The Blue Mountains

Sunrise in Sydney

Our second full day started slow, but was a marathon. A few folks were up early, including Lydia, who wanted to see the sunset over the beach, and Justin and Sam, who took the surfboards that were left at the AirBnB for us and went out to investigate some early morning swells on Bondi Beach. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for sometimes, and, although they were both able to catch a few waves, Justin said the surfboards started sinking, since they were waterlogged. Gabby managed to get a quick swim in, and Tanner and I walked to the beach to see what was happening.

Bondi Beach

Our main destination for the day was the Blue Mountains, a couple of hours outside of Sydney by car. We had some options for the day, including watching a cricket game nearby, and catching a glimpse of some glow worms, but we eventually decided not to squeeze too much in, as Joe estimated, if we did, dinner time would be around 11:00 PM.

Blue Mountains

Driving to the Blue Mountains, I asked Joe which felt more familiar, Australia or New Zealand. Besides the country music from yesterday, which made us feel welcome, I thought the cars also seemed more American than European, and Joe said the topography felt more like home. Tanner’s car stopped at a 7 Eleven for some snacks, and Adam fumbled some of his navigating duties while filming and pretending to be an influencer.

The Three Sisters

Our first stop was Echo Point and the Three Sisters formation. This lookout reminded me a little bit of the Grand Canyon, except not quite as deep, and a lot greener. I went to chat with the park staff at the info station, and, after asking if we were hikers (I responded, “Yes.”), he recommended a “roughly three hour” hike down into the valley, where we might have the chance to see some wildlife. Meanwhile, Utah had met a UVA student from Salem. Apparently our Virginia universities have global reach. First Virginia Tech in Los Angeles, and now UVA in Sydney. Justin also pointed out a "sun dog" in the sky.

Sun dog

The hike started with a descent down 900 stairs to the valley floor. That was our first warning. Also, this was a canyon hike, not the mountain hikes we’re used to in Virginia. So, instead of going up and then coming back down, we went down first, and then would need to make up that elevation at some later point. Lydia said, as the hike was starting, she thought, "We're about to walk so far."

We took a short break about halfway down the valley and refueled with some of Lydia’s snacks. We had decided not to bring the sandwiches we had packed, since we thought we would be back for a late lunch. We eventually made our way back up the side of the canyon, taking in the views and enjoying the waterfalls along the way. Once we climbed back to the rim of the canyon, we had several more miles to make it back to the starting point. Along the way, we encountered a Lyre Bird (Glen Alice) that can mimic any sound that it hears.

Lyre Bird

Roughly six hours later, we finally made it back to the cars. Everyone tore into the lunches and refilled their water bottles. Tanner had some of my “Australian” goldfish (carried across the ocean) and decided they were gross. After a rest, Utah said, “So, glowworms?” and was surprised when I called his bluff. Unfortunately, I think the rest of the group would have rioted at that point, if we had added more hours of driving and walking to our itinerary for the day. We were on a quiet back street and one of our group members got to check “driving on the left hand side of the road” off their bucket list. Let's just say Tanner is a little more flexible with his rental car than Joe.

On the way home, we saw our third dead kangaroo on the side of the road, but still had yet to see a live one. Despite kangaroos being like deer to Australians, even around Virginia, you can go a month and not see a deer. I did some quick research and Reddit told us that Western Sydney University was a great place to see kangaroos. We took a short detour and pulled into the old, disused part of the university campus. Sure enough, immediately to our left when we pulled in, there were a dozen kangaroos just lounging in the field. Joe had to tell Lydia to calm down and let him get the car parked before she jumped out.

Kangaroos!

We got to watch this family group of kangaroos, which included a large male, some females, juveniles, and even a couple of joeys. There was some discussion about how dangerous kangaroos really are, and Utah and Tanner decided to see how close they could get. Gabby observed that kangaroos can’t really walk, they have to hop or shuffle forward. Eventually, after the first herd wandered off, we drove around the rest of the campus and saw a few dozen other groups scattered across the hillside.

