25 March 2016:- Australia:- Sydney

AUSTRALIA :-  Sydney

20th Day: 25.03.2016 

We will have a kind of reunion today. Mrs Lilette who is a friend of mine from Istanbul and her son Hakan who is living in Brisbane will fly this morning from Brisbane and they will come directly to my Hotel Vulcan. On the other hand our friend Erhan Izmir and his lovely wife Gul will pick up all of us from the hotel and we will enjoy the day altogether.

The meeting time at the hotel is 10.00. Gul and Erhan came first and we waited a little bit for Lilette and Hakan at the breakfast hall. They came directly from the airport. Then we jumped into the Erhan ‘s car and he took us to many places in/around Sydney which we couldn ‘t cover by ourselves. Gul and Erhan have been living in Sydney for more then 20 years.

We, first, made a sight-seeing tour with the car on the south Sydney. After seing the down town of Sydney we drove to Rose Bay and Voucluse and headed to the South Head. After walking a while altogether we made a coffee break in Watsons Bay.

Sydney from South Head

Suicide point at the South Head

Erhan,Hakan, Gul, Lilette and me

 

South Head -Background North Sydney

Cem, Erhan, Hakan with umbrella, Gul and Lilette

Then we started to drive and this time Erhan took us to Bondi Beach on the east coast of the south Sydney. Bondi Beach is a well-known and even it is autumn there are a lot of people surfing and laying in the beach. The weather was cloudy. We drank some beer and ate some short stuff here. After that we departed and we took Bondi Road and Oxford Str.

headed the Harbour Bridge. After crossing the bridge we stopped shortly at the Milsons Point and took some pictures.

From Milsons Point

Harbour Bridge from Milsons Point

 

Neutral Bay and Mosman Bay are the places we passed on the way to Spit Bridge. We are now on the North Sydney and it is still nice. The area is in intimate touch with the sea and this makes the city lovely in my opinion. Right after crossing the Spit Bridge Erhan took us to the big green field at the Arabanoo Lookout. He had used to play football here.

From the Arabanoo Lookout

As our final destination we came to Manly. We walked shortly at Manly Beach and then

we –except Erhan and Gul- took the ferry from Manly to Sydney. To use the public transportation someone must have Opal Card which is sold at every “Convenience Stores”. I had bought one yesterday and I have used it at the ferry.

Manly Beach

Heading to Sydney on the ferry from Manly

After we landed at the Sydney City, we took a taxi and Lilette and Hakan dropped me at my Hotel and I gave their two pieces of luggage from my room. We agreed to meet at a restaurant for dinner and I have rested a little bit in my room.

Around 19:00 o’clock I went out and walked to the down town. Meanwhile I have received a message from Hakan to go to the restaurant in Darlinghurst where he found a restaurant

popular with pasta and sauces. We met there and ate some fine pasta and drank two bottles of tasty red wine of Australian Origin. Late in the night, around 23:00 we drove back to our hotels.

Good Night .

24 March 2016:-AUSTRALIA:- Yulara>>Sydney

AUSTRALIA :-  Yulara >>>Sydney

19th Day: 24.03.2016 

Today is my last day in Ayers Rock or Yulara. I have a scheduled short tour starting early in the morning to catch the sun rise. SEIT Tour guide picks me up at 05:30. The name of the tour is “Uluru Highlights”. Our guide, Rolano, with the Chilean origin is a friendly guy with good experience about the Aboriginal Culture in Yulara. We collected some more guests from different hotels and altogether 5 people we drove to Uluru.

Rolano stopped approx. on the southwest side of the Uluru (the big massive stone) with a distance of around 2 km to the stone. We got out from our minivan and waited for the rising sun. Meanwhile our guide prepared a breakfast at the rear of the car. Coffee, bread, honey, almond cake and some fruit was ready for self-service. The sun rise was at 06:21 and we caught a lot of pictures under the first rays of the sun.

After the sun rise we departed from this point at 07:00 and drove closer to the Uluru. We started to walk to the water sink. There is a cave made by nature and we saw on the walls of the cave some primitive paintings done by the Aboriginal people.

At the top of the cave there was a big stone with the shape similar to a snake head. Snake is a sacred animal for the Aboriginal people. They believe that the snake laid eggs at Uluru and therefore the stone Uluru is respectfully treated by themselves.

The land going closer to the water sink is in a shape of a bottleneck. This part is also a natural trap for the wild animals. As per the explanations of our guide the Aboriginal people

had used to hunt here easily. The hole on the cave wall looking to this area was also serving to the children to peep outside where the men were hunting and learn hunting skills of their fathers.

After the water sink we walked back to the minivan and we drove to the east side of the Uluru. This part of the Uluru is not for photography. The native people are living here somewhere and there is no permission to take picture. The tribe, called “Anulu” is living here according to their traditions and rules and there is a kind of consensus for a reserved living. They have obtained their rights during late nineteen eighties and since then they live

here as before. There is a believed set of rule among themselves which describes their daily relations and similar traditional rituals etc.

As per our guide we understand that almost half of the year is allocated for the ceremonies, traditional rituals. We drove further to the north side of the Uluru. We saw that a few people were climbing the stone. The people are not encouraged for climbing because of two main reasons: Security, respect to the Aboriginal people believes,

On rainy and windy days it is not safe to climb the stone.

Just before 09:00 o’clock we returned to the Hotel. I bought some souvenirs from the shop at the entrance of the Hotel and then went to my dormitory room and packed my luggage.

The scheduled AAT Kings bus is at 10:30 and this one is adequate for my Virgin Australia flight at 12:35 to Sydney. Our plane took off at 12:35 and after a 3 hours flight we landed at Sydney Airport.

The local time was 17:10 when we landed at Sydney airport. I took the Redy2Go shuttle service from the Airport and our driver dropped me at the Vulcan Hotel, 500 Wattle Str, Ultimo, around 19:15. It is very reasonable price: 22.-AUD only. It took more or less one and half hours from the airport to the hotel during the rush hour.

My hotel has a good location. I walked to the China Town and took seat outside at the table on the pavement of a Chinese restaurant and ordered some Chinese food with some steamed rice and drank a bottle of Chinese beer, Tsingtao.

Night view at the Darling Harbour, Sydney.

After the late dinner, I walked to the Darling Harbour. It is a touristic zone and there are a lot of cafés, bars and restaurants there. The lights of the city was very colorful and attractive. After spending some time at the Darling Harbour, I walked all along the Harris Street to my Hotel. I arrived at the hotel around 23:00. I felt happy while thinking that this is my last stop on this long Australia+NZ journey and I am going to sleep three nights at the same hotel.

Tomorrow I am going to meet with some friends and we are going to make sight-seeing in Sydney together.