ALICE SPRINGS: WILD ROCKWALLABY

Hii,
I kind of forgot to write about something very special in the last post..
On our last day in Alice Springs we saw a wallaby!
Now you might think; 'What is a wallaby again...?'
According to Wikipedia:
A wallaby is any of about thirty species of Macropodidae family. It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been designated otherwise.

Okay, maybe this doesn't work.. Basically a wallaby is similar to a kangaroo, but smaller. Our tour guide in Uluru told us the main difference between a wallaby and a kangaroo is that a kangaroo has his tail connected to his spine, which makes him able to jump with his tail. A wallaby has his tail not connected to his spine, so he can not stand on it.

Here are some pictures of the wild rockwallaby we saw.

SPOT THE WALLABY! Aren't they hard to see!? We waited for half an hour, we were looking and looking, but suddenly there was a wallaby sitting next to my dad. So strange, but so funny.

Love,
Isabelle

ALICE SPRINGS

Hiii,

On the 29^th of July we had an approximately 3 hour flight from Sydney airport to Alice Springs.

Alice Springs is located in the centre of Australia as you can see on this map:

Alice Springs is a small town with 20.000 inhabitants.

We stayed here because the next day we were being picked up at 6 at our hotel by a little van from Adventure Tours.

We stayed in the middle of nowhere for 3 days. We camped and slept under the stars in swags.

(Swags are little beds you put over your sleeping bag.)

Sleeping under the stars there was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. There were SO many stars; it was incredible. People had already told me it was going to be gorgeous but when I was there and looked up I was shocked.

It is hard to explain what it was like, I think you will have to see it yourself to be able to share my emotions.

During those days we walked through Uluru, Kings Canyon and The Olgas and learned much about the culture of the Aboriginals.

We had a nice group and an amazing tour guide! In our group were two Canadian girls who were really funny and sweet!

We decided to stay in touch. It is lovely and so interesting to meet people from all over the world!

The second day was after my opinion the best. We were driving in the bus when suddenly our tour guide –her name was Q- said: ‘Oh yeah, I forgot to say that there is the opportunity to do a helicopter flight!’

My parents decided to ‘just’ do it. SO WE DID!

It was SO COOL!

We flew over the Kings Canyon, and it was so beautiful and so much fun!

We felt like pros with our headphones and microphone. Amazing.

On Friday the second of August we flew from Alice Springs to Cairns, were we are now, for the tropical sea part of our holiday.

More about Cairns later.

Uluru at sunset.

Now lots of photos of the helicopter ride!

On the last day we hiked through Kings Canyon. 

-The mountains you see on the photos made in the helicopter.-

Love,

Isabelle

FINALLY: SYDNEY

Dear all,

Here I (finally) am, writing this post on my laptop from our hotel in Sydney.

First of all I want to say I am having an amazing time and I have been absolutely loving Sydney!

Sydney is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been..

Since I haven't posted anything yet -due to not having free-wifi- I will give a quick summary of what has happened so far.

23th of July

We had an 13 hour flight from Amsterdam to Singapore -in business class which made it so much fun.

The stewards asked me where my journey ended/started and when they heard my answer they were all like: 'Ah Australia, I love it! The vibe is so nice, and all the people are so relaxed and down to earth.'

As you understand I couldn't wait till we got to our destination..

24th of July

We arrived at Singapore airport and we had 5 hours to do what we wanted.

We chose to go swimming at the swimming pool from a hotel on Terminal 1.

It was so so hot outside and we were pretty tired already, but a nice dive can help a lot.

After that we showered, and felt all fresh again to start another 7,5 hour flight to Sydney.

25th of July

At 6 in the morning (Australian time) we arrived at Sydney Airport.

Since we kind of skipped two nights we had no idea of time anymore but it didn't matter at all

because we were SO excited to see the city and see our hotel.

The time difference between Holland and Sydney is 8 hours by the way, it is 8 hours later over here.

The hotel is lovely and it is located in the middle of the centre which is awesome!

We walked around Darling Harbour and because it was so early still, there were almost no people on the streets. 

The atmosphere was so calm and relaxed, we immediately loved it!

Then we walked through the City part, with all the business people.

So gorgeous, and so New-York like!

That same day we also went to Paddington, a very bohemian quarter with lots of vintage shops. I bought some really nice boots :)

We ended up at one of Australia's best restaurants, Benthleys.

Delicious food and drinks.

26th of July

This day we slept till 10.30 because we were so tired.

We had the most amazing breakfast ever at our hotel and afterwards we went to the Opera House.

We did a tour through the Opera House, it was so interesting and inspiring!

The building is so beautiful and so impressive.

We had lunch in front of it. 

Best spot ever.

After our tour we went to The Rocks and we walked over the Sydney Harbour bridge (fun fact: locals like to call it 'The Coathanger').

The view was breathtaking.

-Especially for my dad with his vertigo.-

The Rocks is another super cute area with lots and lots of nice restaurants.

We popped into a pub for a drink, again, the atmosphere was amazing!

This evening we had dinner at Darling Harbour.

So many young people enjoying their night out!

As you can hear, we have already fallen in love with Sydney..

Our amazingly funny tour guide.

Love,

Isabelle

All photos by Isabelle Verhaegh