4/11/10 (sydney)
Sydney - Lane Cove National Park
The alarm went off at 5am. I popped out of bed and packed up my camera gear, determined to get some cool shots of the Sydney Opera House. It was roughly a 25 minute walk from our hotel to the Opera House and I was out the door by 5:30 hoping to capture the sunrise. It looks like the Sydney bars close at 5 because I saw a lot of people stumbling around on the streets looking like they just rolled out of a bar after a long Saturday night.
When I got to the Opera House I was surprised to see a large amount of activity right out front. They were setting up for the Sydney Triathlon and this was a good thing. Usually at these landmarks, security can be a little tough as soon as you pull out a tripod. They classify you as a professional and you need to get permission. With all the commotion I was able to set up shop pretty much anywhere and didn’t have to worry about getting kicked out. I spent the next two plus hours capturing several time lapse videos of Sydney harbor. It is quite a nice area! I also caught some of the triathlon and those guys are amazing.
Later that morning, Annie checked us out of our hotel and made her way over to the harbor to meet me. When she arrived we made the final decision to rekindle our camper van experience, this time in Australia. Annie had done a lot of research on the different companies and we decided to go with Apollo again. We had gotten the hippie from them in New Zealand and as a repeat customer, we would get a discount. After a quick lunch, we jumped on the train and headed to the Apollo office to pick up our Cheapa Camper. It is a little more expensive than the hippie but it is a luxury liner in comparison. The Cheapa is a full size van with an extended roof. I can stand fully up inside and it is quite an upgrade over our hippie days. It is a little more challenging to drive but with all of our New Zealand experience, I feel pretty confident about it. We are only going to have it for 10 days and then fly down to Melbourne to stay with Annie’s friend. Our rationale was this would allow us to explore some of the attractions outside Sydney like the Hunter Valley vineyards, the Blue Mountains, and some of the renowned beaches. It feels good to be mobile again.
We drove back to Sydney and over the Harbour Bridge to North Sydney. We found a grocery store to stock up on food and supplies. Just over the bridge are some beautiful views of downtown Sydney and the Opera House and I talked Annie into letting me do one more time lapse as the sun set. They have this great little tiled sidewalk that runs along the water overlooking the harbor. We set up shop on a small pier and that allowed me to get some great shots as the sun set. I have to give Annie credit because as it got darker a continuous stream of the biggest bats I have seen flew from downtown to a tree right above us. She handled it pretty well but they were huge! I am getting the sense that this is a pretty hard environment with the large bats, poisonous snakes and spiders, and saltwater crocs.
When I had gotten my shots, we were off to Lane Cove National Park just north of Sydney for our first night in the Cheapa. We both slept very well and have a ton of space which is really nice.
Likes: Sydney Harbor, Cheapa Camper
Australia, New South Wales in Daily Adventures
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