Annual Ritmo Brazilian Festival

Photo gallery: Annual Ritmo Brazilian Festival

Several shots of Capoeira (Brazilian fight-dance) taken at the Brazilian festival in Sydney's Darling Harbour and Tumbalong Park a week ago.

Nelson Bay & Anna Bay

Photo gallery: Nelson Bay & Anna Bay
Google Earth Position: 32°46'36.91"S 152° 4'59.79"E

Beautiful weather was the forecast for that Sunday...

Therefore I and my friend hired a 4WD (Subaru Forester 2.5) early in the morning, bought a breakfast at a petrol station and drove via Pacific Highway to the north to the Port Stephens area.

Our visits of Nelson Bay and Anna Bay included magnificent lookouts, long beaches and walking trips. But in spite of that desert driving was the most exciting experience of that sunny day!

Wayan's birthday party

Photo gallery: Wayan's birthday party

Here are several shots from a birthday party at the Beach Palace Hotel on Coogee Beach.

The pics were taken by Rose-Mary, thanks for that!

Fraser Island

Photo gallery: Fraser Island
Google Earth Position: 25°14'50.00"S 153° 9'5.12"E

We spent three stunning days on a World Heritage’s island.

Fraser Island is stretching over 123 kilometres along the southern coast of Queensland and is the largest sand island in the world.

It is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes. There are long uninterrupted white sandy beaches surrounded by sand cliffs, over 100 freshwater lakes, some tea-coloured and many crystal-clear creeks.

We travelled with an international group of eight people from England, Switzerland, Sweden and Czech (just two of us). A 4WD car was necessary because there are no classic routes on the island. Travelling is possible through upcountry sand routes or on the long beach but just in particular time depending on the tide (according to an exact day-by-day itinerary).

The weather was excellent so we could fully taste the “pure sand flora” and magnificent lookouts. In spite of strict prohibition of swimming in the ocean we could suitably chill out in amazing lakes and fresh water creeks.

Despite of several camping resorts on the island we decided to bed down just on the beach. It was pretty challenging because there was nothing there but sand and roaming Dingoes.

Here are our several stops:

• Eli Creek – wildflower-clothed dunes along the banks of Eli Creek for swimming in the fast flowing, clear, fresh water
• Maheno Wreck – the trans-Tasman liner wrecked in 1935
• The Pinnacles – sand dunes form cliffs of coloured sand in an amazing array of shapes and patterns
• The Champagne Pools – the natural pools, washed by waves at high tide, trap bubbling seawater making them excellent swimming holes
• Lake Wabby – beautiful emerald green lake is surrounded on one side by the massive Hammerstone sand blow and on the other side by eucalypt forest
• Lake McKenzie – a beautiful blue perched lake surrounded by white sandy beaches and rich blackbutt forest. It is regarded as the most beautiful lake on Fraser Island

Father's Day

First Sunday of September – Father’s Day in Australia.

Gift-giving to fathers and tonnes of shop’s flyers.

Family-oriented activities and charity events.

Living on Bondi Beach - Winter 2007

Photo gallery: Living on Bondi Beach - Winter 2007

Another half a year of living on the beach is gone...

La Perouse

Photo gallery: La Perouse
Google Earth Position: 33°59'22.68"S 151°13'53.43"E

Several shots from a trip to La Perouse in Sydney.

Located on the northern side of Botany Bay, La Perouse is a south-east part of Sydney named after Le Compte de Laperouse, a French explorer who arrived here in 1788. There are small beaches and great walking trails around.

There's a (poorly constructed) fort from 19th century in the Bare Island. Btw Mission Impossible II was shot there.

Coastal walk Tamarama to Bronte

Photo gallery: Coastal walk Tamarama to Bronte
Google Earth Position: 33°54'2.13"S 151°16'18.94"E

Several pictures from one of our many strolls along the Pacific Ocean.

Tamarama Beach is small and extremely narrow. It's considered the most dangerous patrolled beach in New South Wales, with more rescues per thousand bathers than any other of Sydney's beaches.

Bronte Beach lies just several hundred meters south of Tamarama Beach and in many respects is like a big brother. It is a slightly bigger beach at 250m long, but with bigger rips. Australia's oldest surf club was formed here in 1903.