We arrived back at the AirBnB and had a delicious spaghetti dinner, around 9:00 PM (not 11:00 PM, as Joe predicted). Gabby wasn’t feeling well, but was better after a nap. Once we finished dinner, I asked, “Okay, who’s ready for the next adventure?” Utah looked at me incredulously and said, “Tonight?” I said, “Yes, tonight! This is an adventure, not a vacation.” I told them there was an ocean pool (Bronte Baths) at the end of a nice costal walk. Nevermind that it was 11:00 PM at night and we had already hiked seven miles. When else are you gong to have the opportunity to swim in an ocean pool in Australia? Eventually, seven of us started out, but Utah, Tanner, and Adam went on to bed.

We set out on our walk to Bronte Beach from Bondi, under the moonlight. It was cool to look out over the ocean at the constellations and see them in a different orientation than we’re used to in the Northern Hemisphere. I could tell the group was starting to drag a little bit on the way there, and Joe stopped to inspect the ride share bikes for a moment. Emily told me later she was considering how much money would convince Joe to go back to the AirBnB and get the rental car to come back and pick her up.

When we arrived at the ocean pool, the tide was high, and the surf was breaking over the seawall pretty strongly. There were no lights, but the pool was open, and we didn’t walk all this way not to jump in! Sam joined me, and we swam hard to keep from being pushed into the concrete wall. We made it to the sea wall and managed to pull ourselves up onto it. We held onto the rope and tried to avoid being knocked off by the waves. A large wave eventually took me out, but Sam managed to hold on. I was trying to avoid being smashed into the wooden lane wall that was inconveniently in the center of the pool.

Bronte Baths

After our dip, I felt energized and alive. Meanwhile, Joe was booking an Uber home. Justin and Emily bailed alongside him, which left Sam, myself (both wet), Gabby, and Lydia to walk the mile and a half back. I was wearing my flops, which weren’t quite as effective soaking wet, but we made do. A spider dropped on Gabby’s head at some point, and she was so done. Sometime after midnight, we finally made it back to our AirBnB.

Sydney and the Barber of Seville

We arrived in Sydney a little earlier than expected on Monday morning. We made our way through immigration and customs without too much issue. Immigration either doesn’t like Sam’s long hair or his glasses, because this was the second time he’s been pulled aside recently for extra screening. Gabby declared her bag of fruit snacks, but they let us keep them.

Joe and Tanner went to pick up the rental cars, but Tanner’s wasn’t quite ready. After about five minutes Tanner had talked the guy at the desk into a free tank of gas, so, no harm, no foul. I was Joe’s navigator, and, usually, Adam is Tanner’s, but, somehow, Utah ended up in the front seat initially. Joe wanted to let them go first (for added chaos), but, once they missed the exit for the parking garage, he took over leading.

Sydney Opera House up close

Our first destination was the Sydney Opera House, and as we approached it, I announced, “And there’s the Opera House.” Joe said, “Oh, that’s the opera house?” He knew we were seeing an opera, and had seen the iconic building in pictures, but didn’t put two and two together. Justin, in the back, mumbled, “And he has a masters degree.”

Sydney Harbor Bridge

Our next objective was to get some lunch, and Joe found an underground food court (Region Food Arcade) on Bridge Street. It was patronized mainly by local finance workers on their lunch breaks. I got an egg and bacon sandwich (from a shop called Brooklyn Bridge) that was pretty delicious. After everyone ate, we walked out towards The Rocks and onto Sydney Harbor Bridge. We got some great views of the opera house from the bridge, and part of our group walked all the way across and back. We reconvened near some indoor futsal courts to figure out our next steps.

Sydney Opera House from the Harbor Bridge

Cassowary

After some negotiation, we decided that Joe, Emily, and Utah would go check into the AirBnB while myself, Gabby, Sam, Tanner, Lydia, Adam, and Justin went to the Australian Museum. On our walk there, we passed through Hyde Park and saw some strange long billed white birds, which we later learned were Ibises… Australia’s Canadian geese (or Sydney’s pigeons). At the museum, we got our first taste of (taxidermy) Australian wildlife here and learned quite a bit about Australia’s history… and it was free! We also enjoyed the minerals exhibit, where Gabby found some copper from Lake Superior.

