Port Maquarie

On Day 4 of receiving my sexy beast of a car and one day before the Christmas Eve, I set out on a Road trip.. Obviously, I had no set destination.... so it was s coin toss between the Great Ocean Road and Brisbane. I had half a mind of going back to the Great Ocean Road... because I knew how beautiful it is... there wasn't much alluring about QLD, but at the same, I'd never ventured further up north than Port Stephens so discovering new land didn't seem such a bad idea... besides Byron bay was on the way... and that is supposed to be wonderful.. Brisbane won the toss and I set out early in the morning with Coco with just a couple of shorts and not enough spare clothes (the plan was to use the opportunity to do Boxing Day shopping in Brisbane).


The car is extremely sexy and although I have no idea if her mileage is good or bad, I feel she just can go forever without taking a break. I arrived at Port Maquarie in about 4.5 hours without any break wearing a Santa hat all the way! As soon as I checked into the hostel, I cuddled up with Coco and we both fell sound asleep. Woke up in a couple of hours and it was well past lunch time.. so instead of eating something first, I set out to the Lighthouse. I choose most of my destinations based on whether or not they have a lighthouse.. so I was pretty excited to go check this one out.

When I got to the lighthouse.. and I must say, the car's GPS system is sooo handy. I didn;t have to rely on my dodgy navigation skills at all... The lighthouse was ... well... not what I expected... it was tiny:


After that I headed to the main street in the town had a greek wrap and chatted with the owner of the greek eatery who was Indian while his wife and presumably her sisters made fun of me showing too much skin and how they'd never dream of wearing anything like that in public (yes.. I do understand Hindi and a bit of Punjabi, ladies!).. I asked the owner what the best beach was and he said there were many if I wanted to take a walk along the beach line.. but if he was to pick just one, it would be the Shelley beach.

Over there I saw an interesting sculpture of a man sitting calmly on a throne with dragons/monitor lizards trying to climb up to his high grounds.


The place was supposed to have goannas there but I didn't spot any.. instead I saw these funny turkeys gobbling away happily and running around with little kids chasing them.. It was a nice family beach.


I lied on the rocks with little Coco for a long time until a couple of annoying men came to disturb our peace and tried to chat up with me. At which point I decided I'd just make my way back to the car than engage in any forced socialization with these encroachers.


I stopped on the main street again and had a super-choc drumstick and a salad takeaway for dinner where one of the people staying at the hostel who was there struck up a conversation with me.. I was too much loving the chocolate to be all snarly at him.. so I exchanged some pleasantries and walked back to the car.. The wind was starting to pick up.

The hostel was quiet with most people enjoying their dinner in solitude and on their PCs or phones.. I sat across this dude who was eating something obviously too spicy because there were no other free benches... He wasn't a bad conversationalist.. he was German with a strong accent and poor grammar. I finished my lunch and excused myself saying I was going to go check where the music is coming from.. he said he'd like to come along too.. so we walked together.. and found that just a couple blocks away there was a sort of fair/show with all the rides and things.. the types you see in small towns and it was mostly empty. So we walked back to the hostel.

The next morning on Dec 24th, I set out early towards Brisbane... this part of the journey was longer than Sydney to Brisbane.

Ferry to Manly

So this weekend wasn't all that happening in terms of going out. But the closest I got to exploring in or near the city was take a ferry to Manly. My visits to Manly have been of a tragic story. The first time I got there was like a year and a half ago, all I did was take a ferry to Manly, get to the wharf, have a Gellato and just take the  next ferry back to the city. The next time I got there was during the Vivid this year and. I did have progress.. I walked to the beach but it was night time so I didn't really get a good view of the beach. But I did walk on the pipes for a bit which sounds dangerous.. but was extremely fun to do when it was absolutely dark and i couldn't see anybody close in sight. So this Saturday was my third visit beause I was going to see someone there. The ferry ride was awesome! Here's a panorama photo from the back of the ferry:


Its a shame that the weather wasn't that great in the morning as I was getting to there. But it did light up in the afternoon on my way back. And the best part, I did get to see the beach in daylight. I couldn't linger around too long because I had to get back to the city for a friend's birthday party. But the sight of the beach was totally worth the visit.

