Day 41: Onward to Sydney

Note: To see Greg’s comments on the climb up Uluru from yesterday, click here.

This morning Greg and I awoke bright and early once more.  We got up even earlier than yesterday in an attempt to be at the viewing area before the sky started glowing.  We would also go to the sunset viewing area, as it was much closer.  The girls decided they did not want to sit out in the cold again, so they kept on sleeping.  We were in the car just a few short moments after getting up.  As we left the campground, over an hour before sunrise, we saw that the stars near the horizon had already begun to fade and there was a dull light glow.  We arrived at the park gates to find that they did not open until 6:30am, but luckily, we were second in line and when they did open, we were soon through.

As we pulled into the sunset viewing area, I knew it would be too dark to take photos without a tripod, and that my tiny tripod would not be able to see over the fence.  Knowing this, we found a clear spot and pulled the car all the way up to the fence, placing the tripod on top.  We pulled out the plastic lawn chains we had packed from the cabin and set them on top of a large bench/platform so that we would get a great view.  A while later, much nearer to sunrise, a guy drove past the viewing area, saw us, and turned around to take a picture of us, saying he couldn’t pass up such a shot, and that we were the laziest photographers ever.  We ate our breakfast as we waited for the sun to rise, sitting in the car a few times to get out of the freezing wind.  If only I had brought the remote for my camera, we could have truly been the laziest photographers, not even getting out of the car.  Finally, the sun peaked over the horizon and gave us a much better sunrise than yesterday.

The glow before sunrise. It is amazing just how long this glow hung around.

The sun peaking over the horizon.

Having waiting the better part of an hour for this sunrise, we were ready to go and headed back to the cabin, where we woke the girls.  Everyone packed up and prepared to go, and, at one point, Greg and Madi went on a walkabout around the campsite, discovering that it had a nice laundromat.  Since our flight was not until 1:30pm, we decided to get our laundry done and start off with clean clothes.  While we waited, we played a few games of Bananagrams and enjoyed the wonderful weather.  When all of the laundry was done, we headed over to a picnic area and ate the rest of our sandwich supplies for lunch.

Look what we made while we waited!

The airport was small, about the size of the ones in Nepal, but many times cleaner and more orderly, which made it a much calmer experience.  We were soon in the air, and a couple of hours later we touched down in Sydney.  There we got out very quickly, as there was no customs for the domestic flight, and our bags came out right at the beginning.  Sydney is colder than Uluru by a few degrees, but luckily it was not raining today, though rain is common.  Being Saturday afternoon, traffic was light and we reached our hotel quickly.  I found that the city looked very nice and not too busy, at least from the cab.

It was already dark out by the time we got all checked in at the hotel, which is very close to the harbor.  I wanted to go take a walk to see the harbor, the Harbor Bridge, and the Opera House, so Mary and I went while Greg and Madi went to check out the pool.  The walk to the harbor was a short one, and we soon found ourselves at the docks for all of the ferries that crisscross the harbor.  Across the water to the left was the Harbor Bridge, which is a massive arched bridge, very iconic of Sydney.  As we walked around the corner to the right, we came to the Opera House, which is even more iconic of Sydney.  Both were very neat, and I found the shape and designs of the Opera House to be particularly impressive.  Back at the hotel, we are able to see some of the Opera House out of the window.  Tomorrow, if the weather is nice, we plan to take the ferry across the harbor and go to the zoo.

The Sydney Harbor Bridge

The Sydney Opera House