My first visit to Sydney, Australia

SYDNEY, Australia: Since Friday, we’ve been in Sydney, Australia for a familiarization tour by Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo and Bacolod travel agents sponsored by Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Travelways International Inc. of Alan Carvajal. We took PAL Flt. No. 211, an Airbus 330 for that 8-hour flight from Manila to Sydney. The flight was very comfortable and smooth. This is my first ever trip to the continent down under and perhaps it was the right time to go because winter was about to end. But it’s still cold.

One thing one can immediately notice is that Sydney’s weather is quite mercurial to say the least. It rains all of the sudden and out of nowhere the sun comes up, then it rains again. Upon arrival, our first stop was Gap Park for our first view of the Tasman Sea. You can also say that the Tasman Sea is where the Indian Ocean meets the Pacific Ocean.

Then our tour guide/driver Monty brought us to the famous Bondi Beach. It’s one of the iconic beaches of the world, where if surfing’s your thing, you’ve come to the right place. For a chilly rainy Saturday, there were so many people in the beach wearing their beachwear of course.

We took lunch at the Magistic Lunch Cruise in Sydney Harbour. Call us lucky that it rained while we were eating lunch. But by the time we were finished, the sun came out again offering great photo opportunities and an occasional “selfie” of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the iconic Opera House beside it. Monty told us that the Sydney Harbour Bridge is nicknamed “The Coat Hanger” because its design is so simple; it resembles a wire coat hanger that you’ll find in any closet. Yes the weather turned colder when we were at sea. But the view from the sea of Sydney was fantastic!

After the cruise, we went up to the Sydney Tower Eye, the tallest structure in Australia, where the 360-degree view was terrific. Again while waiting for the crowd, it once again rained hard. But when we got to the top of the tower, the sun was up again, giving us a great view of Sydney Harbour.

We then went to the Sea Life Aquarium to see Australia’s captive sharks and other marine animals. Alan Carvajal made this trip extra special for the group because he billeted us in the Ibis Sydney Darling Harbour Hotel. Though it is only a 3-Star, it had the best location in Sydney because it was right across the National Maritime Museum in Cockle Bay, where the warship HMAS Vampire was there on display with a submarine docked beside and an old sailing ship was also there on display.

Sunday for us was an hour and a half drive to the Blue Mountains via the Featherdale Wildlife Park. Yes it was the first time for me to cuddle a Koala Bear, shake hands with a Kangaroo and yes, I got photos of one of the most endangered animals in Australia, the Tasmanian Devil. Seeing those different kinds of wildlife indigenous only to Australia was worth the trip!

But the Blue Mountains were an unexpected adventure for the group. They have what they call Scenic World featuring what I would call Australia’s version of the Grand Canyon, expect this natural rock formation was in the middle of a rain forest. First you get into the ledge where the sheer drop is thousands of feet to the bottom of the Jamison Valley and the Katoomba Falls crossing. From our vantage point, you can see a strange rock formation that the Aussies call “The Three Sisters.”

Since it was a Sunday, the place was packed with tourists and yes it was quite cold in the Blue Mountain. What was unexpected was that we took three different rides in this one single visit. First was the Scenic Skyway, a cable car that connects you from gorge to gorge. From there, we took the Scenic Railway, dubbed “The Steepest passenger train in the world” at a 52-degree angle. It was akin to riding a roller coaster, except that it just goes straight down the side of a cliff!

This ride came out of an old coal mine that is now part of the tour. When we got into the bottom of the cliff, we had to walk a distance from there to the next ride, a Scenic Cableway. That short walk really brings you down to walk inside a rain forest… and the drizzling rain added to the adventure. Then, we got in the huge Scenic Cableway all the way up to the gorge where we originally started. Indeed, the Blue Mountain was an adventure worth the trip to Australia because there is nowhere in the world that one could get to take three rides in one adventure.

One the way back, the motorway (this is Australia’s Freeway) was heavy with traffic of people returning back to Sydney. Close to our hotel are the HMAS Vampire and the National Maritime Museum. We’re visiting this for our last day because we can just walk from our hotel to see the warship. Incidentally, my room is facing Cockle Bay Harbour and on our first night, they had some fireworks right in front of my room. I didn’t find the need to change and see it from the outside. Yes, Sydney is a great city to visit!

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