Palm Beach, Darling Harbour, Whale Watching

I am happy that we had a couple of warm and sunny days recently as I only have two more weeks left in Sydney. 
My time in Sydney and especially my internship has gone so fast and I am looking forward to starting a new adventure. 
Last weekend I used the good weather to go to Palm Beach. We climbed up the hill to enjoy the view on the beautiful Northern Beaches. You can easily travel there by bus L90 from Wynyard. The bus takes about 2 hours but it is really worth seeing on a sunny day. In summer it is crowded with tourists but now it is really nice and quiet.

Palm Beach

That night we headed in to Darling Harbour to see the fireworks one more time. It's on all winter and I always enjoy watching the show. Afterwards we went for some drinks to Surry Hills.

Darling Harbour Fireworks

On Sunday we had a wonderful day whale watching in Sydney. We went on a 2 hours cruise and saw three Humpback Whales.
As I've never seen whales before, I was very happy.
The weather was sunny and warm but on the ocean there's quite a breeze.

Humpback Whale

Next week is the last week of my internship and I am looking forward to meeting the new Sydney Internships intern.

After my internship I am going to Cairns with friends and we will travel down the East coast.

See you one more time next week,

Cheers ;)

Pictures for flickr, Social Meeting tonight, Go-Karting

Weekly Message
This week we won't have a Newsletter as I am focused on updating our flickr page. We want to share our pictures with you in order to inspire you to visit all the nice places around Sydney. If you'd like to contribute some pictures and share it with other interns feel free to send me pictures of you favourite Sydney places or experiences!

Here are my favourite Sydney places:

Watson's Bay

A nice place to go and watch the sunset. I've heard you can spot whales there at the moment. Either walk along the Heritage Foreshore Walk from Rose Bay all the way to the Watson's Bay Lighthouse or just take the bust to the last stop.

Milson's Point 

I guess everybody loves the iconic Harbour Bridge and the incredible Opera House. From Milson's Point you can take some nice pictures of them and it is either a 3 minutes ferry ride from Circular Quay or a spectacular walk across the Harbour Bridge.

Bondi Beach

Sydney is all about being outside and being active. That is why Bondi Beach is a nice place to be. You are close to nice bars and restaurants, you can surf in the ocean, walk or jog along the coastal walk all the way to Coogee Beach, or if the weather is nice, lay down at the beach and enjoy the sun. On Saturday I went to Ravesis at Bondi Beach with some other interns. It is a bit expensive but very nice.

If you feel like sharing experience and pictures, mail me :)

Social Meeting

I am looking forward to our Social Meeting tonight (Tuesday 19th) and also to the $12.50 Steak :)

We will meet at 7pm at the Dolphin Hotel.

412 Crown Street, Surry Hills 

What's On

As there is no newsletter this week, here is an idea if the weather is pouring again ;)

A 15 minutes train ride from Central to Arncliffe takes you to Kartatak Raceaway, an indoor circuit in Sydney.

You can have some fun on the road and stay dry as well.

Go karting

If you haven't done so already, please remember to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

We are also here to assist and support you with any queries you may have so please feel free to contact us at any time.

Look forward to seeing you tonight!

Royal Botanical Gardens and Manly

Although it was raining most of the weekend the weather was pretty nice on Friday and Saturday.


On Friday I met a friend to enjoy the weather in the Royal Botanical Gardens. We watched the cockatoos and some even came close and sat on people's arms. They were expecting seeds and pecked you if you didn't give them anything.

cockatoo

In the evening we went to Newtown to have some dinner. There are a lot of different (and cheap) restaurants there and I can also recommend the area for grabbing a beer in one of the local pubs.


As the weather was nice on Saturday, we took the ferry from wharf 3 to Manly. From the wharf in Manly it is a 20 minutes walk to Shelly Beach. We walked up a hill to watch the sunset and soak up the atmosphere.

