Port Douglas (Great Barrier Reef) to Katoomba (Blue Mountains)

Just made it back from my last two stops in Port Douglas "Port Dougie" in Queensland and the Katoomba in Blue Mountains approximately 2 hours West of Sydney.  I'm now in Kings Cross in Sydney and it's a pretty upbeat part of town.  It's not as bad as people would lead me to believe :)

The trip up to Cairns was pretty sweet on Virgin Blue.  I got some really great shots of Brisbane from my seat.  I'll have to upload them when I make it back home since they were captured on my iPhone.  I will say that Qantas is the best airline that I have ever flown on....  it's pretty sick... even for Domestic flights!

Arrival into Cairns headed to Port Douglas on 17 November 2010:

Pure Sugar Canes

 Beaches are Beautiful and Warm!

It took approximately 2 hours to get to Port Douglas from Cairns.  The first day was absolutely beautiful and started to rain non-stop after the seond day.  I guess I really can't complain since it is a tropical rainforest.  I spent the first day wondering around the town, which took approximately 3 hours :)  It's a small place, but I like it.

Arrival in Port Douglas:

 Four Mile Beach

 Limited Swimming on Four Mile Beach after the Rain.

Still Beautiful

 St. Mary's by the Sea...

 Wanna Get Married??? Well, I hope you hold off for the two year waiting list!

 Afternoon cocktail at "The Inlet"

 Time to feed George at the Inlet 5:15pm every day.

There's George the Giant Grouper having dinner!

I spent the second day running on Four Mile Beach and swimming in the limited swimming area later that afternoon.  You can only swim in the permitted area because of all of the rain... Jelly fish and Sting Rays:(  The limited area is surrounded by huge nets.  But if you speak with the locals, they advise you not to swim in the limited area since there are smaller jelly fish that can get through the nets... I found out from one of the bartenders later that night.

The Inlet was pretty cool.  I met several people there and we chatted it up for about 4 hours :)  People are pretty friendly and I found out that a lot of Australians and New Zealanders vacation in Cairns and Port Douglas.

I also had several great meals there...  Brent... Salsa was yummy!  I had Yabi's (sp).  The bartenders also got me drunk of leftover frozen cocktails from other guests.  Mango, Strawberry, Kiwi... drinks! 

Lots of fresh fish eaten by me over the past two weeks...  I don't know the name of some of the fish that I ate. All of it was great and I reconfirmed that I don't like oysters... ugh!

Day trip to the Great Barrier Reef (Opal, Escape and another which I can't remember the name of):

Getting ready to gear up!

 Beautiful

 Beautiful

 Did I mention how Beautiful it is?

 Beautiful

I can't describe in words how beautiful the GBR is...  I am very thankful for the opportunity to swim in it!  Glad I was able to do this in my lifetime!

Swimming with the Fishes :)  I promise there will be more pictures of the reef as soon as I get the water proof camera developed.

 This is a real picture of me hugging a fish!

 I wanted to take him home!

Headed to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains:

 Sydney Central Station

 Heading into the Blue Mountains

The trains could use an upgrade :)

Arrived at Sydney Central Train Station on November 21, 2010.  It took approximately 2 hours to get to Katoomba.  It is a lot cooler in the Mountains... but I have to say it was one of the best parts of my trip so far.  I fell in love with the small towns and the fresh air.  There's absolutely nothing to do there after 8pm.  I was in bed by 9pm every night!  People hike, mountain bike and camp... it's awesome!!!!!!

Arriving in Katoomba:

 Another Destination :)

My stay in the Old School Guest House... I can't wait to share all of my lodging accomodations with you guys... you have to wait for the final blog....  You'll see the extremes in places where I stayed.  I actually loved the Metropole... it smelled like wood and old leather!  It even had a heated blanket on the bed and a heat lamp in the room... awesome!!!

Katoomba:

 The Metropole

 Town of Katoomba

 Katoomba

 The Best Cafe in Town... I ate here everyday!

I love this town!

Hiking the Blue Mountains:

 Echo Point... And it starts... Full Day Hike (6-7hours) roundtrip

 8am... near "The Three Sisters"... Pants turned into shorts by the end of the hike.

