In the land Down Under

So I've been getting some subtle and not so subtle hints to update my blog more often. Sorry about that, but I do my best...

I've been in Australia for the past week, enjoying the sights and melting in the humidity. I am shocked to see how unfortunately and digustingly sweaty I get in this weather, and it's only been in the low to mid 20's since I've arrived. I simply cannot (I repeat, I cannot) fathom what 39C with 100% humidity feels like! I'm not sure I want to know, but I suspect I'll find out in the next few weeks when travelling up north into the tropical Top End of Australia. But enough about the weather for now.

I arrived in Sydney last Friday, and have been living the high life since then. I've been staying at my cousin Doug's & his wife Beth's place in Sydney, located right in the middle of things in Darling Harbour. Doug & Beth have been very welcoming, and I've been treated like a royal visitor. A personal tour guide, amazing home cooked meals, a room to myself, a nice reprieve from my current backpacking lifestyle!

My days in Sydney have been somewhat lazy, since I have been mostly enjoying the above. I did get the chance to visit the central business district, see the Opera House and walk for what seems like miles around various Sydney neighborhoods. The highlight of my sightseeing in Sydney was the BridgeClimb, where, as the name suggest, you climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge up to the very top (see picture below). It wasn't too difficult, even for little old me. The worse bit may have been my half-jog to get to the BridgeClimb in time for my 1:15PM climb, having misjudged the time it would take me to walk there and having lazed around all morning doing my laundry and talking on Skype. I was red-faced and sweaty even before starting the climb. Charming. :-)

I left Tuesday morning for a 2-day getaway to the Blue Mountains, where I had my first chance to partake in the very typical Australian pastime of bushwalking. Now for those of you who aren't very up on their Aussie lingo, the "bush" is a very general term used for what we Canucks would call "woods" or "forest". I didn't know this before getting here by the way, I thought the bush referred to the Outback. But no, those are 2 different and separate things...

My first bushwalk started on a cloudy afternoon, in walking distance from the hostel I was staying at in Katoomba (cool name, isn't it?). The scenery is gorgeous, and I was really enjoying myself, walking on a trail high on the cliff surrounding the most amazingly green canyon far below. I was quite thrilled that there I was, "bushwalking" in Australia, all the way across the world from my home. I enjoyed myself for a full 10 minutes, until it hit me. There I was, in the bush in Australia, land of the killer snakes and spiders. The country that has the most ways you can die an ugly death at the hands of reptiles and arachnids. I kind of froze for a minute there as I remembered this, but started moving again, slowly and with a little less enjoyment than I was having a few minutes before. I also remembered what Beth told me, that even though you hear all these scary things about Australia, you probably won't ever see any of the things that can kill you. But still, "probably" isn't all that reassuring when you're on your own in the bush.

I did manage to enjoy the rest of my walk, but I can't say that I saw much of the scenery as I was walking. I was too busy looking out for snakes and spiders. And I did see quite a few spiders, but they were smallish and I'm pretty sure they weren't of the killer variety. I didn't see snakes but I did see a small iguana/lizard/some kind of reptile.

The next day I had more bushwalking planned. There is this one walk that involves the "Giant Stairway", with 800 or so steps leading into the bottom of the canyon from high on the cliff above. This is where a few years ago Doug & Beth saw a girl puking near the top of the steps, after her climb up. Puking not being high on my list of things to do while in Australia, I decided to go down the steps and back up further along the trail in a 10$ gondola ride. Call me lazy if you want, but it was still quite the workout just going down the bloody steps. My legs certainly feel it today as a result of my walk yesterday.

I'm heading off to Melbourne this Sunday. I am doing it the "flashpacker" way, i.e. I am going to Melbourne on a 2-hour flight instead of taking the 12-hour overnight bus. For an extra 30$ AUD, I got myself a cheap flight and I am very happy about it. For those following on Google Earth, the rest of my time in Australia should be spent visiting Melbourne, going from Melbourne to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road, from Adelaide to Alice Springs via Coober Peddy, then an organized tour of Outback highlights (Uluru, Kings Canyon, the Olgas) from Alice Springs to Darwin, which should be my final destination in Australia. There are so many places to see and the country is so big that you really can't do it all in 5-6 weeks. You have to make choices, and those are mine, even if they involve some of the hottest places on earth at this time of the year. Anyone want to join me? :-)