Walking Ixus

Since it’s really THAT impressive, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

These are the fabled Blue Mountains.
The haze that envelopes them is blue. The legend back in the day before they were crossed was that China and freedom waited for whoever made it across.
Remember that Australia was settled primarily by convicts…

These are the “Three Sisters”, one of the most photographed sights here in Oz.
They are a rock formation high up that guard the entrance into this valley. Wah.
Once the train arrived at Katoomba, there is a tourist bus that runs the circuit within the town, hitting several vista points and areas to hike in. If you’re planning a day trip, get the combo train/bus ticket at Central before you leave.
You begin your hike at the top and work your way down. Very down. Because you’re really high up. Check out the pic below and note the heads at the bottom for scale.

There are a lot of people who hike this trail so unless you go off of it, there’s no worries about getting lost. These three are students from New York and the Clairmont Colleges who are doing a semester abroad in Melbourne.

Yeah, you meet a lot of people traveling. Fun!

An abandoned “State Use Only” train stop on the way to the Blue Mountains

Today is an excursion to the Blue Mountains for a much needed nature walk.
Needed like a hole in the head.
But it is one impressive sight and a wonder of nature. I’m taking CityRail to Katoomba, the town that serves the tourist industry that is the Blue Mountains.
The ride there is two hours in each direction so that will give my feet ample time to recover from the thrashing (and blisters) they got on the other day’s Coast Walk.

中環? No, this is a diff Central.
I like to travel by train, provided the rail network is expansive and isn’t a complete rip-off (saaaaay, like Amtrak. Or British Rail). Most of my train experience involves Asian trains. The MTR. MRT. Tokyo Metro. JR. Even, to an extent (because of value for money), China Rail. I’m used to punctual trains. Which CityRail isn’t!
I haul ass from one end of Sydney Central to the other because the train is scheduled to leave at 11:07 AM. Turns out I didn’t have to run. Or walk. Or even get to the station when I did. The train left at 11:28 AM. Then it went hella slow. Then it stopped dead a few times on the way out of town.
Feels like British Rail.
Speaking of old trains, check out the interior of the train I was on.

hey, the 70’s called and they want their color scheme back…
These are similar trains to what they run within Sydney. Heavy Rail. Imagine if CalTrain ran the Muni Metro with its own cars. Comfy.
Finally, we got some speed up and off we went. Whoosh. What will I see on the two hour journey there?

Now imagine yourself on a ferry boat coming back from Manly Beach, passing close to the bridge with cheesy Cantopop in the background…

“Stick a fork in me, I’m done”

Bondi’s northern counterpart, a bit bigger, not as curved and more business friendly .

First you gotta take a 30 minute ferry trip from Circular Quay.

Once you arrive at Manly Wharf, follow the signs to the beach.
But first you walk the gauntlet of shops and restaurants.

About two blocks later, here you are.

It’s not as dramatic as Bondi with the cliffs that surround it. The ride here is more fun than getting off the Eastern Suburbs line at Bondi Junction and taking the X81 basi for 6 minutes.
So in the whole, it’s a trade off. Fun ride versus fun beach.

Coming down on the approach toward Bronte. Then I met these three.

Two students and a JET
The trail goes around a cemetery that is located on a cliff. Many famous Australians are buried here.

If you ask anyone that knows me, they could probably tell you that I like beaches. I don’t LIKE beaches as it’s something I must do on a hot summer day along with 30000 other people and the problems that brings.
I “like” beaches because of the serenity, the sand and water. Sunsets look great while walking on them. And beachfront houses rawk!
Today, I did a bit of an walkabout journey, walking the Coastal Trail that begins at the world famous Bondi and ends about 4 clicks above and below 3 other beaches. This walkabout began poorly. It rained (actually, it’s still raining as I type this). What is the deal with me and rain? Do I bring it with me? This rain caught me in the open, requiring me to duck into a cafe to sip an overpriced coffee for an hour.

