Taronga Zoo & Katoomba

     Thanks to my lovely friend Jeremy, he hooked me up with free tickets to the Taronga Zoo (normally about $46...eek!). I headed over there one fine morning on the Taronga Zoo ferry. Never did get sea sick on the ferries so maybe my stomach is getting better. After we got there we were herded onto a bus (I didn't realize we could have actually walked there), and were taken to the entrance for $2. Not too shabby actually, because as I was at the zoo I realized it was on a serious hill so I was glad to have paid the two bucks to be taken to the top entrance so I could go down to see stuff instead of up.
     Luckily, I timed the visit just right to see some of the reptiles, the kangaroos, and then the elephant show. The star of the elephants is currently the little elephant above, named Mr. Shuffles. The story goes that the zoo keepers thought he was dead before he was born so nobody made the effort to be around when the mother started labor. After he came out, the mother nudged him to get up (I guess if they don't within a certain amount of time after being born its a bad sign). Somehow he ended up behind this gate and the mom went buck wild, alerting the other elephants who also began making a fuss. He ended up living and is quite the miracle elephant. He's a precious little thing. Playing around with the other smaller elephant they have in the pen. There are also four other grown elephants, including his mom.

These pelicans were ginormous. I never realized how big they were. Some stupid girl and her friends were trying to get better (?) snaps of them, so they reached over the fence, which is juuuuust out of the photo on the right and were taunting it. It kept snapping at her, and watching from above I was really hoping it was going to rip her hand off and teach her a lesson. I hate people that have no respect for caged animals. No wonder there are so many attacks...and I'm not sorry to say they deserve it. :)  I also saw some cool giraffes and an echidna. It looks kinda like a porcupine. It has a long nose, say, a smaller version of an anteaters with a long tongue. Cute little things, waddling along.

I also went to the Blue Mountains, to a small town called Katoomba. Pat was nice (crazy?) enough to drive me there so I didn't have to take the train. I stayed at the Flying Fox hostel, which was really cool. It was in a house, with about 6 or 7 rooms. I thought, oooooh I'm soooo smart, I'll stay in an all girls dorm so I don't have to deal with snoring dudes. WRONG! The first night I had to put in my ear plugs because this chick was snoring something AWFUL. What is the  deal?! So ridiculous. So anyway, that afternoon I went to the market and picked up some kangaroo kebabs, some pineapple, and some bell peppers (they call them capsicum here...eh?). Then I prepared it, threw it on the barbie and cooked that up!

Its quite nice, the kangaroo. Raw it is really dark red and looks pretty gross. Its a bit chewier than beef so medium rare is much nicer. Ate that two nights in a row, and can't really complain. I thought my brain might have a fit and tell my stomach to get upset since it wasn't beef or chicken but KANGAROO, but I did ok. Got a little ill a couple times but when I thought 'its beef, its beef' I took it down like a champ. The second day that I was there I went on a 6k or so hike down to Linda Falls and back up the Furber Steps to Echo Point. It was a really nice hike, not overly well posted, but luckily with the signs and my map I figured out where I was going. I only saw a few people for the first hour or so and I started to get a little worried. Then 3 Swiss dudes passed me, I'm SOOO out of shape, and I followed their voices for a while to know I wasn't going the wrong way. Can I just tell you how many spider webs I broke through WITH MY FACE?! Every time I tried not to panic because I knew, from my own two eyes, how big these spiders actually are. And if anyone's heard the wolf spider story, you know I now get into a panic when there's massive spiders around.I opted to swing a stick in front of me after a while like an idiot, but at least I didn't have to do the spider panic dance when I realized I had one on my back! Hah!

So the top left snap of me isn't the best, but you can see the three little peaks of the 3 Sisters pretty much right above my head. My hike started around the back of those, and it took me all the way down to the bottom of the forest, so you can imagine how many stairs I had to take down. And, btw, I was wearing my versatiles. If you don't know what those are, they are the nature kind of pants with the zip off leg parts to make shorts/capris etc. I SWORE I'd NEVER wear those, after seeing them all over Europe. And here I am sporting them. Lemme tell you, they're amazing nature pants. Not too hot but nice to cover your legs from the bushes. Yay. Above is one of the waterfalls I came to, and left is part of the Furber Steps. They take you from the bottom of the forest to the top of the cliff. Wrecked my ish, but it was such a nice hike!

