48h in Australia

Sydney.

Anni: 48 tuntia Australiassa tuntuu järjettömän lyhyeltä ajalta, ja se on sitä. Simon, kotoisin Sydneystä, aloitti painostuksen jo viime helmikuussa. Kun Uuden Seelannin matka alkoi pikkuhiljaa muotoutua, hänellä oli jo tiukka aikataulu, jota noudattaen saisimme ujutettua reissuun pari päivää Australiassa. Ideana oli aloittaa heti aamusta (Bangkokin kone laskeutui tasan klo 6 aamulla), ja jakaa valveillaolon tunnit kanjonireissun, kiipeilyyn ja kaupunkiturismiin. Melkein onnistui.
It felt quite tight to squeeze in 48h canyoneering, climbing and city tourism. We almost made it with the help of Simon, who started pestering us about visiting Sydney in last February, pretty much as soon as he found out about our plan to go to New Zealand. Oh well, the plane arrived at 6am, Simon was there to pick us up, and off we went.

Sydney Opera house. It is even more amazing from close up.

This would be the close-up. You should see the tiling, too.

Sydneyssä paras tapa nähdä kaupunki on varmasti kajakkiretki satamassa. Se on varmaan myös nopein tapa hommata kunnon palovammat. Lämpöä on koko ajan 30 astetta plussaa ja taivas on pilvetön. Ensimäinen ostos oli 30 kertoimen suojarasva ja hattu.
You want to have the best view of Sydney? Go kayaking in the harbour. It is worth the wet trousers, which you will get, if you do not time your beaching with the waves correctly.

Scenic view of the Blue Mountains.

Another view of Blue Mountains.

Aika pian menimme itse asiaan, eli kanjoniin. Tähän olimme henkisesti varanneet hiukan alle 3 tuntia kävelyineen, kuten innokas oppaamme oli meille reissua etukäteen kuvannut. Saimme myöhemmin selville, että emme sitten menneetkään siihen kanjoniin, vaan jonnekin ihan muualle. Paikka oli nimeltään Butterworth, ja tasoltaan helppo tekninen kanjoni. Se vain oli aika paljon pidempi kuin alunperin luulimme. Saimme kulutettua 6 hengen porukalla kanjonissa koko päivän, sisään mentiin klo 10, ja takaisin autolla olimme klo 18.
We headed fairly quickly to the Blue Mountains, to a canyon called Butterworth (Simon may want to correct this), which allegedly could be done in shy 3 hours, with the walk-out. Hah. Being in a group of six we manage to spend most of the day there, fueled entirely by one chunky steak pie, and some banana bread.

Australian wildlife. No idea, who (or what) this fellow is, but he sure was keen to pose. And we don't believe it was poisonous.

Kiipeily sitten jäi. Istuin kypärä päässä ja tossut repussa katsomassa illan pimetessä kun Tony kiipesi puoliksi huijattuna verrattain kovan tason sportin.
Then to the climbing. We didn't do much of it. In fact, I did not do any, whilst Tony was kind of willingly sand-bagged to do an overhanging 6c. I was promised bolted slabs (awesome), but never saw any of them.

The second last abseil in the canyon, to a waterfall. The whole place was kind of slimy and slippery, but enormous fun, too.

All in all, the whole side tour to Sydney area was absolutely fantastic. With the amount of jet-lag we had, I was pesonally quite amazed, how long we managed to keep sleep off. I guess the trick is to just keep going, and going hard.
Thanks heaps to Adam, Marie, and Ben for the company in the canyon.