The Bondi Beach

I didn't really want to go very far this weekend but didn't want to not go anywhere either. I hadn't been to the Bondi Beach ever but didn't think I'd like it much anyway thinking it's always very crowded. I was in for a huge surprise.

When I got to the Bondi Beach on the 380 bus, I looked at the beach, saw all the people in it and just walked into the San Churro's overlooking the beach. I asked for a dark hot chocolate and she asked me if I'd like marshmellows with it.. I didn;t really wanted to.. but said I'd try it anyway.. The dark choc arrived with a huge dollop of whipped cream on top with marshmellows.. damn.. that was just way more sweetnezz than I could handle!

Just off the beach there's this heart shaped pool and skating area which is kinda cool.


I walked to the end of the beach near the rockpool. I couldn't really get to the rock pool from the place on the beach I was at but it was an amzing view of the big waves crashing in on the shore from there. Besides I stood on the rocks at the end and there was no wind so I could comfortably stand for a long time there.

I loved the beach. I was there till way after dark. It wasn't crowded where I was at all. It was like being surrounded by a lot of people and yet in absolute solitude with nothing but the sound of the waves all around me. Right in the heart of the crowded urbanland but still so close to the raw power of nature. I don't have any words to describe the serene beauty of the experience. Its definitely scratched the barrier in my head of being able to enjoy being at a beach closer to the city.

Cruwee Cove

The last week I was at the Congwong Bay I'd actually intended to get to the Cruwee Cove. But I got there too late.. and I had to return. I came back to the City from the skydive at 11ish, had a long brunch with my friend in Chinatown and said laterz to her at 12:00. I didn't have much else to do because the laundry (which is a giant chore) was already done on yesterday. So I decided to just go back to the Cruwee cove and finish what I'd started. I got off a stop before the last stop and walked to the golf course. The Beach at the Cruwee Cove is very rocky so you can't really get in the water, but it is very scenic. I'm not a huge fan of gettin in the water anyway. Its very cold and windy and all I want is to go places this winter so I may return to them some other time and hopefully the photos will encourage others to explore these not so touristy places as well.

     
It was really windy. I sat near the rocks for a while. It was very peaceful I"d have sat there all day if the wind wasn't blowing my brains away. The waves there are very powerful and I could just sit there watchign the giant splashes all day. The mist from the splatters actually even made rainbows. see if you can spot the rainbow in the shot below.


I walked around a bit before gettin back. The Henry's head is an awesome spot for watching the sunset. Coco and I sat there watching the sun set in the land and planes come to and from the Botany Bay while a industrial chimney kept spewing flames in the backdrop of beautiful blue skies.


I got back to the Congwong bay beach from that hidden bushtrail the father and daughters had unknowingly shown me the last time. The beach is really beautiful and I always wanted to write something in the sand.. I couldn't really think of anything so just drew Miss U =)


I may have put my curiosity to rest by visitin all the places I could walk to at the Cruwee Cove.. But I think I really like the beach and would like going back there with anyone that doesn't mind a bit of a heart pumping walk and a lot of wind and cold.

Sky Dive at Wollongong

I was at a sketch club meetup a week ago and this new friend of mine says 'I'm turning 30 next weekend' and she wanted to do something memorable.. like a skydive or a bungee jump but didn't have a partner. I said I"m up for it. She wasn't sure I was joking.. but over the week, we chatted on whatsapp and I ended up booking our jump on Sunday. and that was that.. it was decided... we were jumping out of a plane just for the heck of it.. oh the things people do after they're 30!

I've been asked if it was freaky, what the scariest part was, etc.. but its just that there is no time to be scared, everything happens so fast.

You jump on a very small plane. Gotta say.. even getting in the plane is an awesome experience by itself! The rotor thingie is so fast you're almost blown off while getting in the plane on a metal step ladder. I was the first to get in so the last to jump out. But my friend was the last one so she got to be the first one to jump out. Down here you can see the photos of me with my skydive instructor and someone just before and after jumping out of the plane.. so much fun!


