Let the games begin...

There was still some work to be done on the blog so I started the day off with writing a bit.

I also had to do some investigation on my Visa for Cuba (should have really done this when I arrived in Australia, but who is keeping track of duties, dates and schedules :-)). I looked up the address of the Cuban consulate in Sydney. It was quite hard to find the proper information but some independent website gave me the address, phone number and the information that they are open only Tuesdays to Fridays 10:00 - 13:00. It was Monday, so not much I could do about the visa today.
I didn't want it turn into another day of sitting at home.

I was in Sydney, one of the coolest and most beautiful Cities I have ever been to, so I had to get out there and do something.

Since I enjoyed riding the bike a lot yesterday I decided to visit the Sydney Olympic park on Lulu's bike (Karsten took his to get to work).

A long cycle would be a good idea since I had to get very hungry for the evening. We had planned to visit a Korean BBQ place in town and I wanted to eat as much of the tasty Galbi as I could.

Taking a bike to the Olympic park is a good idea, because it is very large and getting around and seeing everything is much more comfortable with a bike than walking.

The hilly roads of the western suburbs of Sydney made the ride to the Olympic park a bit of a pain but I had to get really hungry so I didn't mind.

I arrived from the south and the first sporting site I saw was the Tennis arenas. I cycled in through a gate and tried to get my bearings when a big man, with a beard and loads of tattoos asked me if I was a volunteer.

I denied this and he asked me in a much friendlier way than his looks would suggest to cycle somewhere else because they were preparing some international tennis tournament here. It wasn't the Australian Open but it must have been something quite major. Maybe one of the ATP run up tours or so.

Anyway, I wasn't sure where to go now but soon found a large info sign that showed all the arenas, gardens and sites of this really large park.

The Olympics took place in Sydney in 2000 and I do still remember it being on TV. Now I was cycling around the very empty but still well kept area because I had nothing better to do really.
There were plenty ( at least 4 or 5 large arenas for different events, many green areas and a large park with cycle paths for recreation.

One interesting, symbolic part of the area were the 24 (or so) large flood light (powered by solar panels on the top it seems) that each represented an Olympic game location of recent history from 1904 to 1996.

North of the Olympic park are some natural reserves which I used to cycle even more. I also passed by the Sydney Armoury Gallery on the Paramatta River where I filled up some of the energy I needed to get back home with a lovely cold ice cream. To the east there was an artificial hill which had a spiral ramp going all the way up to the top. I took the bike up there and had a nice view.

It was a warm day and the ride back to Lulu's and Karsten's flat was hard but when I got there it felt good to have done some activity. It was over 45km in the end that I cycled so I was hungry enough to go to the Korean BBQ place and stuff myself on Galbi and a great Kimchi Jigae.

We all took the lightrail tram and found the place pretty quick.

It was called 678 Korean BBQ and was very full (for a Monday evening). There were proper charcoal grills in the tables and the meat was marinated very well. Also the salad, chilli and garlic as free refill (which is impossible to find in Dublin).

We had some pork, marinated beef and kimchi soup.

Time to recover

Sundays are for rest. And that is what this day was intended for after our long trip around New Zealand. There were a couple of washings to be done I wanted and needed to catch up on my blog which I had barely worked on during the last two weeks and Karsten had to work on his studies.

Lulu went shopping and returned some time later with loads of fish that shall become our dinner.

After I had drank plenty of coffee, finished the last of the melted and re-solidified Christmas chocolate and writing a couple of days in the blog I didn't want to spend any more time inside.
Karsten suggested to take is bike and go for a ride around the nearby Iron Cove bay.

It would be something to do, so I agreed and had a cycle to and around the bay. It was pretty windy but a nice ride because it was nearly all bike paths and most of the time they led along the water (which again was the reason that it was so windy, I guess).

I enjoyed the ride a lot. The bike was much better and quicker than the ones I got for free from the hostels in Cambodia and Vietnam. Not a big surprise there.

After just 45 minutes and 12km riding I was already back at the flat.

This is when I set myself some sort of goal for the new year. I want to get a bike when I get back and cycle (at least occasionally) to work. I have been hesitating on this a bit because of all the horror stories you hear about cyclists in Dublin, but I think I can find a route, nicely along the strand road, the east link and the quays, that should be relatively save.

So, my dear colleges who are reading this, please remind me of this when I am back home, ok?
As mentioned before Lulu had prepared a wonderful multi course dinner with shrimp, salmon and some side dishes and we spent the rest of the evening with our new favourite activity. Playing that Chinese card game "Get rid of your cards fast" or something like that.

Long way back...

Although it was only Saturday before most people started working again on Monday we thought it was good to leave early to get back to Sydney (about 550km) in the afternoon.

After packing up all our stuff and leftover foods we hit the road before 9 and made some good pace until we hit traffic first time around Newcastle.

It eased up a bit after some km and we got home around 4 or 5 pm, unpacked the car, started the washing machine, got some food from the supermarket, cooked it and some of the left overs and relaxed with a review of the pictures we took over the last two weeks. Not a very eventful day otherwise.

Shopping trip

Our last day on the road was going to be spent a bit lazy. From Bellingen in the morning we drove to Coffs Harbour to do some shopping and have a look around in a Coastal Tourist Village.