The reason they call it the Blue Mountains is because of the blue tinge the range takes on when viewed from a distance. The tinge is caused by mie scattering which occurs when incoming ultraviolet radiation is scattered by particles within the atmosphere creating a blue-greyish colour to any distant objects, including mountains and clouds. Either way, its pretty cool how they look blue. The snap of me below is the Echo Point lookout. Here's a kind of half-ass map of the trip. http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&where1=Katoomba%2C%20New%20South%20Wales%2C%20Australia&encType=1

Hopefully I'll have the Donkey Sanctuary blog and photos up after my next WWOOF after the 15th. Maybe before. Keep it real! xx

Manly Beach and the Botanic Gardens

After hearing so much about how lovely Manly Beach was and that there was a scenic walk I decided to go. I hop the train down to Circular Quay, where the Opera House and the boats are, and catch the Manly ferry. $12 something round trip, PB&J sandwich in my bag, money saver and master adventurer today! I hit Manly wharf running, stopping by the information center to get a map of the 9k walk. I certainly wasn't going to be doing the whole thing, but the circular part looked ok. The walk starts out on a strip type walk, right up to the sand and along the beach towards the hill. It was great weather and I had on my fancy walking shoes (and shorts, which I kept feeling like were too short...as I didn't really see anyone else wearing shorts....oh well).

I hike up these stairs, and then its not apparent which way I'm meant to go. All the people who were walking my direction seemed to disappear. As I walk a little farther, there's a dirt trail that looks like the way I'm supposed to go. Its an easier climb for someone so out of shape, but just enough to get my heart going. Good work B. I see one Asian girl on the way up and she tells me, watch out for the lizards. I see a small, normal looking lizard shortly after and think to myself, 'she must be the skittish type' and think nothing more of it. I see a couple more people on the way up, and then nothing until I get to a road...nobody's driving by. Across it, though, is a sign pointing me to the visitor center of North Head, the main reason I headed this way, for the views. I take it, not seeing anyone again, and come out on this large lawn behind a building. Luckily, I see the visitor center and head towards it. A nice older couple greet me and I tell her, I just came out of that trail back there...didn't really see anyone on the way up, is that normal? She smiles and says, 'oh, the FOREIGNERS usually come up that way.' Hmmmm. How is that possible when I didn't see another way up?! Oh well. Felt a little stupid after that.

On the way down I went past a lookout around a huge rock that I had passed up on the way up the trail. As I'm leaving, a dude there says, watch out for the lizards. WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP SAYING WATCH OUT FOR THE LIZARDS?! I think to myself. I start to leave and run into a MASSIVE LIZARD. :) HAHA. Oooooh, those lizards. Its about the size of an iguana, actually called a goana, and scares the bejesus out of me. Looked a little angry too. Like when I walked by it was going to do a flying leap onto my face and claw out my eyes. Guess I'M the skittish type now. Long story short, if that's possible, I went back down and enjoyed the beach for an hour or so before leaving back to Sydney.

Also went to the Botanic (botanical? sp?) gardens the other day. They have a bat problem, an infestation, and they're killing the trees and stuff so its kind of a big deal. They're SO loud when they screech at each other as they fight while hanging next to one another. The Gardens were free, score for me, so I tooled around there for a while, checking things out. Very nice.

Next plan is the Blue Mountains for three nights, then WWOOFing up the coast, with hopefully my first stop at a donkey sanctuary. Will try and keep you lovelies updated as much as possible, but internet access is probably limited.

The eagle has landed...

Well, I've now been here three days...and I feel like I haven't done a thing. The flight over was killer, 8 hours of very restless, crappy sleep...only to wake up at 430a local time. That was a long day. Not knowing the address of my accomodation also created a slight hiccup in my customs clearing. Although at check-in, in LA, I asked to sit as far from children as possible, I had two kids behind me, a baby one row over and up, and another very close...couldn't find it, but damn could I hear it in the middle of my sleep SCREAMING. Lovely. Story of my life. :)

Am staying with Pat, a friend of Jeremy's (met Jeremy in Interlaken in '08). Pat is an amazing host, drove me around after he picked me up from the airport for at least an hour, then brought me home for a shower and tooth-brushing, then we went to Bondi Beach, the most popular and well-known beach here. Great weather...don't even need the long sleeve shirts and jacket I brought. Am even hot (I know, ME, HOT?!) in a T and pants and thongs (what they call flip flops).

Saw the Opera House yesterday. If you know me, I purchase things based on how much I would have worked for it and if I think that's a fair price to pay. Used my 'official' student card to get a discount...and still payed 24.50 to do a one our tour. Not worth the money, but definitely a nice tour. Would have liked less short movies and more substance. Nonetheless, was ok going around alone yesterday...seems ok so far. Have met wonderful people, through Jeremy and Pat, and even had a fellow offer me his parents house more north from here when I head up there. Such accomodating people, the Ozzies. Even met Pat's mum today at his cricket final and she told us both that I am very invited to stay with them and invited to a lunch they are having next Sunday. Lovely lady.

Not really sure how this blog is supposed to work. Maybe this will kind of take place of my journal a bit as a list of where I've been. Hopefully you've not found this boring...if so, I would love some feedback. I'll now try and add some photos...wish me luck.