The plane took off and started spiraling upwards to gain altitude. This was a 14,000ft jump. Through out the climb the plane was at a very high angle and the view below was absolutely surreal. The diving instructor I was doing the jump in tandem with, John, was very experienced. He knew exactly how to calm the nerves. He pointed out the Sydney side and the beach while we were in the plane. I'm very lucky that it was a glorious day with clear blue skies.


I can't tell exactly how long the dive lasted.. but it was such an awesome experience.. So worth everything! Everything from getting on the bus in Sydney to the Wollongong jump site in Wilton from watching one by one all the people in the plane jump out to jumping out youorself.. the gush of wind so fierce.. not knowing which way is up or down.. just free falling.. and then the parachute deploying.. and the calm peace of being so high up above the ground.. having a certainty that you're not going to die.. not right now at least.. the amazing view with no glass windows.. just you, the earth miles below and the wise skydive instructor allowing you to just soak in the moment. And then you see the landing circle.. And before you know it your feet touch the land.. you don't really land on you bum like the instructor said you would.. And there you have it.. a skydive.


After I got to Sydney it wasn't too late.. just about 11ish in the morning.. I had a full day ahead of me. A very sunny clear blue skies day. I said to my friend that it didn't feel like much.. just that the part of our brains that would've been afraid of jumping out of planes has completely been erased..

Congwong Bay

It was 3ish on a Sunday afternoon and it didn't really seem like I was going to get out much but I thought I'd go out just for the sake of adding another post to my blog.. I'd initially intended to actually go to Cruwee Cove.. I think I"m beginning to see a pattern of the places that appeal to me here.. not hard to miss. I completely misread Google Maps in my over confidence of knowing the city.. it said stand C comething and I immediately assumed it to be some other bus station I was quite familiar with... I kinda like this.. the feeling of actually 'knowing' the places and names.. When I arrived here every place was just alien name to me... but I guess I'm beginning to get a hang of a very limited few places here... Could be from my Google maps surfings to pick destinations over the last few weeks too.. who knows.. if I could I'd like to make this 'my' city.

Anyhowz.. I goofed up the bus station and missed the L94 or something which is every half hour.. so I waited at the bus station patiently.. actually passing time was quite a pleasure with the company of good music. Took the 3:38 bus that would arrive at the place around 4:30. I wasn't thrilled of arriving at the place at almost sunset.. but heck I was at the bus station.. I"d come too far to just go back to my desolate room in the house. The 391 goes almost till the end of the Botany Bay. The last stop is called La Perouse.

I got off there and considered walking to the Bare Island. There was an exhibition there with an entry fee onto the island of $2. Here's a photo of the Bare Island taken from near the bus stop:


It was so insanely cold and windy that I just couldn't have been able to stay there anymore so I decided to take a walk to the beach and go where I'd intended to go - The Cruwee Cove. I walked to the end of the Congwong beach and a dad and his two daughters kinda disappeared on a bush trail while I was taking pictures of this steam. I was almost tempted to dip my hand in the water from the stream flowing into the ocean to see if it was sweet (not salty sea water) when I realized it came from a pipe.. ewww!! The pattern in the stream looked really pretty here's a photo of the stream flowing into the sea.


When I got back from there I watched a movie called Gallowalkers where Wesley Snipes rips peoples' heads and spines out. Looking back to the photo after the movie.. the pattern in the water kinda looks like a spine..

It was so obscure I wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't for them. The trail was not an official path and very rugged. I climbed to the top and considered walking another half hour towards my chosen destination but it was sunset already and I was a little nervous (terrified!) of venturing further on the bush trail. I took another photo of the Bare Island from the bush trail to the Henry point and walked back to the bus stop.


Coco and I waited for a long time for the bus to arrive.. We watched many aeroplanes land on the Sydney airport. I think Cocstar really enjoyed himself on this visit. It was still very cold and he didn't really get much chance to venture out.