 Katoomba Falls

 Three Sisters

 Three Sisters overlooking Jamison Valley

 Bottom of Leura Falls

 More Waterfalls

 Jamison Valley

 About 30 minutes into the hike.

 1 Hour into the hike

 Witches Leap Waterfall

 Lots of Waterfall pictures

 2 hours into the hike... almost in the Valley on Federal Pass

 Small Waterfall... didn't want to get too close to the cliff.

Yeah... I'm gonna pass on sitting under a rock cliff....

 Waterfalls

 Waterfalls

 Now I'm on the other side of the "Three Sisters"

 Almost at the bottom

 Waterfalls

 Everyone needs to hike the Blue Mountains at some point!

 Pretty Quiet down here...

 At the bottom of the Waterfall

 Heading down Fuber Steps

 Almost int he Valley

 I've hiked below the "Three Sisters" in Jamison Valley... 3 hours into the hike!

 Looking up at the "Three Sisters"

 Federal Pass

 This was really cool!

 Heading back up.

 Just a little road block!

 And there were steps, steps and more steps. 

 Over 900 steps going back up from Leura Falls

I would have screamed if I saw this creepy crawly on the hike!

Unique Birds on the hike

To sum up the Blue Mountains... Gorgeous... Scary... Peaceful.  They remind me of the Grand Caynon, but more lush.  Parts of the Blue Mountains are known as cool climate rainforest.  There are lots of birds.... White Cockatoos... Black Cockatoos... Birds that I've never seen before.  They make the scariest noises that I have ever heard... like a prehistoric bird! 

I'll admit that hiking the Mountain alone was pretty scary at first.  I did feel safe with the knife that "E" gave me (thanks so much) and my hiking sticks.  Hiking sticks were key in this hike.  The last part of the hike was pretty brutal.  I don't know what I was more afraid of... snakes, leeches, crazy people on the trails or breaking a leg.  I felt more comfortable when I walked past some fellow hikers on the trail. I went through 3 liters of water easily!  I will make it back here one day!

Time for a little Chocolate after the hike:

 $11.00  it was worth it.

I just finished this brownie today

Heaven!!!

One word about the Katoomba Blue Mountains Chocolate Company.... "YUMMY"

Day trip to Leura:

 Reminded me of Livia's Costume.  It's wild... Found this fellow while walking to Sublime Point.

 Beautiful!

 The Everglades Garden

 Everglades



Sublime Point

 Sublime Point Overlook

Sublime Point Overlook

Last day in Katoomba:

 Maybe Prince Charming will take me here one day

Beautiful.

Ok... I think I'm blogged out for the day!  I will post again when I make it to New Zealand!  Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  See you in 2-3 weeks.



Time to do a little sharing....

Day 2 and I'm exhausted...  I am falling in love with Australia and the people here!  Sydney is really fast paced.... a little over that since that's why I decided to leave DC.  Tomorrow I fly out to Port Douglas to relax by the beach and venture out to the GBR! 

Did I mention how expensive Australia is???  Unless you go to the hidden secrets mentioned by the locals, you'll end up spending $30 "At the Starbucks" "At the Starbucks"... my East Coast friends will get that one!.  Yes, Idiot 101 here spent $30 for a mug and 'tall' hot chocolate...  I just spent $2.40 on a very yummy chai tea at a latte shop called "Creme".  Yummy!  Ok... enough of my complaining on vacation/Holiday :)

Darling Harbour is charming, but kind of far away from all of the attractions.  I'll be closer when I return late next week.  I have managed to walk most of downtown Sydney... really, I have... and I think I may have already lost 5lbs.  Yesterday I visited the Sydney Fish Market, "The Rocks - really cool old village", Walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and went on a tour at the Sydney Opera House!  It rained all day yesterday, but hey the rain won't keep me in.  Today was amazing... beautiful with sunshine... warm.  Today's weather made getting around a lot easier and me happier.  After I update this blog and provide some photos... I'm going to have a little dinner and have a night on the town with some new friends!  Today, I ventured to the Chinese Friendship Garden, Hyde Park, Parliament of New South  Wales and the Art Gallery of New South Wales!  My favorite so far is the Sydney Opera House and Royal Botanical Gardens.  The history of the Opera House and architecture and design is mind blowing!  It is really as big of a deal as everyone makes it.  I just had to see it for myself.

