03 June 2008

Royal National Park

Hi there.....

Just a really quick update before we leave Sydney today and lose this opportunity to upload fotos and send emails and make phone calls indefinitely!!!

After the Blue mountains Frauke and I spent another great afternoon in Sydney at the fish market and another flea market at "The Rocks". After all this exursion we were desperately in need of sundowners in the revolving restaurant on the 47th floor at Australia Square. Beautiful views from the birds-eye perspective.....definitely reccommend doing this!!!

Sunday we went to Captain Cook's landing point in Botany Bay in 1770 and went to look for Humpback whales (which we unfortunately still have not found).

Monday we went for a walk at the Royal National Park... which is the second oldest park in the world. We took a really nice walk along the coast until the rain forced us back. Again we were disappointed not to find any whales.

Enjoy the pictures....

:-)


Sulphur crested cockatoo at Botany Bay


Australian "punk"pigeons at Royal National Park












01 June 2008

Blue Mountains

Happy Start of Winter/ Summer wherever you may be!!!
About 1,5 hours drive west of Sydney you get into the Blue Mountains. These mountains rise to about 1100m and offer a lot to do in terms of outdoor activities. Frauke and I had originally planned to do a short walk since we had a lot to do and see. Due to the beauty of the walk we were on (and a misread map) our circuit ended uptaking about 4 hours. I would recommend this walk (Valley of the Waters <-> Wentworth Falls) to everybody visiting the Blue Mountains, it was incredibly beautiful!
After lunch we moved on to the "Three Sisters" a rock formation consisting of three free standing pinnacles. The view is also very nice and fortunately the place wasn't too crowded, althiugh it does seem to cater for loads of people.
From the "Three Sisters" we drove to the "Grand Canyon" of the Blue Mountains. Again we were met with awesome views over a sprawling valley.
A little balls-up on my part at this point was locking the car keys inside the car.
A few frustrating calls later I spontaneously became a member of the NRMA (Australian automobile association)... always look on the bright side of life... I now know that my car has really strong windows, as I couldn't break into the car using a wheel spanner. I also know how easy it is to break into a car if you have the right equipment (i.e. screwdriver and a strong wire). Finally I am now paying member of the NRMA so should anything go wrong with my "trusty" car (wink! wink!) I will be able to phone a friend.
I hope you are all well!!
Hiking in Blue Mountain National Park...


...over the clouds

Empress Falls

Me at Sylvia Falls

Coloured eucalyptus bark...
...and matching tree!


Frauke at the bottom of Wentworth Falls

Climbing back out of the Valley of Waters

The entire Wentworth Falls (~300m)

Wentworth Falls

Top of the Wentworth Falls

Three Sister @ Katoomba

Grand Canyon of the Blue Mountains
Grand Canyon of the Blue Mountains