The sound of the sea was amazing and very calming. If it wasn't so cold I'd have liked to sit on one of the boulders there watching the waves wash over the sandy rocky shore.

Winter Magic Fest - Katoomba

I was at the Winter Magic Fest at Katoomba this Saturday. It was really nice, the whole of the main street was blocked off and there was a hugely colorful parade. Here's a collage of the parade (that I'm so disappointed at because of the 'free' collage maker's watermark on my creation.. oh well.. beggars can't be choosy):

There was a lot to see and there was a HUGE crowd.. but to be honest after having a couple of panic attacks of wanting to crawl back in I was totally done by about 1:30pm and wanted to catch the first train to the city.. But Eminem inspired me to stay and aksed me if I was going to make the most of the opportunity or just squander it... Weeelll.. no one calls me chicken.. I'd seen the map of the hop on and off service before getting onto the train platform and saw an interesting point in the blue mountains called the Honeymoon point and I told Coco(my wide eyed handsome baby) that mommy will be here someday with daddy.. I thought that'd be an interesting place to check out to make sure it was worth visiting..

The whole of Katoomba is beautiful and the trail that seemed giant big on the map is not really that big the walk from the echo point to the scenic world is just that.. really not that long.. but superbly beautiful. I was lucky enough to have gotten a weekend when it finally wasn't raining and the winds blowing my hair off so watching the valley below in the mildly golden sunshine was a bliss...


I took the stairs to the Katoomba cascade and its an amazing spot for photos. I was lucky enough to have mine taken (not posted here but on my FB ;) But here's a photo of the water cascade I took with my clouds white balance retouched a bit (I even got a compliment for my camera, Fujifilm HS30, which I think is crappy but apparently it put someone's super expensive Nikon DSLR to shame.. so to return the favor I gave the lady a crash course in getting different tinges to the photos just by altering the white balance setting... really I was just passing on the kind knowledge I'd received on my Canberra trip from a lady while I was waiting in the queue for the Gold and the Incas Exhibition).


I saw the rare Kookaburra and tried to get some shots of it but couldn't quite focus on him.. I do have a shot of him in just a fuzzy feathery flight which I'd like to share through:


On the track to the Katoomba waterfalls there's a small waterfall place that you can climb down to which I did because it wasn't that muddy Its a nicely serene place to just sit and not be bothered by the bypassers.. unluckily I had a balloon from the winter magic fest tied to my knee (because I had no place else to tie it onto) that was spotted by a nosy tourist guyand was like "hey look there's a balloon down there..." and blah blah and totally spoiled my calmness so replied back politely in a "ferk yew" and climbed back up.. When I was further up on the track saw back to where I"d gone down realized how goddam close I was to the edge of the vertical cliff and if I'd slipped I'd end up near the end of a very vertical fall... which I assume wouldn't be pretty :)


The stairs are fun to go down when goin from the echo point to the scenic world but are a bitch when climbing back up.. It was getting late and I wanted to just go back home.. unfortunately I didn't have Dorothy's pretty red shoes so I just had to climb all the steep stairs back up.. Its sunday night now and my calfs are still a little mad at me for the walk. It was totally worth it though.. It isn't a long walk but its very very scenic. There are a couple of my favoured spots on the walk.. one where you're coming back from the scenic world and there is no guard rail/hand bar and you get this amazing 230degrees view of the sleepy valley and the second just is off the track where you can sit with your feet dangling off the edge of a small cliff and just sit there listening to the badass currawongs who like the sound of their own whinging echoing off the vale.

So worth the visit ..considering that I'd almost decided to cancel it considering the crowds and all!. But to be honest it was way below 20 degree.. must've been 10 or so.. but to the Blue Mountains' credit it didn't rain on the parade.. only rained way late in the evening after about 5pm

Kurnell (mis)Adventure

The weather wasn't really that great but I decided to go to Kurnell anyway. I guess that's what this blog is about... going places even when the weather isn't picture perfect. Guess this time my journey was a bit jinxed... you'll know why shortly...