After the museum, Tanner, Lydia, Adam, and Justin went back to the AirBnB while Sam, Gabby, and I made our way back slowly to the Opera House. Our first stop was St. Mary’s Cathedral, which had paintings of the stations of the cross. They were preparing for evening mass, so we didn’t stay very long.

St. Mary's

We stopped in Hyde Park again for Gabby to lay in the grass. We made friends with a few wild Ibises (who were definitely looking to steal Gabby’s sandwich) and watched an impromptu photo shoot. From there, we moved on to the Sydney Botanical Gardens. As we walked around the point for another view of the opera house, we started to hear a party boat parked in the bay playing a club mix. After a few minutes, we heard, “Walking to the south, out of Roanoke…” Darius Rucker is popular in Australia, apparently.

Party boat in Sydney harbor

As we kept walking, I recounted a story to Gabby and Sam about listening to, “Chicken Fried” behind a hotel somewhere in Romania fifteen years ago. Believe it or not, thirty seconds later, Zac Brown starts in, “You know I like my chicken fried…” Apparently American’s primary cultural export is country music.

We started looking for somewhere to grab dinner quickly and found a “Falafel and Shawarma” Mediterranean street food vendor on the Circular Quay. They also sold the “snack pack” which, apparently, is an Australian specialty, consisting of shaved meat, french fries ("chips"), and some type of sauce. After that, Sam, Gabby, and I went back to the car to change, and then we all managed to reconvene on the Opera House steps a few minutes before the show was supposed to start.

Utah had decided that, considering we had been traveling for 40+ hours at that point and the whole Opera would be in Italian (with English subtitles), he would be better off finding somewhere nice for dinner. Justin had his own seat in a box off to the side of the stage, but the other eight of us had seats together on the very back row of “The Circle.”

Our seats

When the orchestra started into the overture, I was pleasantly surprised how much of the music I recognized, thanks to Looney Tunes. The conductor was very expressive, and the orchestra was excellent. The opera itself was entertaining, but, eventually, especially as it got later and later, one by one, almost all of us started drifting off. Justin and Tanner bailed at intermission and went to find Utah, but the rest of us stuck around, although I’m not sure how much of the second half our group actually caught.

The view from the lobby

After the opera was over, we filtered out through the lobby with the rest of the crowd, reconvened at the cars, and headed back to the AirBnB. After showering, we all crashed into bed, and I, at least, had an excellent sleep.

After the show

Traveling to Australia

The first day of our trip consisted of thirty or so straight hours of travel. I was pleased to see that my “pack light, travel fast” mantra had mostly landed. Utah, however, showed up with a huge duffle bag. He took some flack for the amount he had packed, but lightened his load a little bit by pulling out three hats. We all piled into my parents’ fifteen passenger van around 10:00 AM on Sunday morning to drive to Washington, DC. Over time we discovered the rollover sensor (which needs to be serviced) would alarm roughly every fifteen minutes. I offered five bonus points (Emily calls them "problem points") to whoever could figure out which fuse it was, so that we could pull it. Meanwhile, Justin said I lost points for almost missing the airport exit.

DCA main terminal

Though I’ve flown out of our through Dulles many times, this was my first time at DCA. I noticed it looked very historical. There was also almost no line at security, which was nice. We were flying soon after the American Airlines helicopter collision disaster that happened at DCA only a week or so prior. Before we took off, the pilot (who had been a meteorologist and a paramedic/firefighter in a previous career) came out of the cockpit to address the passengers, emphasizing his commitment to safety.

Notice the Washington Monument in the background

Justin got randomly selected to move to the exit row with extra leg room and generously offered it to Adam, for a mere $50. I watched Finding Nemo to prepare for our arrival. On this, my first time flying into LAX, what I noticed was how sprawling the city is, with lights stretching as far as the eye could see as we were coming in to land. This was also true of the airport itself, with seemingly a dozen different connected terminals. When we arrived at the gate, Utah went to ask for a free upgrade to first class. They looked at him a little confused and asked, “Did you book business class?” When he told them no, she said, “Yeah, sorry. We can’t help you.” Justin, meanwhile, initially had two empty seats beside him (which were eventually filled, much to his chagrin). The empty seat between Tanner and Adam, however, was not.

