Newcastle, AUS - No worries, mate

G'day mates. Made the jump from little Australia, I mean NZ, to Australia proper (ha! its kind of like the Canada/US thing). My plane from Christchurch to Sydney was delayed several hours, but I ended up hanging out in the airport with an English guy who I met in Fiji whose plane was also delayed. Its amazing how many familiar faces I keep bumping into throughout my trek. Sydney is beautiful, but I was a little ovewhelmed after spending the previous few weeks in the sparsely populated landscapes of New Zealand. The Sydney Opera house is spectacular - I've never been so moved by a building. I realized it encapsulates so many things that I love: engineering, opera, theater, and water. Pictures don't capture the beauty of the building. To escape the crowds I headed inland to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, an area named for the landscape's blueish tinge created by a fine mist emitted by the eucalyptus trees. I only planned on staying two nights there but really enjoyed it so I stayed almost a week! Spent several days hiking and visited the nearby Janolan Caves. These limestone caves are incredible. In some of the larger caves they hold music concerts. Unfortunately, there were no concerts while I was there. Fortunately, the day after I went to the caves I met Lester, a park ranger/Didjeridu player. Lester is in a Didjeridu band that has the occasional concert in the caves(http://www.didjeridudingo.com). When I met him Lester didn't happen to have his Didjeridu in his car, but he did have his Kawasaki 900 exhaust manifold pipes that he played instead. I caught it on video, shown below, but it doesn't seem to be posting well.



Left Katoomba and took the train to Newcastle to visit Jim, Jo-Jo the Enforcer's college roommate. Staying with Jim felt like a holiday from my holiday. After about two months on the road I needed a few days to crash and do very little besides watch TV, lie on the beach, and catch up on laundry. I lived it up by having my own room, not locking my stuff up every time I left the room, and not having to wear flip-flops in the shower. An added bonus was that Jim has a spectacular apartment right on the beach. Luckily I didn't get stung by any bluebottle jellyfish, many of which were washed up on the beach, while swimming. (Its strange going from NZ, where nothing will harm you, to AUS, where it seems everything is out to get you.) We went wine tasting in the Hunter Valley, an area known for its Shiraz production. Jim was an incredible host and, most importantly, makes a killer guacamole.

I feel recharged and ready for the road...does the outback have roads?