Most times I don't really plan my random visits and this time it wasn't any different... I saw Cronulla on google maps and decided to go to it because there was a direct train going to it. When I checked it out on wiki (which I normally don't do), I saw Kurnell as a nearer cooler place to go to and had a bit of a historical back ground to it too so it was an instant pick as the destination of the week. Turned out that luckily there was public transport arrangements to Kurnell too... so figured that's where the pin had landed and that was where Coco and I were going.

As I got there it was raining and it was biting cold... definitely way less than 20degrees... but hey there was no way I could complain as soon as I saw the first rocky pier thingy there... There's only one thing to do when you see one of these... climb over the super terrifying rocks all the way to the end.. and I did just that... it was.. well.. Heaven!! and then saw another pier where a black lab was sportying his long jumps onto.. well.. I wasn't going to let a puppy beat me.. so I went there too... I took a few selfies there.. but got this giant stalker pelican in the shot too:


There isn't much to see in terms of scenic beauty at Kurnell in my opinion because its all marred by these giant oil or something rigs that I did take photos of... but.. as luck would have it, my camera's card decided to tell me it was corrupt after we got back from teh Kurnell trip. Didn't matter much because I didn't like the photos much anyway.. Besides it was so cold I was reluctant to have the camera out and take any photos too..

Well.. since there isn't much to see.. in about an hour an half or so after climbing on a 3 or so rocky piers (where I was still stalked by that scary mean Pelican) I was done and wanted to return back to the city.. so I made my way to the bus stop and realized this:


There are only two buses to Kurnell on Sundays.. a morning and a late evening bus! oh joy! it was 12:30pm and it looked like I was stuck there for an eternity!

Luckily I am participating in the GCC and thought heck if i walked back to Cronulla I"d really boost my step count up.. and I did.. and damn I gotta say that walk wasn't pleasant! It was terribly cold and it was mildly raining... The wind was so bad that at one point I literally had to stop walking lest I be blown backwards by the wind... no fcuking kidding! There were some plus sides to the 10km walk back though...  I got beeped at a lot and given the Joey look by a couple of bikies .....annnnd... I saw a plant that looked like fennel that I grazed like a goat and was glad it was indeed fennel! lol

I did get these cool shells from the beach there that are proudly sitting on my desk:


When I walked back to Cronulla I walked to the beach and sat there for a while with Coco... we were both so glad to have made it to civilization and weren't stranded on the highway or splattered on the road like was-a-roo.. The Cronulla beach is very nice it has big beautiful waves and big dreamy mossy rocks on the beach... I cherish the photo of me and Coco there with a milky wave engulfing one of those mossy rocks in the background and both of us smiling dreamily (not posting it here though :p). I had a hot chocolate on the way back to the train station and a super sweet almond pastry (which put me off all almond pastries for..ever!). This will be one (mis)adventure I won't forget.. and I"ll always make sure that there isn't just a way TO to the place but is a way back 'from' the destination too... no one wants to be a giligan!

Barrenjoey Lighthouse

I had decided to go and stay overnight or so over the Queen's Birthday long weekend. The most lucrative place was Port Stephens but I couldn't find any bookings at my fav backpackers so I decided to book a place at somewhere else.. and picked the Batemans Beach instead... The thing is.. I lived in Canberra for about 5 months.. and during those days, I was never inclined to go there even once. Maybe having seen Adelaide's white sandy beaches had set a high bar for my expections of a beach... I cancelled my booking a couple days before because finding a car rental was going to mean me having to do something for the first time.. And I hate doing things I don't know and would include asking a friend or a coworker for their advice..

So I decided to go someplace close to the city that didn't require me to pay overnight accommodation.. double bonus!

Initially I thought I'd go to Collaroy Beach, but saw that the same bus, L90, goes all the way to the Palm beach so it was an instant decision to visit the Barrenjoey Lighthouse aituated at the very tip of the landmasses as you can see fro google maps. Besides I think I have a thing about lighthouses. I have a very special lighthouse in mind as our wedding venue I've never been to yet..

