Brisbane to Sydney

Hello again,

Its been a while since our last blog, and seeing as we're now in a hostel (out of the van at last - albeit for a couple of days!!) and have free internet its much easier.

When I spoke to you all last we were in the fine Queensland city of Brisbane. In the end we didn't stick around there that long, but long enough for me to get a bit of exploring in. Whilst Brisbane doesn't have the noteriety of Sydney, Melbourne or Perth, I found it to be a really nice compact Aussie city, with plenty of culture and some really nice sights.

On our main day spent there (after Australia Zoo), I was flying solo in the morning and after meeting up for lunch, again in the afternoon so I'll take on the responsibility for representing my view on Brisbane. The Museum of Brisbane (MoB) was my first port of call, and despite its title, there wasn't a great deal in there (that I could see). The MoB is actually housed in the city hall, and as you go in to the right was a gallery, to the left was some museum exhibits (which were closed) and upstairs was the city hall chambers (which were appeared unlocked when I ventured up there accidentally).

The gallery was showing off some local photography of Brisbane and general Australian life. It was quite good really, with some kind of competition going on between different categories and with special recommendation photos from the judges etc. The other exhibition was a bit of a disappointment, because as I said above they'd closed it off. The only thing remaining was another art exhibition, this time from a local artist. To be honest I didn't really get what it was about, with her paintings trying to symbolise random inhalations of breath and unique moments in time, whilst looking very similar in my opinion. All quite strange really.

Later on I crossed over the Brisbane River to the cultural hub of the city which includes art galleries (my next stop), concert halls, college buildings and convention centres etc. I was looking for the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art (which is free entry like the MoB). This was a vast building with all kinds of art medium (paint, video, audio, sculpture etc) and artists from the local area, country-wide and from all over the world.

Modern Art is a tricky thing to try and analyse (and I'm far too dumb to start), but I saw some interesting stuff lets say, including several videos which were rather strange. There was some political pop art which was quite cool and some older bits which were good. There was even a water feature. But before I go down the route of becoming an art critic (which I'm not), I decided to leave and sit out in the sun for the rest of the afternoon by the river.

After visiting Brisbane I thought of it in many ways as like a smaller version of London. With its massive river running through the middle, of which many things sit near and are based by, and with the vibrant cultures of the city centre (whilst we were in the city there was an audio play going on right in the middle of the shopping area) and in the outer suburbs, there is plenty to do there. It just suffers from a lack of being a Sydney or Melbourne. Whilst its nice and clean and building itself up - theres just not quite enough to rival the other Australian cities...yet.

After Brisbane we continued on our way down the coast to Byron Bay and over the Queensland - New South Wales border (and bizarrely an hour ahead of GMT). At this point I'll hand over to Laura (whose not here but has promised to write up on this to discuss) as she fell in love with Bryon whilst we were there.

After Byron came Port Macquarie, similar in size to Hervey Bay, but slightly different in that it wasn't really a major beach resort (there was one somewhere I think). We'll remember Port (as its apparently known locally) for its spiders and its sea kayaking. Our camp sight at Port was quite nice really, and very competitively priced. But it was home to a massive assortment of spiders which really unsettled us walking around at night. Laura had bought a book of Australian Wildlife which means that we half a vague idea what we're up against, but it just makes us even more scared! The spiders were literally hanging off anything that was physically capable of being hung off as we walked around. Just think of the film Arachnophobia (sp?)

In the morning, having survived the spiders we decided to do some some sea kayaking, and eventually managed to hire three single person kayaks at the local quay. I hadn't kayaked before, I think Laura had once or twice, and anyone who knows Chris knows that he's a rower (which is pretty much the same thing). I found the main problem to be having nothing to sit against other than the little bump in the boat to sit in - therefore the tops of my legs and my lower back to the strain and despite what you may think my arms were fine. We paddled our way at various different speeds and capabilities round a natural island at the Port, which was a preserved nature park, home to pelicans, many other birds, and also a few dolphins who popped up when a local tourist catamaran went past. The kayaking was an experience lets say, and it left a lasting impression on my as I forgot to protect my legs from the sun (BIG mistake!).

After Port, came the second major stop (city stop anyway) in our Australian trek - Sydney.

I was again lucky enough to be driving as we came into Sydney and the most unbelievable thunderstorm and rainstorm I've ever seen. We literally had about 10cm of surface water in about two minutes on the roads and 5 metres of visibilty during the rains, whilst the lightning lit up the sky above!

Eventually we made it into the suburbs and the next challenge was finding our camp site which took us about 20 minutes. It was a relief when we pitched up (although it was the most expensive site of the trip so far) and got something to eat.

The next day was all about sight-seeing. We got ourselves a week's travel card for bus, train and ferry and made our way into the city. We got off at Circular Quay which anyone who's been to Sydney will know is the station right at the waterside where the Opera House sits, and with a great view of the immense Harbour Bridge. We stayed around there for most of the morning. We took loads of photos of the Opera House and the Bridge then got something to drink and headed to the Museum of Sydney. On the way however, we got stopped by a British street performer, who was doing amazing stunts and tricks. The guy was quite good (he dropped whilst juggling a few times but it was windy) considering he was juggling knives on a bike whilst circling a handful of (un)lucky people from the crowd on the frame of the bike. After that he juggled a knife, fire and an apple whilst balancing on the frame of his bike....up a 22-foot pole. The guy was really good, and bantered with the crowd and any passer by lucky enough to be in his field of vision.

After giving the performer our dinner money we went on to the Museum of Sydney, which shows how the first penal colony was build up by the British and how that settlement became Sydney. It then had a massive exhibit on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and its impact on the city and how it came to be. It was actually really interesting stuff, particularly the film they had put together about the bridge.

After that we walked round Sydney more, going out to the Rocks and the oldest residence in Sydney (Caddick's Cottage I think - will check for next time) and up to the hill where the Sydney Observatory sits for some fine views of the city, particularly the Harbour Bridge which by now had been photoed at many angles by us three.

I'm running out of time unfortunately. The first half of this blog was written last Friday, and some more on Saturday, but because we don't have good access to the internet (the second half of this blog wasn't free as I wrote at the start) its very difficult to give the blog the time it deserves. I'll bring you all up to speed of all that went on in Sydney when we get to Melbourne I hope. On Saturday we finally say goodbye (or good riddens) to the van, and we're in hostels which should make life easier. Latest news is that we're staying longer in Melbourne to give us time to do the Great Ocean Road and to actually visit the city itself. Then off to New Zealand!

Yours in suspense,
Rich/Woodie

P.S You may have noticed that Locky is being referred to as Chris, and as I'm writing and don't talk about myself in the third person, I'll be referred to as Rich(ard). This is a long complicated story but is mainly cos Laura hasn't got a nickname and that we don't introduce ourselves as Woodie or Locky (or I don't) - so for blog purposes we'll be Richard and Chris respectively - sorry for confusion!