On a walkabout. But only for an afternoon.

Sydney is a great place to go whale watching (when and if you manage to spot them). That's what Sydneysiders say, because the city's coastline consists mainly of steep cliffs that are only periodically interrupted with beaches. The cliffs are why whales come closer to the shore on their way to mate up north. So Sydney really isn't all about the beaches, no matter what all the tourist guides say. I think it's also about the lovely lighthouses and the cliff drops, which aren't so much lovely as scary. On our hike the whales eluded us, though, we didn't see one fin or tail out of them. It didn't ruin our mood one bit, because the weather was unusually sunny and there were lots of other things to see and photograph, you can check them out below. The lighthouses were my favourites.

Sydney's skyline as seen from Watsons Bay. If you stare at the photo closely,
you can see a plane taking off on the left side of the Sydney Tower Eye.

Did I mention the lighthouses?
They were so pretty.

Look how pretty!

Wouldn't you love to live up there? I would.

That's the old path along the cliffs, I guess.

Sound advice.

A big ass cactus. 

Sunset at the suburbs.

Hopping along that same lane of memories

I did go to Cairns as well at the end of my travels in Australia. I'm still a bit miffed that the weather (not to mention my travel companion...) was so dismal during the trip, but I tried to make the most of it. I also heard from my mates that came a few days later that they had opened the famous Lagoon on the Esplanade day after I left. Well, at least they got to enjoy a little fun in the sun.

All in all, my Cairns trip could have gone better, but I did get to see a lot of the place even though it rained most of the time. I went to the Great Barrier Reef and saw little fishies in all the colours of the rainbow and a part of the coral reef, which I hope wasn't a typical part of the reef, because it looked quite sad and colourless (apart from the fishies). Anyway, that's one natural wonder I can cross off my bucket list of things to see before they disappear completely. And I'm glad I didn't puke on the ride to and from the reef, because the sea was really choppy (something like 1-2 metre high waves that day), many did. The crew was handing out barf bags left and right, it wasn't the nicest thing to witness. I'm also glad they had plenty of those bags.

Aaaaanyways, I'm trying to keep the jabber to a minimum, but the memories just keep flooding in, so excuse me if I'm rambling. You're more than welcome to skip ahead to the pretty (and ingeniously assembled) photos, of course. I walked around the place a lot too, the town isn't that big to begin with and pretty much everything was within walking distance. On one day I went up a mountainside to Kuranda in an old train and then around the tree tops of the rainforest in cable cars, that was fun. The photos don't do it justice, so I didn't put any of those here. If you ever go to Cairns, be sure to check the weather report before your flight, is all I'm saying. And now for something completely different: Photos!

I'm so freaking artistic, aren't I? These are just some random snaps of turtle statues and stuff.

An old cemetery in the middle of the town.

They were some choppy waters on the way to
the Great Barrier Reef, people were upchucking left and right.

Rainforest, I think it was in the Botanical Gardens.

Pretty flowers

The Kuranda railway went up a mountainside.
Who knew there were so many mountains in Australia?

Waterfall on the way up to Kuranda.

Skipping down memory lane to a more recent past

A little after the unfortunate weather patterns in Port Stephens a few of us rented a car and drove all the way down to Canberra. It took a while to get there, since the roads are in a pretty bad condition and the speed limits are low even in the highways. They were no autobahns, as the Germans in our group would point out on several occasions (not just during this trip). Neither did it help that it took us close to an hour to get out of Sydney to begin with, believe me, it isn't as easy as you might think. 

Once we got to the ACT we were attacked by a sudden urge to go through each and every one of the roundabouts built in the area, because the hostel we were supposed to be staying in was hidden in one of the side streets we just couldn't seem to find, no matter how hard we tried. Eventually we did, though, and the place was pleasant enough.

On the way back we got lost again, but this time it was after we got out of Canberra (that was easy, no thanks to the roundabouts), because we were trying to find Jervis Bay and the whitest beach on the continent (maybe even the world). The way there took us up a side of what seemed like a mountain behind a slow-moving tanker and down again on the other side, it was almost like a rollercoaster, but with actual cars. The beach was awesome by the way, well worth the effort. Below is some photographic evidence on both places, enjoy!

In the War Memorial they have listed
all the Australians that have died in the wars.