We quickly found a parking spot in a multi level car park that was free.

Indeed it was quite nice although the shopping mall could have been anywhere in the world.

At a Kathmandu Outdoor shop I found an LED torch (that I can charge via USB).

We could not leave Coffs Harbour without a visit to the beach and coast but when we got there and parked the car it looked a bit like rain and we feared of getting wet while walking down the pier into the bay.

What is better than the fear of getting wet? Just to get wet and get it over with, right!?

There were a few young boys jumping off the balustrade of the pier into the water below.

None of them seems to be hitting the ground, there was a little platform where they could get out again and there was no sign not to jump. All indications that it was perfectly safe to do so.

So I took off my cloths (left on my shorts) and climbed on the balustrade... It looked higher now than when the kids jumped.

But there was no turning back and so I jumped. I survived and did it again.

Two times was enough though and when I came out of the water again it also started raining and it was time to get back to the car.

With my pants still damp we did the shopping for our last supper (on the road) in the local Coles supermarket and then wanted to have a small snack at the food court in the shopping centre.

This small snack turned into a big Indian feast and we were not really hungry any more when it was time to make the chicken we bought earlier.

Since we didn't want to bring the raw chicken back home we cooked Mexican fajitas anyway and tried to eat as much as we could but of course had some left overs.

The rest of the evening was spent playing cards, drinking some beers and remembering some of the events of two weeks.

Happy New Year

It was only 9 hours into 2015 when I woke up. Surprising for the fact that I went to bed not even 6 hours earlier. Probably this was probably due to the heat in the room that was already present at this early hour.

Obviously the rain had stopped during the night and the clouds had made way for the sun's intese rays again.

We had a very relaxed morning with a long breakfast before we drove along the waterfall way to the Rainforest national park.

It was a wonderful drive up the curvy mountain road road past a few waterfalls that were very impressive as it was raining all night.

The entrance to the Dorrigo National Park (just about 30km drive from Bellingen) was free but a voluntary donation was suggested.

First stop after the info centre was the a sky walk that led us out to enjoy a nice view over the rainforest.

We took a photo of all three of us with a permanently installed "selfie" stick to which I could attach my camera using the screw on bottom.

After this we started our nearly 8 km walk through the rainforest which led us past plenty of strange trees, plants, birds and other animals.

We saw strangler figs, wild turkeys, big iguanas, strange looking birds and a couple of waterfalls.
During the walk we met two or three groups of people from the hostel and towards the end the Rainforest got darker and darker.

This was not due to the forest getting thicker and thicker but more because the clouds started forming above the canopy again.

When we arrived back at the visitor centre it was nearly 5pm already, the sky was very dark and the ice cream stand that I had looked forward to for the last 7km was unfortunately closed already.
Not 3 minutes after we were inside the info centre to watch a film about the animals we just saw outside we heard the rain hammering down on the steal roof above our heads. It was getting hard understand the TV. Soon after the shop closed up and we had to run to our car. In fact, Karsten got the car and picked us up at the door.

We were very lucky to not have been still out there on the walk, there were not many people behind us but there were certainly some that got wet. Probably best to stay under the protective leaves of the rainforest.

While driving off the parking lot of the National Park the hard rain turned into hail (hail during Australian Summer).

It was possibly the hardest hail with the biggest hail balls I have ever seen.

We could barely see the road and searched for shelter under some tree or bush.

There we were, the three of us sitting in the car wet from the rain and waiting for the hail to stop.
It only took 15 min or so until we felt it was safe enough again to get out from under the tree and drive back to Bellingen.

We thought our canoe tour for later this evening would never take place after this kind of weather, but when we got back to the hostel one of the staff said it was still on.

After the walk we were pretty hungry and had to cook our pasta very quick to be finished before 7:15p, when we were suppose to meet up with the canoe guy.

German as we are we finished just on time but Daniel the owner of the Canoe experience place, who had already arrived was in no rush at all to get going.

We took it very easy drove to his place on the Bellingen River where we were to meet another couple that was going to go on the same sunset canoe trip.

We got into four canoes (each couple in a double and Dan and I in a single each).

Then we paddled up the river for a couple of minutes into a little cove where we hung out for a while. Dan was talking away with some details of the place and pointed out some animals we could spot along the banks.

On the way back we witnessed an amazing sunset behind the mountain range over the quite river. It was wonderful and unbelievable that not even 3 hours before only a couple of kilometers up the road we had a huge hailstorm.

After Lulu, Karsten and I spent some time being silly and fell behind the other two canoes we finally arrived back at the little beach behind Dan's house.

He told us to be quite and not to come up the stairs but stay down here with him because... because, the other guy just proposed to his girlfriend after this romantic canoe ride and they were up on the lawn in the sort of beach hut which had been prepared by Dan's wife with rose leaves and candles.

This, even I found very sweet and romantic... What a nice idea.

We had some sparkling wine at the little boat hut (as it was included in the offer), played catch with Dan's dog who loved to jump into the river to retrieve the ball and afterwards went up past the freshly engaged couple, gave our best wishes and Dan drove us home.

Pretty wrecked from the long day and not having much beer left from the night before we went to bed shortly after.