Second Week in Sydney

After the nice weather during my first week in Sydney things took a turn for the worse and for the last week or so it has been raining near constantly. Not so nice for walking around the city but at least there are some indoor attractions available as well.

At least the first few days of the week were quite sunny, on Monday I headed back to Bondi Beach with my camera and took some more shots along the coastal path. On Tuesday weather was still quite nice, I took the ferry up Parramatta River to Parramatta and did some walking in the city and surrounding areas. Parramatta is actually the first European inland settlement in Australia (founded in the same year as Sydney) and there are still some reminders left from the early years.

The main reason for my visit was Lake Parramatta Reserve, however. This freshwater lake lies around two kilometers north of Parramatta itself and contains some interesting wildlife and nice walking tracks around the lake. I did the full 4.2 kilometer bushwalk around the lake, there were numerous lizards and birds along the way and some nice scenery as well.

After finishing the walk I headed back to Parramatta and took the bus back to Sydney city. In the evening it was time to visit the Sydney Aquarium. The aquarium seemed slightly larger than the one in Melbourne and considering you can get half-price online tickets in off-peak hours it was pretty good value for money too. Highlights included platypus pool and the big shark pool with some huge rays as well.

Tuesday was bit of a recovery day for me, it was raining heavily for the whole day. I did end up visiting UNSW dive club’s annual general meeting in the evening though. The main goal of the meeting was to elect a new committee for the club. They even tried to make me one of the dive officers, but I had to decline as my time in Sydney is rather short. Still, it was a good chance to socialize with the members and enjoy a free barbeque.

On Thursday I visited the other animal attraction next to the Sydney Aquarium, the Wild Life Sydney. This wildlife park right in the center of the city is home to kangaroos, emus, koalas, a single crocodile and various other species. While most of the area is indoors there are several larger outdoor habitats as well. Some were open to public too, including the large outdoor area with emus and kangaroos. Occasionally the emus were running all around us, they are definitely not the brightest of birds.

On Friday it was still raining and I ended up doing nothing special. On Saturday and Sunday it was time for some diving again, I did a couple of dives the UNSW dive club. For more details of those dives see the previous post.

This week should be pretty busy as well, I already have few things planned assuming weather gets little better. And after that it’s time to start preparing for the trip back to Melbourne, I’m probably leaving Sydney sometime around 15th March.

• 2012-12-02 Great Victorian Fishcount 2012