18 September, Underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge – 11:43am


Out of all the places I've blogged from on my travels this year, this place must be the most famous. I'm sitting underneath the end of one side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, looking back at the view of the famous opera house, and the Sydney skyline. Over the past 10 days I've traveled down the coast of Australia, through Hervey Bay and Byron Bay, back down to the most famous city of Sydney.

Hervey Bay is a bit of a one-horse town, with the amazing Fraser Island being it's one huge attraction. The worlds largest sand island. I took a day trip out there, getting up at 6am, getting the 45 minute ferry across to the Kingfisher Bay resort, and from there, onto a modified truck/bus, that took us through the sandy rainforest, to the massive beach and back again. It's a biological marvel, seeing a thriving ecosystem, growing entirely in the sand.

From Hervey Bay, it was another bus to another big city, Brisbane. I was only staying here for a couple of days, as Asutralian cities seemed to be filled with more English and Irish people than live back in Europe. So it's much nicer to see to see the small town Australia, rather than the bland big cities, packed with people from the same place as yourself. Brisbane is a river city, so I spent a couple of days wandering around the riverbanks, staying in the noisiest hostel of my trip, the rather horrendous, Brisbane City Backpackers, (note: don't stay in a hostel next to a fire station, main road, train station, with a bar built right in to it, if you value your sleep)

From Brisbane, it was a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to Byron Bay, a beautiful small surf town, located in the most stunning bay. Mountain surrounded the horseshoe shaped, stunning clear bay. So several days of lying on a beach, boogie boarding in the cold waves and sea kayaking out to watch the humpback whales making their annual trip south.

But from Byron Bay, to Sydney, there wasn't a lot more I wanted to stop at, so last night I took a 13 hour bus ride, overnight, back to Sydney. So with not a lot of sleep under my belt, and not beng able to check into my hostel, I spent my final day in Oz, taking a walk across the giant harbour bridge, watching the Sydney marathon runners, brave the winds and the heat of the city, and find myself, lazing in a park, watching the world go by with the most amazing view.

Tomorrow is the Fiji Islands, and a week or so of remote island living, no electricity, no internet, no phones, not even roads...

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