All travelers know how great—and slightly surrealistic—it feels when you see a landmark for real, whatever it is, for the first time.
I didn’t react any differently when I first walked to the iconic Sydney Opera House. This building, as well as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, came to be a synonym of Australia for the rest of the world.
Wow, what a crazy day it was! The short version (for those who have a hangover): we didn’t sleep for a day and a half, spent New Year Eve in Sydney along with 1.5 million people, and watch the fireworks in Darling Harbour and at the Opera House.
Brisbane was our first large city since Sydney and we arrived by Greyhound under pouring rain. Bad weather is less frustrating in the city than at the beach, we thought, and at least in Brisbane we could shelter in one of the numerous malls if we needed to.
“Are these jellyfishes?” I asked one of the lifeguards. “Yay mate”, he replied, bending down to pick one up on the sand. ”See the tentacles?” he added, squeezing the long blue thread I hadn’t noticed. “Are they…er… deadly?” I asked, wary of jellyfishes after seeing so many warning about Irukandji in Northern Queensland.
We were in Agnes Water/ Town of 1770 for Christmas, where Captain Cook made his first landing in Queensland (hence the “1770”). We hadn’t really planned anything and I don’t care much about Christmas. To be honest, I don’t even know which day we are most of the time so I could have forgotten it was Christmas but for the palm trees sporting decorations.
We may still be close to the coast, but it feels like outback Queensland. Back to reality, after Airlie Beach and the hordes of backpackers. This is Australia, a bit rough around the edges, remote and wild with a pioneer spirit.
