Labels: Pacific Travel
posted by Jordan Olson @ 5:57 AM
1 comments
My last view of New Zealand before the clouds blanketed the green earth.
The ocean... blue last time I checked.
As we descended through the clouds, I caught my first glimpse of Australia! OZ! That coastline looked remarkably straight, like a ruler. (It does go up and down however, causing cliffs and inlets.)
Southern Sydney.
Sam picked me up at the airport, and that evening we did a few things. WBecaent to the Friday night Easter service at church, hung out with some of his friends at Mcdonald's, and then went to bed. Because of the time difference from New Zealand, I had a 26 hour day. The next morning we woke up at 5:00, and left early in the morning for Wee Jasper! Sam and Belinda spent the weekend camping with Belinda's family, and I got to hang out with them. So here's the early morning highway.
We headed first south, and then west. Our camping spot is 4 hours from Sydney, and actually north-west of Canberra. We were a ways inland! If you are looking at a map, Wee Jasper isn't usually on it, but Yass is, and we weren't far from Yass. The scenery was unique, definitely the driest I've ever seen. Australia is known to be the driest continent in the world! I believe it! This area had not had rain in 3 months.
Close to the camping spot was a river, with some very cold water. (Surprisingly cold.)
We got to go abseiling and caving! That was a blast, a new experience for me. Here's me coming out of a "squeeze" after a 100 meter crawlway. It was an adventure!
Here's the caving party, minus Brian who took the photo. (Belinda's dad.)
Adam (Belinda's eldest brother) was always looking for a squeeze, that was his pursuit. He made it through some pretty tight places. Let me tell you something, that rock does not budge. It is solid rock.
This the entrance to one of the caves.
We spent a couple of chilly nights in Wee Jasper, and the temperature actually dropped to 0 during the night. There was frost on the ground! All I had was my little blue sleeping bag. I wore all I could, piled on everything I had. Anyway, we then packed up on Sunday and headed back.
I did a bit of tramping in Sam's neighborhood, a suburb called Thornleigh. This road runs through it.
I don't recall the name of this beach. The water was pretty warm, although chilly by Aussie standards, it was warm enough to stay in the water. Some strong currents pulling out to sea though, so we didn't wade very deep. If you have a surf board, you're ok, because you're sort of on top of the current.
One day I spent tramping over the Sydney Harbour bridge, and around the opera house. This is one end of the bridge.
Security is high here.
These photos say it all.
It was fun to use the washrooms in the Opera House, there were no sinks!
Tramping along the harbour, I covered quite a bit of distance before taking these photos.
That pretty much concludes my day of tramping downtown Sydney. The day before I left Sydney, I got the awesome opportunity to visit Joyce, a Christian teacher I met traveling north of Auckland! We ate Lebanese food and had a great evening with her family. In this photo, Joyce is the lower left, her oldest sister Grace and husband in the center, and her little brother Charles- upper right. Good on them.
Just for comparison, here are some New Zealand dollar bills, next to a couple of Australian 20s. Both countries have plastic bills, with transparent emblems. Plastic is so cool! You can put these bills in your wet swimming trunk pockets, without worrying about water damage. Also, both countries don't have pennies, and their coinage has levels at 5, 10, 20, 50 cents, 1 dollar, and 2 dollars.
Sam and Belinda were absolutely great hosts! I feel so blessed to know them, and that they were willing to take me along to a family camping trip. I hope I can see them again one day!
April 13th onwards. Part 1 of 2 in Oz.
Labels: Pacific Travel
posted by Jordan Olson @ 4:42 AM
4 comments
A Canadian studying and dreaming of work in New Zealand.
Currently working as Compositing Technical Director at Oktobor Animation, Auckland. Currently applying for residency, also supporting Auckland and New Zealand's entertainment industry by implementing ideas, doing volunteer work, and showing the world that the technical expertise is here! Primary skills: Nuke + Python.