Then it cleared up.

Continue reading “Coastal Trail”

I visited Bondi Beach and the Sydney Opera House today (which will be chronicled later). I came across something amusing and something hella tacky involving mainland Chinese tourists. They’re very easy to spot because of the behaviour.
First the amusing part. Remember the picture of Richard Nixon walking on the beach in a suit? Despite what you may think of the man, business wear does not go well with sand and surf. I mean, if you’re going to the beach, dress the part! And don’t pull off the macho man thing unless you’ve got a surfboard to stand with!

Of course if this macho man (in leather dress shoes) stood next to a board, it would look silly…
The tacky thing I saw was in the gift shop of the Sydney Opera House. Two mainland tourists (I could tell because of the putonghua they spoke) were taking pictures of postcards. Literally. Holding up the postcards and taking pictures of them with their digicams.
COME ON! If you’ve got the renminbi to travel to Oz from the PRC, buy the damn thing! It makes you look tacky and by appearance, makes the rest of us (who are Asian) look tacky (even though we aren’t)!!!
Grrrr….
On the other hand, while I was picking out some postcards to purchase (not take pictures of) there was a gaggle of Japanese schoolkids. Guys and gals. We had to squeeze by each other because the aisles were small. By force of habit, a quick “sumemasen” came out at the same time an “excuse me” came out of her mouth, followed by a LOT of giggling.
Either they weren’t expecting Japanese to be spoken or my accent is really THAT bad! It’s probably both, with my command of that language..

Remember a few days back when Cyclone Larry hit Brisbane? I mean it was a BIG cyclone. Now Sydney is waaay south of Brisbane, but the weather is all messed up. It’s overcast and hella muggy and will continue to be so for the next few days. But is IS nice to be able to walk around in shorts and a t-shirt and not be cold! Now if they could do something about that humidity…
One of the joys of puttering around is meeting people and getting their take on the towns that they live in.

This is Kel. She’s from South Africa, been in Oz for 8 years and works in the Crumpler store on George St in Chinatown. Crumpler is a local brand that makes messenger and laptop and accessory bags a’la Timbuk2. Except they’re loopier. Visit their website with the sound ON.
Anyhoo, I poked inside to see what kind of travel bags they had. You know, a small shoulder bag to carry the tour book, camera, iPod and newspaper. They didn’t have was I was looking for. However, I did leave with about 15 recommendations for places to eat, drink and check out (Queen Victoria bldg good, Sydney Tower, bad).
After my visit to the tourist bureau, I mean the Crumpler store, I decided to walk down George Street until I hit water. Instead, I hit the bottom of the Sydney Bridge.

This bridge is really big. It’s impressive. And for AU$50, you can walk across it via those tall arches. But I don’t see that happening. It’s a bit high, ya see…
At the bottom of the bridge is a Park Hyatt and related fine dining. These are some of the guys that bring you that fine dining. Just think of Kitchen Confidental’s “pirate crew”.

The Rocks is the area near the bridge and the waterfront. This is the area that was first settled by convicts when Sydney was founded. Many of the houses are either old and preserved or new condo developments with neat design and built on piers. The new construction is incredibly expensive. Almost as bad as back home.


The old…

…and the Pricey!
This is as close as I got to the famed Sydney Opera House.

I hear it looks cool but the acoustics don’t match the aesthetics. Maybe if there’s a bargain show and if I know what’s being performed, I may attend a performance. I’ve got long pants so it’s all good.
Bank Report! Citibank has branches here, but does not run their own ATMs (WTF?). They slap their name on the machines but they don’t run them. There may be a service fee (boooo!) in my future. On the other hand, there are a LOT of HSBC branches here. So if you’re planning a trip down here, those are the international banks that are here in force.
Yes, sometimes this blog posts useful information! Besides where to eat, I mean…
The jet lag has caught up to me. Probably will hit the sack early this PM.