Sydney - wilderness vs. city

Sydney was a place of opposites for us. First we stayed with local couchsurfer host Sara. Sara was wonderful. She picked us up at the airport, fed us, hung out with us, drove us around and was great to chat with.

Sara took us to nearby national park Ku-ring-gai. Even though it's super touristy in Sydney, we only saw two other people in the park - WAY more big spiders than people. We also saw a lace monitor (think of the evil Joanna on Rescuers Down Under. Man that was a good show.)

We hiked down to the ocean along the Flint and Steel track, where we found our own private beach to swim at. We did another short hike to an aboriginal stone carving site and then got a view of the city from Hunter's Hill.

host Sara near the beach

VS.
Next day we were in the city. Huge contrast: living in busy downtown at big 780 on George hostel, this was all hustle and bustle. We spent our days exploring, one of the highlights being a ferry trip to Manly Beach past the famous opera house.

Manly beach area

Opera house and its reflection in ferry window