Walkabout....

My visit to the Cuban Consulate was a bit of a disappointment. I took the train into town, walked down to the address only to find a sign, that the consolate has not been here since more than two years.

It seems the internet is not always up to date. :-( A Call to the Cuban Embassy in Canberra confirmed my fears that I would have to come down to them to obtain a visa. This was not on my schedule and I only had 7 days left until I had to take a flight from Melbourne to Auckland.

With this in mind I said: "Feck it!" and took a ferry to Manly Beach.

I would have to do some more research from home and maybe use a Visa Agency or something.
The sun was out once again and the boat ride across the Sydney Harbour was wonderful.

I was pretty hungry but had not much money left. There was a sign that looked awfully familiar to me from old movies. It was the old burger king sign but written between the buns was not Burger King but "Hungry Jacks".

Suddenly I had a strong craving for a Whopper, so I went in there and ordered an "angry" one (with jalapeños) and brought it down to the beach where I enjoyed it with a view onto the Pacific.

To work all this off I decided to do a long round to the southern tip of Manly peninsula that would lead me through parts of the Sydney Harbour National Park.

It was a lovely walk and very lonely and felt really remote if you think that you are still within the city boundaries of the largest City on this Continent.

I walked along nice beaches, high cliffs, dry forests and an old army base until I finally got to the Outer North Head Lookout. From here I could see across the mouth of Sydney Harbour and out to sea.

Now it was time to do some more walking and when I arrived back at Manly I continued along the bay back to the Spit bridge which also followed a trek through parts of the Sydney Harbour National Park.

There were plenty of nice expensive houses along the way. At one of the hidden beaches I decided to take dip and asked a young family sitting on a blanket to if they could watch my things.

After a very quick swim (no more than 10 minutes to cool down from the heat) I picked up my bag again and they told me there was absolutely no risk leaving my things unattended. They said "0% risk". That is some statement but I guess it is true. It was a lovely place to hang out, with public changing rooms, toilets, BBQ places and a small playground, right at the water. All free and none of it vandalized. Don't get many places like this in Germany or Ireland.

After this little bath, I was already a bit late and had to hurry to arrive at the spit bridge before the sun set.

The walk took me further along the sea shore and some cliffs, where I spotted plenty of cool animals, like lizards, owls and other strange birds. Again, all of the within Sydney City limits.

I also walked through Clontarf which made me feel homesick for a few seconds.

When finally got to Spit the sun was just gone and I had to wait for the bus in the dark. It was a bit of a struggle to work out which bus to take back into town, but eventually one of them stopped and dropped me off again at the Rocks close to Cricular Quay.

I wanted to take some shots of the iconic Sydney Opera house and Harbour Bridge at night.

I was not the only one with this Idea but walking around the quay found some good spots and for my little (advanced) Point and shoot got some good pictures out of it.

When I walked over to the Opera House suddenly many well dressed people appeared out of all the holes around the building. An Opera play must have just ended. From here I had only three more things on my mind... get home, eat and sleep.

I did this in that order and this was the end to a great day.