Whale watching & daytrip Sydney south

brrrrrr...pretty busy at the moment. I'm doing so many things during the week and even more on the weekends. In my "leisure time" apart from these activities I'm having "fun" looking at places to stay the next 2 month. Turns out to be quite hard especially since rent prices went crazy before Christmas and new year (30-40 bucks for a 8-10 bedroom hostel dorm is average) but we'll work it out...

anyway...we had the idea in mind to see some whales (again) hence we booked it online for Saturday. After almost missing the boat on "Circular Quay"...

...we went on an 4 and 1/2 hour cruise.

Mic & Opera - different angle, different time of the day


just shells...Borat would say: "I liiike!"

(sorry if I bother you guys with too many opera/bridge pictures but I just won't get tired of it yet)
The skipper did his best to avoid running over one of the hundreds of sailing boats around the harbour.

by the way:
Port Jackson is the natural harbour of Sydney and Sydney Harbour is only a small area within.

Exit to the windy ocean

Sydney skyline from the ocean

Bondi beach from the ocean

We weren't really lucky spotting whales the beginning so we kept on going south...

and finally saw...

at least two of these fascinating animals...

a bit closer...

unfortunately we already spent most of the time for the search (the season ends in November)...but nevertheless...overwhelming...again...
except for the couple of people who got seasick on the way (I think nobody took anti-seasickness pills). For the way back we had to ride against the wind though...and it's been a sweet ride...for about 15% of the people. We were standing on the boat's top end, joy screaming and some were a bit cold but going back in wasn't an option.
Why not?
The remaining 85% got seasick and occupied the inner parts of the boat.


Not quite nice to have the smell and the constant sound of puking people around...back to the front then...

The waves got even bigger so we got totally splashed twice...wooohoooo! ;-)

after about an hour of fun/puking we finally got back into calmer water to capture another atmosphere....



\

back at Circular Quay we bumped into some musicians to get vibes for the way home.

good show but all set up for tourists of course...

...but fully painted...

again...a ripper (Satur)day!

On Sunday I got up even earlier than usual to sneak in on a day tour organized by Elisa's and Steffi's language school (and therefore cheaper). I didn't have a clue where we were supposed to go but it was sunny hence I've been happy anyway. The tour guide seemed to be laid back and we started off with a lookout over Woolongong (south of Sydney) and breakfast.


Next "action point": calming down and relax in the Nan Tien Temple (literally "Southern Heaven Temple" - link) It is a Buddhist temple complex located in the industrial suburb of Berkeley, on the southern outskirts of the Australian city of Wollongong, approximately 80 km south of Sydney, Australia. Nan Tien is a Chinese term, which means "southern paradise".

It is one of the branch temples of Fo Guang Shan, founded in 1965 by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, which has over 120 branches worldwide. This is the largest Buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere.

I kind of like it more than a church...

albeit it may appear a bit cheesy (kitschig) to one or the other

I enjoyed wondering around this place where we got asked to avoid killing any animals including the buzzing flies...

the main shrine

an irritating thing to mention would be the swastikas (Hakenkreuze) on all of the Buddhist statues and. If you look closely - you will find it on the next two pictures albeit they got a 45 degree difference to the "banned" symbol.
a little more information: The swastika (from Sanskrit svástika) is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing or left-facing forms. The term is derived from Sanskrit svasti, meaning well-being.
Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period. An ancient symbol, it occurs in numerous indigenous Asian, European, African and Native American cultures; sometimes as a geometrical motif and sometimes as a religious symbol. It has long been widely used in major world religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

The swastika was appropriated as a Nazi symbol and gained further association with the Third Reich as the Reich gained influence. Though once commonly used all over much of the world without stigma, over time the symbol has become a controversial motif in the Western world in particular. (link)

Steffi and Elisa taking a deep breath of incense sticks (Raeucherstaebchen)

some women/cultures obviously dress a bit more colorful than others - nice pic

To be honest, I didn't know where we were supposed to go thereafter (and didn't know until 15 minutes ago). It was some sort of a blowhole and I figured - after looking it up - we've been to the Kiama blowhole. The name "Kiama" is derived from the Aboriginal word - Kiarama - which means "Place where the sea makes a noise". This is in reference to the famous Kiama Blowhole. Every year thousands of tourists from all over the world come to see the beauitful large fountains of water that the blowhole creates.

This is how it's meant to look like

and this is what we could admire :-(

Never mind. On the way to the monthly markets we passed by some massive pelicans

the market itself was ok but we basically just rushed through to grab some food cause we were all close to starvation...

Happy Elisa

Happy Steffi

powered up we did some market shopping meaning necklaces and earrings for the ladies and a wooden wristband for me...
...before heading off to the subtropical Minnamurra Rainforest (I totally didn't expect a rainforest around here)

Our guide

Not having a lot of time left (about 1 1/2 hours) we still decided to do the longer walk including the one way passage to the Minnamurra Falls which was calculated with 2 1/2 hours but those times are mostly measured for older people. Due to the terrain I choose to take my thongs (FlipFlops) off and walk the planks / stones bare feet and through the green we disappeared.

what a beautiful massive tree...wider, taller and older than all of us...

Jumping "monk style"

all this red ;-))))

we reached the Minnamurra Falls in about 60 minutes due to a quite long steep part of the track but the falls paid us back...after catching some breath again and taking pictures we had to move on and made it on the spot regarding the time...to wait for the others ;-)

On the drive back the whole bus needed a nap...and the rest of the Sunday evening didn't look a lot more active...one of those very nice days...again!