Sydney, Family visit, May 2007

My parents, grandma and 2 friends of our family decided to visit me in Sydney and I organised a lovely apartment in Manly, right on the ocean. I am sure they would like it, and they love it. After a 30 hour trip they where quite groggy but the way to manly with the ferry was exciting enough to keep them awake.

Manly

And they loved it. Manly is just awesome and the next 2 weeks we discovered Sydney and it’s surroundings.

Royal Botany Garden They couldn’t believe what they saw, totally overwhelmed we took a walk through the evergreen Garden and the city while I was explaining the history of Sydney / Australia.

The Rocks

Rocks Bondi – Bronte Walk

Yes, there are really dream beaches just half an hour of the city and we walked all the way along the coast till we finally had a bath in Bondi Beach. But before I had to explain the dangers in the ocean and always had to take care that they ARE wearing sunscreen! Typically Germans, they think they never have to wear sunscreen, they want to look brown to show the others back home that they were on holidays. But they just don’t understand how aggressive the sun is over here.


It’s also a big misunderstanding that in Australia the sun is always shining and its always hot. IT IS NOT.



Aquarium and Wildlife Park, Darling Harbour

Blue Mountains

Manly, Bodyboarding

The waves were huge, the sun was shining, the best weather to have a swim. Its not easy to swim here, the waves are 3 m high and just crush you to little sand crumbs. But we had fun the whole day and even my mum was body boarding, well she tried. Even my grandma could be better ;)



Port Stephens, Nelson Bay

A beautiful day at the ocean and in sand dunes.

Watson Bay

Sydney Opera House

Palm Beach

The last day in Sydney we spent in the upper north, Palm Beach.
They enjoyed it a lot and were quite sad to leave.

I am sure they now understand why I wanna stay for much longer and that this country is a true wonder, and they just saw 1 % of it.. They loved : the flora and birds, the clean and green city, the beautiful beaches, the very nice and open minded people, saying hello and goodbye to the bus driver, to smile and to be happy. They wondered: why Australiens are not running and jostling, standing in lines on the bus, why there is hardly no butter without salt and they realised that there is no need to put towels on chairs to reserve it.

I stayed for one more week in Sydney to sort out some stuff , book a flight to Perth and to celebrate my birthday on another birthday party.