Sunset with view a over Manly

The Northern beaches are a good spot to surf and you can watch a lot of surfers enjoying the waves.

Manly beach

The rest of the weekend was quiet due to the wet weather. I hope it will improve soon.
Next week we will have another intern meeting at the Dolphin Hotel and I hope to meet many new faces.


Have a good week! 
Cheers!

Vivid Festival and awful Sydney weather

Finally it's clearing up again but the thunder over the past few day was really heavy and frightening, especially when you live at the beach. Yesterday morning the waves at Bondi Beach were insane. Never seen waves this bigbefore...And all the sand seems to have blown up to the promenade as you can see in the picture.

Storm in Sydney

Last week there was an intern meeting at the Vivid Festival. It was very nice and colourful. You should take the chance to go there if you haven't been there yet. Thanks Katelin for the lovely pictures :)

Some fun at Vivid

Museum of Contemporary Art

Since the weather couldn't have been worse on the weekend, I decided to do some inside activities. On Friday I went to Cargo Bar for a farewell party for one of our interns. It feels strange to let new friends go and it also reminds me that there are only 4 more weeks left of my internship :(

Saturday some friends and I went to the DFO Homebush Outlet Centre. We took the train to Strathfield (northern line from central). You can take the bus 525 to the mall. The way to the bus station is a bit confusing, you have to leave the train station and go through a tunnel to the bus station.

Saturday night I met some other friends and we went to different pubs in Surrey Hills. It is a very nice area and you can find many original pubs to spend the evening. We also heard some live music which was nice.

On Sunday I used the bad weather to go to the museum. Normally I don't like to go to museum's because my parents always forced me to go when I was younger, but now I think it is a good thing to do on a rainy day.
Some other interns and I went to the Museum of Sydney. It is located on Bridge Street next to Circular Quay.
You can learn something about Australia's history and the impact of the World War I and II on Australian Society.

Museum of Sydney

I hope we all stay dry for a couple of day's and I hope you guys have a nice day off on Monday.

Cheers, Anne

Fun at Madame Tussauds and all over Sydney

Weekends are always so much fun in Sydney!!
On Friday we went to Darling Harbour to visit the newly opened Madame Tussauds. It is so much fun to dress up and take funny pictures with the celebrities. Almost every site has features to try and costumes to put on. Sometimes you have to look twice to see whether someone is a visitor to the museum or whether they are a wax model. Someone actually came and patted my friends hair thinking he was a wax sculpture because he sat still on a bench.

Madame Tussauds

On Saturday we visited Bondi markets. This was our first visit despite it being right in front of our house. It is located opposite the beach at the public school. On Saturday they sell mainly food and fruit. On Sundays you can shop for clothes and accessoires.

Bondi markets

Saturday night we headed to Newtown for Indian food. The suburb has a long shopping strip with loads of restaurants and cafes. Due to trackwork we had to take a bus from Central to get there. This takes quite a while but the delicious food was worth it. I will definatly go back to see Newtown during the day time when the trackwork is finished. Normally you can reach it easily via train from either Central or Townhall.

After sleeping in on Sunday my roommate and I had a delicious brunch outside and headed for Milson's Point in the early afternoon. From Circular Quay Wharf 5 a ferry departs to Milson's Point and Luna Park. It is located at the north end of the Harbour Bridge. From the ferry and Milsons Point there is an amazing view of the CBD, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. One of the must-do's in Sydney.

View from the ferry

Horbour Bridge

Sydney Eye Tower

We needed to hurry a bit because we wanted to see the sunset from the Sydney Eye Tower. It is the highest building in Sydney at 304 metres and the sun sets 3 minutes later up there. From the Observation deck you can have a look at the whole city. It was very nice to watch the sunset from there. 
Included in the price is also a short 4D movie about Sydney. 

