Sydney and Coledale

And so four weeks in Australia has come to pass. We are currently in Melbourne, but spent our first two weeks in Sydney and Coledale, a small town located about two hours south of Sydney by train.

Sydney certainly lives up to all the praise given to it by guide books and what not. It has a breathtakingly beautiful face, its aces being the Opera House (goes without saying really), the Harbour Bridge, the towering downtown skyscrapers, many green parks and the harbour itself of course. The botanical gardens are worth a look, if for nothing else, then for the hundreds of flying foxes hanging upside down in the trees. A walk along the waterfront encompassing Mrs Macquires Point, Bennelong Point (where the opera house lies), Circular Quay (where all the ferries leave from) and the Rocks (trendy bars and restaurants between the opera house and the bridge) is a must.

Sydney Opera House.

The best view of the opera house and downtown Sydney is undoubtedly from the Harbour Bridge.

And if you're a beer drinker and appreciate a fine pint, the Lord Nelson Brewery on the west side of the southern bridge pylon is the place to quench your thirst. This brewpub/brasserie/hotel really surprised us. Imagine our astonishment when we were forced to admit that the first microbrewery we visited in Oz was actually one of the very best we have visited in the past year! Here was a brewery whose "Nelson's Blood" porter, "Three sheets" Australian pale ale and "Quayle ale" summer ale could battle with the elite troops of the Kiwi beer battalions.

The Lord Nelson brewpub.

Of course, our judgment could be a bit clouded due to what could technically be called a bribe. On our second visit I stepped up to the bar to order a second round for us. I was served by a guy we hadn't seen before and who we later imagined must be the brewmaster himself. Upon ordering I asked for the price of half a pint, hesitated a bit, and then ordered two of them. When giving them to me, the brewmaster just said "Cheers guys" with a knowing smile and disappeared. We must say, we greatly appreciated his pelisilmä ("game-eye"): not charging two poor backpackers for two half-a-pints when the surrounding tables were full of suites paying big bucks for overpriced lunch meals. Kudos!

On Friday 14th August we took the train to Coledale. There we stayed with friends of my family friends back home. The family comprising Jarmo (father), Jane (mother), Ilkka (son) and Kaija (daughter) has Finnish roots as Jarmo was born i Finland. Ilkka has also recently spent six months in Santahamina, Helsinki doing his military service, so we had much in common to talk about. The first weekend we spent hiking with Ilkka, watching Kaija play netball and enjoying the warm winter weather on the beach.

Giigan and Ilkka on "Initial Rock" above Coledale.

The following week we helped Jarmo at work. You see he is an architect and a builder of many things. He has, for instance, designed and built the house the family lives in in Coledale himself. First we helped him on a landscaping project of a backyard of one of his clients. When that was done, we did some work in Jane's and Jarmo's garden and helped Jarmo do some milling. We enjoyed the physical work, as well as the lunch breaks and the sauna!

Cut that lawn!

On Thursday 20th August we did a day trip to Sydney. We visited legendary Bondi Beach, home to the world's first surf life saving clubs (1907). From Watson's Bay we took a ferry to Circular Quay and then changed to another ferry going to Manly. There we had lunch at the 4 Pines brewpub, but it was sadly a disappointment. The trip wasn't a waste of time though, since the sunset on the way back to central Sydney was incredible. Before taking the train back to Coledale, we briefly sampled a few beers at the James Squire Brewhouse. They weren't bad at all.

The Sydney harbour at dusk.

We spent our last day in Coledale working around the house and had (for one last time) a delicious dinner with the family in the evening. On Saturday we took the bus to Canberra, the capital of Australia, where we stayed with Jarmo's sister and her husband. But that is something for next time. Lastly, we'd just like to say how extremely warm our welcome in Coledale was, and what a wonderful time we had there. Thank you Coledale-folks!

More pictures available here.