Australian War Memorial

The Parliament House where they actually elected the first female prime minister of Australia.
Didn't catch a glimpse of her though, only of her opponent.

A kangaroo and an emu greeted us at the entrance
to the Parliament House.

My attempt at being artistic with MS Paint. It was fun, actually. Might do it again, so beware.

Honestly, Jervis Bay was amazing!

The sand is actually white like snow. Walking on it made a funny sound,
almost like walking on snow when it's -20 degrees and sunny.
All you northerners know what I'm talking about.

Let's take a trip down memory lane...no, now you've gone too far. Here, let me show you:

About two years ago I had just returned from a five month stint at trying to pass as an Aussie (failed, and quite splendidly, I might add. I just loved being a tourist too much.), and was swept away by all the normal hoopla that consists of working and studying and trying to find some free time to do anything worth mentioning. So. That's the long and short of it why I didn't get around to posting the rest of the photos here. Two years is a long hiatus for a blog, but that's how long it took me to graduate (little over one and a half years), quit my part-time, soon-to-be-permanent-if-I-didn't-do-something-quick job, start and quit another part-time job, and finally find a for-real job (one that I'll be starting next week), and maybe breathe a bit (about five months) before I felt time was right to start writing about my travels, past and present, again.

And, because they (they who?) say a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some that don't even come to close to the fun I had with a friend of mine on a rainy (and it wasn't a drizzle, mind) weekend in Port Stephens, NSW. It consisted of shamelessly befriending the only two guests (they had a car; well, and old ambulance turned into a winnebago) apart from us that were staying at the hostel and having the best time you could imagine. Here, look! Not even close.

Possum that almost bit my friend.
They were hiding in the outdoor toilets.

Tawny Frogmouth named Froggy.

Josephine! The nicest kangaroo living
in a hostel I've ever met. 

The hostel resembled a tree house more than anything else.

What to do on a rainy day in Port Stephens, I hear you ask?
Go and feed stingrays and sharks, of course. 

That's where we were. No, not the first one, the second one.

Vivid Festival eli "I likes 'em pretty lights"

Sydneyssä on se hyvä puoli, että joka viikko on jokin festivaali tai mikälie karnevaali käynnissä, jos vain jaksaa ottaa selvää. Harmi vain, että tuo opiskelu kävi välillä niin raskaaksi ettei ihan joka paikkaan pystynyt repeämään. Mutta nyt se on onneksi ohi! Ei enää esseiden parissa valvottuja tai huonosti nukuttuja öitä eikä stressiä siitä, mitä on unohtunut tehdä. Voin vain kokemuksen syvällä rintaäänellä todeta, ettei Suomen yliopistot tai korkeakoulut (molemmissa kun olen sattuneesta syystä aikaani kuluttanut...) ole mitään verrattuna Australian vastaaviin! On kiva tulla takaisin jo senkin takia;) Vaikka toisaalta olisi mukava jäädä vielä vähäksi aikaa...mutta aina ei voi voittaa.

Tämän postauksen tarkoitus ei kuitenkaan ole enää märehtiä koulua, kun se kerran lopulta on ohi, vaan näyttää nättejä kuvia Vivid festivaalista, missä mm. oopperatalon ja St. Mary's katedraalin pintaan heijastettiin kaikenmoisia kuvia ja kuvioita. Hienoja olivat.


Aikani kuluksi yritin ensin ottaa kuvia vastarannalla olevasta Luna Parkista, mutta kuvat eivät suostuneet onnistumaan.


Susanne päätti pelleillä taskulampun kanssa, joita sai ilmaiseksi ihan juhlan kunniaksi. Niillä oli kai jokin tarkoituskin, mutta se ei selvinnyt meille. Mutta...


Sitten ooperatalon purjeet lopulta valaistiin!








St. Mary's Macquarie streetillä.






State Parliament Housen teemana oli Harbour Bridge ja miten se rakennettiin.


Mitchell Library eli osa osavaltion pääkirjastoa.


Teemana oli elämä ensimmäisessä siirtokunnassa Australiassa.


Näitä muovimajakoita oli pitkin Macquarie Streetiä ja Circular Quaytä, vähän niin kuin herättämässä lisähuomiota näihin yllä oleviin valoilmiöihin. Ihan kuin sitä nyt olisi tarvittu.