Back home

We came back a couple days ago. The flight from Sydney to Copenhagen via Bangkok was according to schedule and again we were upgraded to First Class from BKK to CPH.  :-)


Writing a blog during a vacation is exhausting, but looking back I am glad I did. Receiving so many input and experiences it is difficult to keep track without some sort of record. More than once I have totally forgotten what we did the first week of the vacation.


Forget all about tablet's and iPad's. You need a laptop. I did bring a cable for Ethernet but Wi-Fi worked fine. 


I brought three lenses but used my 24-70mm 2.8 to shoot 99% of the pictures. It was especially handy at the nature shoots of cause but also at the indoor events where I could shoot without using blitz. My extern hard disk also came in handy as shooting RAW+L generates a lot of GB. A 8 GB memory card is too small, it takes less than a day to fill it up - go for a 32 GB then you have a couple of days before you have to transfer all the pictures to your laptop AND external hard drive (just to be on the safe side).


Just one last thing: Go to Australia, it is an exceptional experience - I for sure am going back to visit Australia again.

The wedding of Figaro

(As I am running out of MB this is super short)

The first point on today’s agenda was: City Market also known as Paddy’s Market.

On our way to Sydney Aquarium we walked through Chinatown and Darling Harbour.

Maria from Team Benn’s had arranged we could see the premiere of the Mozart opera: “The wedding of Figaro.” All I had to do was to pick up the tickets at the Box Office. So today we had the opportunity to see the Opera House from the spectators point of view. It was my first opera so I guess that Sydney Opera House is not a bad place to start. And just for the record I can confirm: “It isn’t over before the fat lady sings." ;-)

I do not think that I will spoil it for anybody by revealing that Figaro got married after all.

Backstage Tour

Today started early. We had to be at the Sydney Opera House stage door at 6:45 for our backstage tour.

Our hotel is situated out side the centre of Sydney so for all our events a good deal of planning the transportation is needed. We had planned to take the bus, bought tickets, and asked for departure time and was told the busses started 4:00AM. Some properly did, but not the one we should use, it first started 7:00AM. So we walked for 45 min and got to the stage door just in time.

 It was very interesting to see the condition that the performers and employees have to work under. Many of the difficulties they suffer under today can be traced back to the dismissal of Utzon.

We took a stroll around Circular Quay and the Rock’s. Circular Quay, is the hub of Sydney’s public transportation system. From here, ferries, buses, and trains will take you anywhere in the “Harbour City.”

The Rock’s is the oldest part of Sydney with many of the old buildings restored and still in use with many pub’s, café’s and souvenir stores.  As it was Sunday The Rocks Market (www.therocksmarket.com), the city’s “premier” farmers and authentic Australian products marketplace, was in full swing at George Street.

At corner of Argyle and Lower Fort Street is The Garrison Church www.thegarrisonchurch.org.au). Built in 1843, this is Australia’s oldest church.

And just beside the church at Argyle Street we saw the Argyle Cut a tunnel dug through the hillside by convicts.

In the afternoon we did some Sydney sightseeing by bus.

Blue Mountain

Today we were on a one day trip to  Blue Mountain. The tour started in front of the hotel at 7:15.   

The bus that picked us up was also the one going to Blue Mountain so we did not have to change at the bus hub.

After 1h 30 min driving we stopped in Leura a small town in the mountains outside Sydney. Just at the restaurant an attempt to set a Guinness World Record in most people dancing Charleston was going on outside at the main street.

Even though the whole area is covered with green trees it is called the Blue Mountains because the fumes from the eucalyptus oil in the trees reflects the blue colour and gives the mountains a blue gleam.

After the coffee break we continued to The Three Sisters, which is just a fantastic view.

The Scenic World visitor centre is placed on top of the mountain; we then took a cableway down to the rainforest and did the 45 min walk (on board walks) and a Trainway brought us back up again. When entering the seats we were leaning backwards to the degree of almost laying down, but after a few meters it felt we were leaning forwards. Did I mention it is the steepest railway in the world with a 52-degree ascent?

Then we went to the Sky Way a return trip over a 270 m deep canyon. (Starting to get used to hights.)

Next stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park a private owned zoo with a big diversity of Australia’s wildlife.