George street is so busy with big time companies like KPMG, PWC, Banks, Law Firms, etc!  It has trendy shops and restaurants along with cheesy cheap shops and fast food places... again, kind of like NYC.  The Fish Market was pretty cool, lots of local fish and shell fish that I have never heard of. 

Towards the end of the day, I saw more runners and I saw hundreds of them today!  There's no Day Light Savings Time here.  It was almost 7pm and still light outside.

Australians are really nice for the most part and I'm falling in love with "all " the different accents here.  I often wonder who  I'm going to speak with next... Someone French, Australian or Swedish!  Sydney is definitely feeding my culture appetite.

English is the first language here, but people are having a hard time understanding me... Kind of different.  I do love when they say "Where are you from?  America"... "wow we love it there"... "are you enjoying your Holiday?"  I love it!

Ok... Sorry to say this... but Australians love Christmas way more than Americans.  They don't say "Merry Christmas" like the US... they say "Happy Christmas".  Happy Christmas signs are everywhere!  Streets are already decorated with lights and trees are already in stores and major parks and plazas. 

I had the best Thai food of my life last night!  So yummy!  Lots of Asian cuisine here.  I vowed not to eat a "Hamburger" this whole trip.... or pizza"

I feel really bad for pregnant women!  After lugging around 55lbs for 2 days, my feet and ankles were so swollen.  My hips and thighs were super sore... oh well, at least I'm getting in an awesome work out.  I turned in around 8pm last night and didn't wake up until 9am this morning!  I was really exhausted! 

I highly recommend traveling alone at least one point in your life!  You get to meet so many new/different people and you'll do things that you would never try if you were with someone else.  This is a very liberating experience!

When I return, I'll tell you guys all the details about the people that I have met along the way!  Like I said, I've only been traveling for a few days including travel from LAX and I've met so many nice/genuine people.

Now time for pictures....

 Kalieb - Friend (San Diego to LAX)

 Beautiful San Diego Sunset - Encinitas from Train

 Oceanside from train- Almost at LAX.

 Mud Crab - $44/each... crazy

 Who would ever eat these - Balmain bugs... ewhhh!

 Sydney Opera House - I have so many pictures that I want to share of this place.

 Made it through Customs...

 Yummy Thai!

 Chinese Friendship Garden - Dragons playing in the pond.

 Chinese Friendship Garden

 Hyde Park

 Statue inside of Hyde Park

 Hyde Park

 My favorite part about Sydney are 1)People 2)Sculptures and 3) Birds

 Sculpture in Hyde Park

 Royal Botanic Gardens

 Huge Green House (Tropical)

 Bats... Huge Bats... Everywhere

Two new friends.  These are wild birds!

 Hello you...

 See... they like Me!

New Friends having fun!

 Downtown Sydney (part of it... again, it's huge)

 Sydney Opera House and Bridge - I figured that you would rather see it on a Sunny day vs. a Rainy day

 Me, in a chair

 Cupid - I love this little guy!

 The Parliament of NSW Fountain

 Parliament House

NSW Art Gallery

Love you all... Sam

I'm Here... City #1 - Sydney

This is just a quick note to let everyone know that I made it here.  It's raining, but that's keeping most of the crowds away.  Sydney reminds me of a bigger DC, but smaller NYC.  Lots of super young professionals dressed up!  I'm on my way up to the Sydney Opera House and "The Rocks".  I'll have to share more about the trip here tomorrow or just wait until the end of the week so I can upload some pictures for you guys.

Staying in Darling Harbour and I have already checked out a few places.  It's going to be hard to see the botanical gardens in the rain.  I may just check out the Australia Art Gallery instead.

I'll keep you posted...

Count Down to Australia

And it begins...