Joe was wearing his Virginia Tech shirt as a proud Blacksburg resident, but, counterintuitively, not a Tech graduate, when someone we passed in the airport hit him with a “Go Hokies.” Joe looked like a little confused, so I had to fill in the blank for him, “And also with you.”

The Cava bowl I ate for dinner and I had a little disagreement early on in the flight, and I decided to skip the airplane dinner. While they were passing it out, Adam got special treatment, and got his dinner first. Apparently he selected a “special” bland meal when booking his ticket. I did my best to prioritize sleep on this flight, so that I would be functional once we landed and managed to get several hours. I also watched the LEGO Movie 2, and, by the time breakfast rolled around, I was ready to enjoy it. We also had a snack at some point, which consisted of ice cream and a little calzone. First time I’ve been served ice cream on a flight!

Australia: The Land Down Under

I hadn’t planned on taking another 14+ hour flight again anytime soon, after last year’s excursion to New Zealand, but when the right ticket at the right price and the right time presents itself, it’s difficult to say no. We booked tickets on American from Ronald Reagan airport in Washington, DC to Sydney (via Los Angeles) for a price that was low enough that we believe it could have been a temporary glitch in American’s pricing system. We had a total of twelve folks interested in coming, but only ten of us were eventually able to book at the low price.

As usual, I needed a way to keep track of this group, and, eventually, a clear system arose. I had the three new travel group members, Lydia, Emily, and Utah; the Shifflett boys, Joe, Justin, and Sam; the distinguished gentlemen, Adam and Tanner; and, finally, myself and Gabby. I had considered assigning everyone a Looney Tunes character (similar to the Fellowship of the Ring last year), but never actually got that far, partially because I wasn’t sure if it would actually make it easier to keep track of everyone.

Why Looney Tunes? Two reasons. First, there is, of course, the connection to the Tasmanian Devil, which lives only on the island of Tasmania in southern Australia. We weren’t planning to pay a visit to this island on this particular trip, but the devil was a good mascot for the trip, and we hoped to see one somewhere along the way. Second, if you grew up on Looney Tunes, you may recall “The Rabbit of Seville.” This is a humorous rendition of what is considered one of opera’s greatest comedies, “The Barber of Seville.” As part of our trip, we were hoping to get to experience this opera in the iconic Sydney Opera House.

Utah, on the other hand, came up with his own way of keeping track of everyone. He said I and Gabby were dad and mom, although Gabby doesn’t act like a mom, but, "she gets it by association." Joe, Tanner, Adam, and Lydia were the aunts and uncles of the group - Tanner specifically being the crazy uncle, and Joe being the uncle who’s starting to settle down and has a couple of kids (Sam and Justin). He and Emily rounded out our family tree as assorted cousins.

On this trip, we did a "reverse Finding Nemo" route. As you may (or may not) remember, Nemo was taken off of the Great Barrier Reef, and his dad, Marlin, had to ride the East Australian Current ("the EAC, dude") down the east coast of Australia, through the open ocean, to eventually find him near Sydney. We, on the other hand, arrived in Sydney, saw the sights there, then flew north to Cairns and Port Douglas to see the reef.

We prepared for the trip by watching several educational films, including Finding Nemo and The Fall Guy, as well as listening to music by some Australian artists. We learned about the history of the Sydney Opera House, the contagious cancer that causes Devil Facial Tumor Disease, how jellyfish sting you, and what kangaroo pouches look like.

Oh, and, as you’ve probably heard, jellyfish are one of many things that can kill you in Australia. We happened to be traveling to Australia at the height of “stinger season,” when there are more jellyfish in the water, due to the warm temperatures. The box jellyfish is the most venomous animal in the world, but its smaller cousin, the Irukandji, might be more worrisome. This species is roughly the size of your thumbnail, and you might not even notice the sting initially, but, 45 minutes afterwards, you’re bent over in pain and vomiting. Once we get past the jellyfish, we have the sharks (particularly in the south), and the snakes (including the taipan, the world’s deadliest), and spiders (which Adam helpfully assured us that few people actually die from these days, since there are anti-venoms to counteract their bites). Oh, don’t forget the saltwater crocodiles, and the documented deaths from cassowaries, an aggressively large land bird slightly smaller than an ostrich. Sounds like an adventure to me!