Sun, Sand and Surf!

The next day, we went back to the harbour, again with our trusted guides and a bagful of tourist information leaflets and guides etc.... (No anoraks dont worry guys!) This time we headed towards the botanical gardens; here you walk along the harbour front and get a fantastic view of the opera house in front of the harbour bridge; or you can just go for a walk around the gardens and see all kinds of beautiful flora and fauna. And loads and loads of fig trees.

The place is just crammed with so many species of animals and birds, for the first time on our travels we saw so many macaws and parakeets. Again many of the same kinds of trees as in South East Aisa; but a totally different variety of shrubs and bushes. You noticed things like no or few Ginger plants, at least not the way they are in SEA with their bright and big flowers, and no lillies. And just like Singapore, plenty of orchids to set my hayfever off to Tims great delight! Unforntunately we spet too much time looking at the ridiculous amount of fruit bats in the palm trees that we were unable to take a peek at the carnivorous plants exhibition - another day maybe - but we did get to see lizards, more bats and parots, strange looking black and white birds that make a hellava racket and loads of kookaburras. I was all good though, being a fan of Dot and the Kangaroo when I was a little girl, made me quite a happy bunny to see them!

We took a walk back through the city and saw the landing point of the Pomms from back in the day. Saw a beautiful cathedral, walked past the Olympic Training Simming Pools, saw a few statues, and monuments and took a walk through 'The Rocks' - an older part of town, etc, etc....

To start wrapping the end of our tourist stay in Sydney, we also took a trip to Manly, which is on the other side of the habour and Sydney City, to get there we took a ferry from the harbour. It is basically the Bournemouth of Sydney, where everyone goes to get out of the city and enjoy some quiet beaches and take a promenade walk. But the good thing is, that it isnt full of retired people, and the beach really is lovely. We took a walk along the beach and chilled out there for the most part of the day. I'd never seen people surf before, its kind of weird watching them do their thing, you look at them, and you would think its almost impossible to stay on top of the waves like that, but they do and it looks great! I envy their sense of balance so much!

After some sand, and surf we decided to get more sun and took a walk around Manly Town and basically did a trail of their parks and the cricket oval. At one point there was an unexpected bush walk which wasnt cool when we were both in flip flops and we had to be extra careful because of the broken glass bottles. Ah, the joys of having nothing better to do when youre 15!

Anyway we walked back to the beach and started to think about dinner, and with that it was time to get the ferry back and get some food in us! And the views of Sydney harbour at night, is really something special!

Sun, Sand and Surf!

Sydney, Australia