After weeks of researching what to do, where to go, what to eat and what locals suggest (http://www.sydney100.com/), I have come to the conclusion that one month is not enough time to do everything that I want :(  I may need to move there for a couple years :o

I have modified my itinerary a bit since my initial post and I have the sneaky suspicion that I will try with all of my heart to fit in a trip to one of the islands off of the Great Barrier Reef!  Boats will take you to one of the  islands, drop you off so you can camp and pick you up the next day.  I figure if I can shorten my trip in Port Douglas from 5 days to 2 days, I can spend 2 days camping on the reef.  It might be kind of hard to do since I fly to Cairns on November 17th (next week).

Ok, so here is my updated itinerary.  Everything is pretty much solid with exception to fitting in the GBR trip.

Australia  Bound

12 NOV - In LA until my flight leaves on 13 NOV 2010. (Taking the train to LA)
15 NOV - Land in Sydney, Australia @ 7:30am
15-17 NOV - Staying in Darling Harbor Sydney
17-21 NOV - Flying from Sydney to Cairns and taking a Shuttle up to Port Douglas.
19-21 NOV  (Tentative) - This is where I may be able to fit in that trip to the GBR
21-24 NOV - Taking a Train from Sydney to Katoomba (The Blue Mountains)  The hotel that I'm staying is so old school.  Built in 1930 and it has a really cool lodge.  It also has views of the Echo Point (Three Sisters).  I will not camp in Australia!  Just hiking!
24-27 NOV - Return to Sydney, Potts Point/Kings Cross - I heard that this is an "interesting" part of Sydney aka "Red Light District", but it's close to the beach communities like Bondi and Coogee Beach where I will spend my days.

New Zealand Here I Come

27 NOV - 01 DEC - Christchurch, New Zealand - I still haven't researched what I'm going to do here
01-03 DEC - Queenstown, New Zealand - I plan to hike a couple trails, go Kayaking and do a little mountain biking.
03-06 DEC - Milford Sound, New Zealand - I'll be taking the bus down since I don't plan to rent a car this entire trip.  What's kind of cool about the bus tours is that they stop at different places during the 6 hour drive.  I plan to hike, kayak and camp in Milford Sound.  If anyone has one of those fancy water filters from REI, I would love to borrow it, so I can try water from mountains and lakes ( I really don't know why I'm so tempted to do this).
06-07 - Sam's drinking wine in Queenstown!  They have 11 wineries!!!!
07 - 10 DEC - Auckland, New Zealand - Hopefully I'll get to go to some of the natural hot springs and get a tour around the city from a friend of a friend.
10 - 11 DEC - Melbourne, Australia - I'm sure I can find something to do for one day before my trip back to the US.

Photos/Photos and More Photos

I really can't wait to take pictures and share with all of you!  I can’t wait to share pictures of the following:

1 - My lodging accommodations (LOL).  Between the Resorts/Hotels/Budget Hotels/Hostels and Camping, I believe that I will come full circle with adapting to almost any living condition.  I'm going to love not showering for 3 days while hiking in New Zealand :)
2 - Cute pictures of Sheep and Kangaroo... followed by pictures how the locals serve them in restaurants!  Lamb anyone? Yum!
3 - Water (lakes/ocean/waterfalls) and Mountains.  There's nothing more beautiful than Nature!


Oh, and this morning while laying in bed, I picked up my "1,000 Places To See Before You Die" book and guess what I will be able to cross off the list after this trip:

1)  The Blue Mountains & Three Sisters
2)  Sydney Opera House and The Harbor
3)  The Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea (Maybe)
4)  Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound
5)  Queenstown (Home of Bungee Jumping and Jet-Boat) - I do not plan on doing either!



That's enough for now!  My next update will be posted on 15 NOV 2010 (Australia).  As a reminder... I think they are almost 1 day ahead of the US... so you may see a post on 14 NOV 2010. 

As a reminder... please email me during the trip vs. texting.  I plan to use a friends international cell phone and buy a SIM card in AUS & phone cards.  Sorry, AT&T's International plan is pretty ridiculous!  I will also check FB when I check email.

Keep me and my travels in your thoughts and prayers and hopefully I'll be able to share with you guys when I return!  It'll be Christmas Time!!!!