G'bye Straaalia!

Nobody mentioned the buses...
So there we were, recovering from the shock of our earlier bus crash when, guess what, our overnight bus to Sydney hit a kangaroo! Warned about the deadly Australian wildlife, who'd have thought buses would be the most dangerous things we'd encounter here!

Still, the slight delay meant that we crossed Sydney's Harbour Bridge just as the sun was rising though, giving us fantastic views of the Opera House and signalling the start of a great few days.

We arrived at our 'let's spoil ourselves' boutique hotel in trendy Darlinghurst to find it was a little more Primark than Prada, however it was in a great area and they gave us free champagne and chocolate so we couldn't complain (for a change!).

A whistlestop tour
Sydney was cool, though smaller than imagined - which made sightseeing easier! We toured the Opera House; climbed the Harbour Bridge (well the bit that didn't cost $280 each); walked the Botanical Gardens; visited the Australian Museum; admired the views from the tallest building (where Mission Impossible 2 was filmed); spyed in the windows of the famous at Woolloomoolloo; sauntered around Circular Quay, The Rocks and Darling Harbour; and checked out the 'too cool for school' shopping areas of Darlinghurst, Oxford Street, Paddington and Surrey Hills (don't worry, Steve hid Ali's credit card!).

After a couple of days in the city, the 'Blue Mountains' beckoned, they're neither blue nor mountains but are pretty spectacular nonetheless. A combination of sandstone canyons (the oldest in the world), rock formations, waterfalls, rainforests and an eerie blue sheen (from the evaporating eucalyptus tree oil mixing with the air) made for a great day out. We even squeezed in an Aboriginal rock carving, wild kangaroo spotting and a sunset boat cruise back to Sydney Harbour.

Home and Away ...
Of course any trip to Sydney wouldn't be complete without a visit to a few of its 70 beaches: Bondai, the closest, was really nice but a bit touristy; Palm (Summer Bay!), the furthest, was beautiful and had the added attractions of 'Alf's Surf Club" and 'The Kiosk"; Manly, in the middle, again beautiful and a nice town too; and Shelly, a lovely cove near Manly. A huge thank you to Mel for being our beach guide and chauffeur on a windy Sunday afternoon!

It's a small world...
Speaking of Mel, 4 of the original Hanoi 5 reunited for a night out in Darling Harbour (a shame Toby couldn't make it) and it was good to catch up with Mel and Jo again (we look forward to seeing you both in Brazil!?), as it was Mark and Jorge. Mark was in Sydney on business and took us out on the town a couple of nights (thanks again, we hope you had a safe trip home and there weren't too many tears from Julie at the airport!!) and Jorge who we bumped into outside the Opera House one night when we stopped to take a photo - a very strange coincidence as Jorge is from Chile, lives in London and was only in Sydney for one night (hopefully see you again in Santiago).

"Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours..."
Having acquired a taste for the Aussie soap experience, we headed to Melbourne in search of Ramsey Street - only to find it didn't actually exist! We could've done a studio tour but Steve was too upset after discovering both Helen Daniels and Bouncer were no more! No worries, Melbourne was well worth the trip with it's cafe society, amazing architecture, laid-back but sophisticated atmosphere and beautiful shops. It was easily one of our favourite spots in Australia - especially St Kilda, a European style suberb with a coastal backdrop.

Hitting the road...
...again! We couldn't leave Australia without squeezing in one last roadie, so we took advantage of Metro Cars $29 per day car rental (luckily we didn't mind driving a bright red, heavily branded Hyundai) and embarked on the Great Southern touring route. Taking in Ballarat, the pretty Victorian 'gateway to the goldfields'; Ararat, a picturesque goldrush town; and Halls Gap, a quaint honeymoon spot, we headed to the Grampians National Park in search of mountains, waterfalls and wildlife. We found all 3: climbing to the top of Mt Williams (1.6km) where we peered over the edge to take in the stunning views below; trekking to the bottom of Mackenzie Falls, voted one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the state; walking to various look-outs to see Aboriginal rock carvings, 'the Jaws ... of DEATH' rock formation and a couple of big lakes; and stopping to watch the wild kangaroos eat dinner. We even stayed overnight at a wilderness log cabin, complete with wild animals roaming outside (and scratching at) the cabin!

The Great Ocean Road and Shipwreck Coast were even better. One of the top 10 drives in the world according to Conde Nest, it's spectacular with limestone rock formations dotting the coastline. The Bay of Islands, Martyr's Bay, the Arch and Loch Ard were all amazing to see and you could imagine the ships crashing onto the rocks - if you couldn't there was always the laser show re-enactment of the 'Loch Ard' sinking at Flagstaff Hills Maritime Village. London Bridge (now an Arch following it's collapse a few years ago leaving two tourists stranded!), and The Twelve Apostles (now Eleven after one collapsed last year) served as reminders that both the coast and the country are constantly evolving works of art.

Along the way we also stopped at a little fishing village called Port Fairy (Steve liked the name), spent the night in the pretty Port Campbell and had lunch at the historic Lorne.

And finally...
As the Australian leg of our trip comes to an end (hard to believe 2 months have passed so quickly), we're quite sad to be leaving. We've done so much - from adrenelin adventurers to beach bums; from sailing the seas to camper-vanning the coasts; from rainforests to reefs - but have barely scratched the surface. Oh well, guess that means we'll have to come back in a couple of years to see the other 4 states ...