The bus ride to the Palm beach is nice especially if you're sitting on the last seat on those ultra-long buses. It does get a little curvy and isn't the most enjoyable for people with any form of motion sickness... But I survived the ride.. and got off a stop ahead of where I was supposed to get off because I was so taken aback with the spectacular view.


The walk to the Barrenjoey lighthouse is supersteep and there are no stairs. The weather was beautiful in the morning when I Was making my mind up but when I did get to the Palm beach, it looked like it could rain any moment. The laborous walk uphill to the lighthouse is very rewarding as you get amaysome views from up there. There's also a whale watch point where you can sit drinking in all the beauty that surrounds you for hours waiting for one of the getle giants of the ocean to surface for a little bit of a playtime. I sat there for a long time.. but I wasn't lucky enough to see although as soon as I got there, people had exclaimed about seeing a splash somewhere but I must've missed it by this much! This is a photo of the whale watch point taken from atop the lighthouse:


I sat at the whale watch point sketching the lighthouse through a bit of a drizzle but left when the kind ranger announced the last tour of the lighthouse for the day (at 3:00pm). It was a half hour tour where he took us to the top of the lighthouse. I'd never been up the top of any lighthouse yet so that was an amazing experience. The windy side is so windy that my camera was almost ready to fly away with the winds. The place has a very old history. This port used to serve as a smuggler's point to drop off goods so they wouldn't have to pay the taxes had they unloaded the shipment at the Sydney harbor instead. The tour guide also explained that the lighthouse had a red screen on so the ships could distinguish this lighthouse from the Sydney one.


The steep walk down is much faster as I was running down most of the way. The place was an amazing visit and will stay in my heart for years to come..

Kiama - The Big Poo

I've wanted to visit the Australia's big things for quite a while now. I've seen two of those in South Australia. According to the words of a wise man, Australia is full of giant fiberglass statues put up by nowheretowns to attract tourists (or something like that). I miss the man that said those words. I've dedicated this blog in the hope of showing him how much he and all his words mean to me. I pray that I'll somehow reunite with the love of my life through this blog.

Of all the attractive big things, obviously, The Big Poo seemed like the best place to start this journey with. Wiki states that it was erected by the townsfolk of Kiama as a protest against reusing waste water. It says that it was made form foam.

I caught a train from Sydney at 7:29am and arrived at Kiama after a 2:22 long journey. On the way the weather had already begnu to show that it wasn't going to be at its nicest, but I was hoping and praying that there would be blue skies down south as compared to Sydney. After all, they say that Wollongong is a beautiful place and Kiama isn't far from Wolly much.

As I got out of the train, it was pouring mixed with really strong winds. I

So without further ado, here're the photos from Kiama.

This is the Big Blowhole. This unique rock and cave formation makes trapped water spout out in a giant fountain over 30ft high at times.

There is a beautiful lighthouse near the big blowhole.

This is the small Blowhole. I personally found this one more beautiful as its much more in the open and is less crowded and there are rocks where you can just sit and watch it blow forever.. Its very very beautiful and mesmerizing.

But wait.. where's the Big Poo that got me motivated on the journey to Kiama? I aksed a few boys at the cafe near Shell harbor and the oldest and wisest of them said that it was 60km up somewhere and there was no way one could walk to it. But if it really was 60km of there.. It wouldn't really still be Kiama, would it, buddy? Guess he was makin sure his seniority and wiseness wasn't challenged in front of the youngsters. At the visitor's center, the older nice lady that I asked the same question to said that she was here for 7 years and has never seen it so it must've crumpled away.. After all it was made of foam.

But wait.. On the way to Kiama Hieghts just before the small blowhole, I found the giant caricature.

A New Beginning

I am going through an ITIL training - RCV (Release, Control and Validation). And while demontrating an example, the trainer mentioned the AirCon as a closed-loop process which takes feedback as an input. And he doodled 20... That figure sparked many visualizations in my head... So starting a new blog with the brand new perspective... And there you have it: