe this is a wallaby

We drove over to the nearby Bobbin Head National Park afterward and wandered around for a bit. There were quite a few people there since it was a weekend in the middle of the day and all of the picnic tables were full. We wandered about ten minutes into the bush though and found a shady place to sit and hang out. I was startled when we first sat down because a huge lizard crawled out from under the rock and I thought it was a snake. There was a lot of interesting looking flies and mosquitoes around too. I think it’s because we choose to sit next to a stagnant-looking creek, but it was weird to see the different sorts of bugs they have in Australia.

Bobbin Head

It’s also nice to know someone with a car, as I saved much time and money instead of taking the bus. I also have no idea how I would have caught the bus home from where we were.

Coastal Tour

We went on a bus tour today of the coast South of Sydney. I really had no idea what the trip actually consisted of, except for free lunch, so my expectations were probably too high. In the end, the trip amounted to much more than 5 hours of driving with very little actual sightseeing. What we did see was pretty, but I think I’m already getting too used to the sights around here. Things certainly aren’t breathtaking anymore.

The morning started off with a stop at McDonalds for coffee. I found it kind of strange that inside the McDonald’s there was a separate pastry/coffee counter from the regular food counter. After the group ate, we stopped at a lookout right on the coast. We took a few pictures, but it was super windy and it felt like we were going to blow off the cliff, so we didn’t stay long.

Sarah and I's shadow

Next up was a Buddhist Temple. I don’t really know anything about it, but the grounds were nice. We couldn’t take pictures inside, but it looked like pretty much every other Buddhist temple that I’ve seen in my life J

The Pagoda

Interesting looking plant outside

The main temple

Then we stopped at another rocky outlook/park. This one had a hole in the rocks where the pressure from the tide would cause the water to blow up into the air. Our tour guide called in the blow hole. There was a lighthouse too, but it wasn’t very large and/or pretty, just basic white.

The blow hole -- I couldn't get a good action shot

We picked up lunch in town. I was highly disappointed because the e-mail about the trip from our campus coordinator had said lunch was included but our guide just dropped us off. I was glad that the prices out in the tiny town were much cheaper than Sydney, but it still cost me $8 for an order of fries and an ice cream. I was really annoyed though that when we got back to the bus and were taken to our “picnic” spot to eat there was a group of people cooking sausages for us. We were told to buy lunch, yet then there was free lunch anyways. I was already full from my fries so I didn’t even get to partake in the sausages, which probably would have been a much better means to satisfy my hunger. Our guide definitely miscommunicated.

After lunch, two people from the national parks office came to talk to us about aboriginal culture. We learned about a couple of plants in the area that are safe to eat and actually have health properties. I can’t remember what any of them were, but she gave us some leaves to chew on that were supposed to help with dehydration and showed how to use water and leaves to make a cream to clear up pimples. The guy showed us some of the weapons available to hunters and taught us how to throw a boomerang and play the didgeridoo.

Demonstrating on the didgeridoo -- I believe he was imitating the emu call at this point 

On the way home, we passed a random fudge and toffee self-serve station on the side of the road. The deserts were just sitting in a refrigerator with a little box for money on the bottom. It was bizarre. A bunch of the girls bought some though. We also stopped at a national park at the top of a hill with an outlook over a waterfall. It was pretty but hard to take pictures of because of the sun’s intensity.

Literally, the middle of nowhere

Morton National Park

Fitzroy Falls

City Hike

Yesterday, I decided to head into the city and visit a few museums that I wanted to see and were only open on Saturdays. I woke up early because most of them closed by mid-afternoon and I wanted to walk everywhere instead of relying on buses once I got to the city, even though most of the places I visited were a few kilometers apart.

I first went to the government house, which is the oldest building still standing in all of Australia. It was not the original government building, but the second one built in a slightly more private spot than the first (which is now completely surrounded by office buildings). The tour was pretty boring overall and we only got to see a few of the rooms. I felt like I was seeing the New South Wales version of the White House. I did find out some interesting facts though. Apparently, governor Macquarie, the namesake for my school and many other places around Sydney, fought for Britain in the American Revolution. Also,  the first queen of Australia—Queen Charlotte—was also queen of America before it was free from British rule, that’s why a lot of places in the United States are named Charlotte.

Government House

View of the harbour from the Government House

City view from the botanical garden

After the tour, I wandered around the grounds of the house and through the botanical gardens that sit on the Sydney Harbour. It still amazes me how much of the harbor remains green. Considering the lack of further expansion available to Sydney, you would think the green spaces would be the first thing they would destroy, especially ones that sit on the harbor front and could be prime real estate.

I made my way through the city and Kings Cross (the red light district of the Sydney, which is pretty sketchy even during the day) over to Potts Point, where the Elizabeth Bay house is located. I stopped at a few random street markets I saw on the way, but didn’t see anything interesting or affordable at them. The Elizabeth Bay House, while pretty, was not very interesting. It was much larger on the inside than it appeared from the outside and it overlooked another pretty part of the harbor, but I felt like I was just walking through an old house with some old furniture. I did really like the massive wine cellar in the basement though.

Wine Cellar in Elizabeth Bay house

Elizabeth Bay

Elizabeth Bay House

I headed to Paddington afterward to visit Paddington Markets, which is a large collection of art and clothing dealers who gather on the grounds of an area public school each Saturday. I was tempted to pick up one of the matted pictures of Sydney to match the painting I have from Italy, but none of them seemed quite right. I found the most amazing bookstore in Paddington called Ampersand Cafe. It was three floors of secondhand books with a cafe in the middle. Tables were spaced out on all three floors so that you could read and eat in whatever little nook you wanted to. I wish Paddington weren't an hour and a half bus ride from Macquarie because it seemed like the perfect place to go and read for the afternoon.

I finished earlier than expected so I decided to walk across town to Paddy’s Market and pick up some cheaper fruit. In the process, I walked through an area of Sydney where, for the first time, I felt like I shouldn’t be walking through. It was fairly derelict and I think I passed three people in the whole of ten minutes, which is strange for any other part of Sydney. It didn’t help that halfway through the walk the skies darkened, giving the whole place an eerie vibe. Needless to say, I was glad when I reached Chinatown. I was able to find some cheap grapes, eggs, apples, and bananas at Paddy’s before walking back to the main bus station to head back to campus. It started to rain just as I was crossing the street in front of the bus stop, but I lucked out because my bus pulled up almost instantly. I was so happy to sit down after all of the walking.