The Home Stretch

When you're into the last week of a six month journey you have two options. Either you can feel gloomy that the trip is almost over and slow down to reflect on the adventure, or you can go as fast as possible to make the most of the remaining time. I of course chose the latter. In between leaving Byron Bay on Tuesday morning and arriving in Sydney on Friday afternoon I went stand up paddle boarding, caught a glimpse of a migrating whale while strolling around Coffs Harbour, played beach volleyball, enjoyed a BBQ in a beachside park with the cheerful folk from Port Macquarie Backpackers, walked 12 miles along the Port Macquarie Coastal Walk to the lighthouse and back, visited a koala hospital at feeding time, explored Newcastle (New South Wales' second largest city), and travelled 500 miles by bus and train.

There were two events during that hectic home stretch that summed up Australia for me:
The first was the walk to the lighthouse in Port Macquarie. To begin with, the weather was just beautiful. Winter is coming here but it was 25 degrees Celsius, still, and not a cloud in the sky. Then there was the succession of beaches. Between the hostel and the lighthouse I passed seven beaches, all of which would be famous and crammed with people (especially on such a nice day) if they were located in another country. But in Australia there are an astonishing number of beaches spread out across huge distances with few people around to enjoy them, so each of these Port Macquarie beaches were little more than another place where sea meets sand on yet another beautiful day, and as a result most were almost empty. I couldn't resist taking photos of all seven, even though I've already got countless pictures of very similar scenes.
The second event was a fun conversation I had with a Chilean man who stopped his bicycle in front of me in Newcastle. The man had recognised my world-weary Deportivo Quito football shirt that my sister brought me back from Ecuador many moons ago and was eager to show me the Manchester City shirt he was wearing beneath his sweater. Australia is a country built on immigrants - originally our convicts (some of whom were amazingly 'banished' to those nice Port Macquarie beaches) - and since then hoardes of Brits but also people from all over the world. They all have their own story to tell (I didn't hear the Chilean's as we only talked about football) and they all seem very happy in Australia. It is a nation full of cheerful, friendly people and pleasant interchanges between strangers like this one happen all the the time.

My arrival in Sydney was greeted by fireworks. Of course, the 9pm fireworks display at Darling Harbour  was not held in honour of my epic journey around Australia, but I could pretend. It was in fact part of Vivid Sydney, a festival of light displays that was beginning that day. As well as the pyrotechnics, the show included lasers and moving 3D images of a dancer impressively projected atop the water. I had met up with a friend from the Whitsundays trip, Kathryn, and next we headed to Circular Quay, where both the Opera House and Harbour Bridge are located. The city was alive with throngs of people enjoying the warm Friday night and the atmosphere was especially great at the Quay. Around 50 light artworks had been set up for Vivid Sydney, which ranged immensely in quality, but almost all were utterly baffling. The best feature was undoubtedly the moving lights projected onto the Opera House, which enhanced the view of an already special building, casting it in different colours and patterns. Amongst the weird-but-effective displays was the set of giant inflatable rabbits that glowed white beneath the Bridge and a set of ten fitness balls that laughed back at us from the water. Then there were a whole bunch of exhibits that I can only describe as 'crap', such as a fishing net weakly illuminated by a solitary light.

The next day Kathryn and I boarded a ferry at Circular Quay and cruised over to Watsons Bay under bright sunshine. I didn't make it out onto the water during my first  stay in Sydney, so I had been excited for this moment ever since I I first left the City on a train to Cronulla nearly six months ago. The boat ride was great and so was the destination. Looking back over the harbour from Watsons Bay, there were the best views I had seen of Sydney, and looking out towards the ocean was the vastly different but also spectacular sight of cliffs weathered by the Pacific. Despite the Sydney winter officially commencing next weekend, I was still able to swim and emerging out of the water for breath while breaststroking to the sight of the City skyline was somewhat surreal.  However, the best part of the day was the return ferry ride. Standing right at the front of the boat with the wind sweeping through my hair, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge appearing increasingly magnificent as they grew ever closer, it was the perfect conclusion to an Australian adventure.

Stay tuned for the final blog post!