Among other species we also saw this little creature, a Tasmanian Devil.

On the way back we drove by the Olympic City and saw some of the stadiums (from the outside). 

Harbour Bridge Climb

After breakfast I went back up to the room to confirm tomorrows booking for Blue Mountain.

We then walked to the stop for the free tourist bus. After waiting for 10 min we were beginning to be pressed for time so I asked a bus driver on a regular route if we could by tickets for Circular Quay, he said we could just hop on and drive with him. On arrival at Circular Quay we bought ticket for Captain Cook’s Coffee Cruise with 5 min to spare.

The harbour cruise is a must when in Sydney. The waterfront is fantastic.

After a short walk to Cumberland St. where the bridge climb was starting I started to get a little bit nervous, yet again I was to do something high in the air. 

    (If you look carefully at the picture you can actually see people climbing the bridge.)

First we were asked to dress up in climbing gear. It is quite complicated and you really have to listen up and comply. Trying to find your own way to do it don’t work. Before going through a small training tour to get used to help the harness around corners and learn how to climb up and down of steep ladder like staircases we went through the safety rules.

And then on to the climb. WOW. A fantastic experience. During the climb our guide Phil told in detail about the construction of the bridge in a very interesting way. What a view. Fantastic. Unfortunately we were not allowed to bring cameras so I cannot show any pictures.

Once back down we had to get out of the gear in reverse order and before leaving we got a certificate saying we had climbed the Harbour Bridge. It was 3 h 30 min fantastic experience and a must do when in Sydney.

We then rushed back to the hotel to change for our 7:30 PM reservation at the Sydney Tower. A 250 meter above ground rotating restaurant. We waited 15 min to get window seats and once again what a view.

Canberra - Sydney

Today was the last day driving, we are going to stay in Sydney for the rest of the time left. Before leaving Canberra we stopped at Canberra Glassworks where it is possible to see glassmaking as it happen and view an unique exhibition.

www.canberraglassworks.com

 On road to Sydney I decided for a detour and turned off the GPS. How difficult can it be to navigate in an unknown country? Well, at first it went according to plan but after a while we saw a road sign with the name on the town we just came from. We then did a u-turn and a couple of questionable turns ending up in front of this:

You are sitting in a 2-wheel drive designed for tarmac only, in front of a stream crossing the road with no idea which way to go, what would you do?

I of cause choose to continue and crossed the stream but when the road turned into a steep dirt road I u-turned and drove back over the stream and back to a road the GPS could find and came back on track and left the GPS on for the rest of the day.

We then came to Robertson aiming for Albion Park. It was a mountain pass with hairpin bends and a 10% steep way down. What a fantastic drive.

Canberra

As yesterday today was mostly transportation and as we started out from Merimbula, we found some sandwich and coffee at a bakery down town and drove off. After typing in the address for the hotel in the GPS I noticed the arrival time was 1:30PM.

Driving at Princes Highway we saw some fantastic nature. At the most beautiful views it was impossible to stop, and when it was possible to stop it was difficult to take a picture that would capture the scenery.

At most town’s there is an info centre, they are a gold mine of suggestions of what to see and what to do in the local area, further they got a lot of detailed maps. They are easily found by the yellow “i” on a blue background. But if you are in a hurry you should try to avoid them, because it take long time to do a visit, especially if you tell you are from Denmark. And if you are the only costumer in the shop they are also very talkative.

We tried to follow one of the suggested Tourist Drives but returned to Princes Highway fairly quickly. Did I mention it was a fantastic drive?

After lunch at Batemans Bay we went on to Braidwood, it is said to be a historic town, and it properly is but it is not shown. It looked pretty “normal” to me. We tried to drive around to see if anything of interest would show up but decided to continue after a few minutes.

In Canberry we stopped at the info centre and was told it was to late to see any attractions, as it was 4:30PM even though the GPS said we should arrive 1:30PM we had stopped at to many info centres and done to many detours. So we went to the Danish embassy to take a photo and then drove to the hotel to check in.

We had a 7:30PM reservation at the Alto Tower restaurant, a rotating restaurant 60 meters above ground level with a fantastic view. During the meal we did a little more than a 360 degree rotation as one rotation takes about 90 minutes.