Day 13, Manly, Blue Mountains and IKEA

My last whole day in Australia! I can't believe how quickly the trip went by, but it did help that I contracted tonsillitis and had to rest on Wednesday. On Thursday I went to see the doctor, who was a nice Yogoslawian womanwith high regards for Swedish medical care. She gave me lots of penicillin, and then Gillian took me on a scenic drive to Wollongong. It was beautiful, both coming down through the forest and driving on the outside of the cliffs...at Stanwell we admired the hangliders' perfect control of their wings for a while. In Wollongong, where Gillian went to university, we parked and had lunch down by the beach. I had the very typical Australian dish Moussaka, haha. Well it was delicious!
After that we went up to Mt Keira to look at the panoramic views of the city. I also photographed some giant ferns which looked like they hadn't changed much since the dinosaurs were nibbling them.

On tour with Gillian

I just had a look at the time on the computer, and realised that today we changed to summer time in Australia, so I have an hour less to write in this blog, before I meet Madeleine at Paddy's markets, and then go surfing in Manly!

Friday I felt much better, so went into town to actually walk up and down the streets of the centre...something I hadn't done much before, when I was mostly exploring the harbour.
I went into the Queen's building on George street, photographed lots of beautiful buildings and went strolling along Sydney Plaza. Then I had noodles at the Japanese Noodle Bar on York street, and went up to Sydney Observatory, which was built to signal the time to the City of Sydney and to all the navigators waiting on ships around the harbour.

Sydney on foot

In the late afternoon I took the ferry to Manly, and was met by Simon, who took me to a family dinner in honour of his granddad's birthday. I was sat opposite said grandfather and thus completely exposed to the 1001 questions he was keen to ask me...he was a darling though inquisitive, and the rest of the family was very nice. Simon's dad introduced me to the notion of "cleanskin wine": it's quality wine in unlabelled bottles sold at a cheaper price, which means that a delicious $22 bottle may cost $7. We had some lovely Shiraz.
After dinner at "Weakest Link" pace, Simon and I went to his flat and had a few drinks with flatmate Steve, and friends Scott and Sam. This flat overlooks Manly bay, and is very nice, apart from certain brown hard-shelled prehistoric invertebrates lurking in the corners! I'm hoping that the four floors beneath us in Lima will keep them away...
Going out in Manly was cool - we first had drinks in a bar called The Barking Frog, where Steve claimed that a certain Ms Hilton would probably want to be seen. I doubt it somehow, but the place was nice. We continued Ceruti's - a club that wouldn't play cheesy music to save their life, which was so refreshing after Germany (those Werder fan songs just don't do it for me)! Pure drum and bass... Once again I noted that the women were dressed to kill in this season's (horrible) flowery dresses and extremely high heels, and the guys slouched around in jeans, a dirty t-shirt and their last pair of shoes that don't threat to fall apart. How do men get away with it?

Manly exodus

The next day, as everyday here in Australia, I woke up at 5.13 and twiddled my thumbs. The first ferry wasn't until 8.45, so I tried to sleep for a while, but then decided to walk down past the beach and cut across the town centre to the wharf. It was a beautiful morning and everybody was out either walking their dog or bringing their surf boards to the beach. On the ferry we early birds just spread out on the benches and soaked up the sun.
At Gillian's flat in Matraville, I quickly freshened up and then she, Jamie and their friend and I set off to see the Blue Mountains! After some power napping in the car, I was presented with some of the most stunning mountain views ever, at the Three Sisters. We drove around for a bit, and went into the Eucalyptus forest to Anvil Rock and some windswept "caves" - the stone here is so soft, that even the wind, given time, will create very artistic and organically looking shapes in the cliffs and rocks. Jamie and Gillian discovered a tiny insect which looked like nothing either of us has seen before. If you imagine an ant with white punk hair, or a miniature porcupine with white spikes, you may get the general idea... Then we saw some giant ants, of the type that will first bite you and then inject venom (I learned that in the Wildlife World).
We then had lunch in the little Bakehouse on Wentworth: I had exquisite quiche and the best lemon curd tart I have ever tasted.
The last viewpoint we visited was of Wentworth Falls. Hopefully I can post some pictures soon / it was truly amazing.

Blue Mountains Excursion

On returning to Sydney we swung by IKEA in order for my to buy some hering and meatballs for dinner. They didn't have any lingon jam, at which I was most appalled - but they did have JULMUST, probably the best drink in the world!! :)