It was an early flight from Auckland to Sydney. We had to get up at 3:15 am. Not quite my cuppa… The advantage though, was that we had a very long day in Sydney. We picked up our rental car (a big Hyundai Sonata this time) at around 8:15 am. Just in time to drive to town in the morning rush hour. Apart from a visit to the Sky Tower (formerly known as the AMP Tower) and a cup of coffee in Darling Harbour we spent most of our time in places we hadn’t been to during our first visit to Sydney. This time we actually did the guided tour of the Sydney Opera, which was very interesting. The technical design of the outer shells is amazing but when we saw the interior there was one word that sprang to mind: Lundia..
The next day we drove south along the coast which automatically took us through the Royal National Park, the oldest NP of Australia and the second one in the world (after Yellowstone). A very nice scenic drive with nice views and splendid beaches. Further south we passed an area where the mountainous coast causes an ideal uplift of air for para gliders and hang gliders. Very nice to watch! After that we went further inland to see some of the more historic High Land towns and also the beautiful Fitzroy Falls. From there we drove straight to Canberra today. It’s Australia’s national capital which is in a seperate state called Australia Capital Territory, very much like Washington and the DC area. The city is new and completely planned for its purpose as capital. Not very pretty but very spacious and easy to get around in. It features some big attractions like Australia’s National Museum, the national War Memorial and other museums apart from the inevitable government buildings.