View of Darling Harbour and West Sydney

Yesterday's intern meeting was fun and colourful. It was nice to meet some of the new interns and I am looking forward to the next meeting. If you have any ideas for fun activities let me know. I am up for trying new things ;)


Cya ;)

Good to know...

Things to do in Sydney

Save 50% on cinema tickets on Tuesdays! Almost all cinemas in Sydney offer tickets for half price on Tuesday.

http://www.sydneyeguide.com/cinemas.php

Free guided walking tour

Guides work on tip only basis and show you around Circular Quay, The Rocks, Martin Place and Hyde Park.  There is another guided tour at The Rocks that teaches you about mystery, crime and historical pubs and breweries. You don’t need to book, just show up.

http://www.imfree.com.au/

Royal Botanical Gardens

There are also free tours available, but you can discover it on your own and enjoy the view over Sydney’s skyline.

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/AutumnOfTheArts/talks_and_walks

Hire a Camper Van

If you travel with a friend it can be very cheap and comfortable to book a camper van and save on accommodation. Here are some good websites

www.travellers-autobarn.com.au/

http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/

http://www.apollocamper.com/

Airlines for domestic flights

Australia is big, sometimes it is easier to go somewhere by plane. Some Airlines have really good offers, we went to Melbourne with Tiger for only $110.

www.jetstar.com

www.tigerairways.com

www.virginaustralia.com

www.qantas.com.au

General safety suggestions

Australia is amazing, but certain security measures need to be met so your internship and the time in Australia can stay in your mind as a wonderful experience. 

Don't do things you wouldn't do at home.

Don't hitch hike!

Try not to travel at night (most hire vans are not insured if you hit a kangaroo. They usually come out at night so be careful).

Try to travel with a friend.

Ask locals or other travelers for advice on 'safe' versus 'unsafe' local areas.

Never leave your drink somewhere in a club unattended.

Keep a photocopy of your passport and all other important documents in a safe place.

Don’t show big amounts of cash (e.g. when you pay for something)

If you are mugged, don't fight back. It is better to lose a few dollars  than get injured.

Take note of warning signs especially on beaches, there might be jelly fish, strong rips, sharks...

Beware of scams

Lately there have been stories about scams in the news mostly concerning accommodation.

A general advice: when you buy or rent something, don’t send money to people you haven’t seen or spoken to.

Where to get help

    Travel agent

    National embassies

    Local police

   

Tassie Road Trip

We had an awesome time in Tasmania. It has so much to offer, such as amazing views and spectacular landscapes.
My friends and I hired a camper van again to discover it on our own. 
We could feel the winter coming as the nights were freezing cold. Anyway, it was worth seeing.

Autumn

We started our trip in Launceston, where we picked up our camper van. We headed for the East Coast and stayed on a camping site near Scottsdale the first night. Next day we managed to go to Bicheno. We spent one day at Cole's Bay/ Freycinet National Park. We did the walk to Wineglass Bay, which was awesome and the weather was very nice.

Wineglass Bay

Freycinet National Park

Tasmania's landscape is said to look similar to New Zealand. 

Vineyard

The next day we caught a ferry over to Bruny Island. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to go to Port Arthur because of the limited time available.
Anyway, Bruny Island was very nice, too. We wanted to see the penguins living on the island, so we got up at 5am to watch them walk from their caves to the ocean. Due to missing daylight we could only see black figures walking into the water.

penguins

Hobart

The next day we headed to Hobart which is the capital of Tasmania. It has a very nice harbour and village atmosphere, which is strange for a capital city.


On our way back to Launceston we visited Cradle Mountain in the Lake St. Clair National Park. Unfortunately Cradle Mountain was covered with clouds so I couldn't take a quality picture. 


We also visited the Mole Creek Wildlife Park because we wanted to see Tasmanian devils. They also had Wombats and a lot of kangaroos.

young devils

Me cuddling a Wombat

Mob of kangaroos

Australia is so big and so beautiful, I hope I will be able to see some more of it soon. :-)