City2Surf 2007

Photo gallery: City2Surf 2007

City2Surf is an annual charitable road running event goes from the centre of Sydney to Bondi Beach. More than 60.000 people took part in this 14 km long competition this year.

Here are several shots from Bondi Beach.

Dee Why Beach

Photo gallery: Dee Why Beach
Google Earth Position: 33°45'13.87"S 151°17'47.43"E

Dee Why Beach is one of Sydney 's Northern Beaches (a continuous strip of around 20 beaches stretching up the coast from Manly to Palm Beach). The beach runs for about 1.2 km.

BTW the Northern Beaches are overall one of the wealthiest areas of Sydney.

The name Dee Why is unexplained. The earliest reference to it is pencil note in surveyor's book, "Wednesday, 27th Sept, 1815 Dy Beach" – but what it meant to him was not recorded...

Historical Bondi Beach

Royal National Park

Photo gallery: Royal National Park
Google Earth Position: 34° 7'53.83"S 151° 4'57.17"E

Royal National Park is the world's second oldest national park (after Yellowstone in the USA).

We enjoyed not only riding through and observing fauna and flora but also swimming in the sea, breathtaking lookouts, walking,... and picnic of course :))

Cronulla

Photo gallery: Cronulla
Google Earth Position: 34° 3'59.81"S 151° 8'46.05"E

Here are several shots from Darook Park in Cronulla.

Cronulla is a beachside suburb in southern Sydney located 26km south of the Sydney central business district (CBD) directly reachable by a train.

The 2005 Cronulla riots were a series of ethnically motivated mob confrontations which originated in and around Cronulla. Soon after the riot, ethnically motivated violent incidents occurred in several other Sydney suburbs, including Bondi Beach.

Sailing Whitsunday Islands (Great Barrier Reef)

Photo gallery: Great Barrier Reef - Whitsunday Islands
Google Earth Position: 20°17'35.79"S 149° 3'29.55"E

We spent 3 beautiful days and nights aboard the luxurious Alexander Stewart.

This tall ship is made from rich timber and has really a classic sailing charm. It is 21m long with 9 private double A/C cabins, inside dining room, showers etc. We appreciated the huge open deck area, just a few people aboard and fresh prepared food during the whole trip. Daily we ate from 9am to 10pm actually :).

The starting point was in the port town of Airlie Beach that we reached by airplane from Sydney and where we spent two nights. We especially enjoyed good food and midnight swimming in the local lagoon.

Our cruise led around the Whitsunday Islands that are a collective of continental islands of various sizes situated within the Great Barrier Reef including e.g. Whitehaven Beach. This 6 km long beach is recognised as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world because of brilliant silica sand that belongs to the purest in the world. Yeah, it was indeed one of climaxes of our cruise!

The sailing was divided into various activities e.g. walking through interior of islands, visiting breathtaking lookouts, swimming or just basking on white beaches.

But most of all we were impressed by snorkelling among many types of local fish. If we were fast enough we could touch several ones after all. Or when the crew threw feeds into the water just next to us we could immediately see decades of medium and hundreds of small fish all around us. Simply amazing!

The trip finished in Airlie Beach again and we felt fantastically relaxed and in a good mood from doing many other activities besides basking on the deck, eating and drinking.

Sydney Aquarium

Photo gallery: Sydney Aquarium

I spent several amazing hours with my Slovak mates in the Sydney Aquarium in Sydney’s Darling Harbour.

It is one of the largest aquariums in the world with more than 6000 different Australian fish and other sea and water creatures displayed in their natural habitats. We walked "on the ocean floor" through 145 metres of several underwater tunnels.

I enjoyed especially these sections a lot: the Great Barrier Reef Oceanarium, the Open ocean Oceanarium and the Seal Sanctuary.

USS Kitty Hawk in Sydney

Photo gallery: USS Kitty Hawk in Sydney

The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) has arrived in Sydney Harbour for several days, accompanied by four other US navy ships. The ship holds about 5500 sailors and can carry up to 75 aircraft.

The huge extensive clearway (no-stopping allowed) and no-parking provisions have been put in place around the naval base in a bid to avoid a traffic chaos. Thousands of people wanting to catch a glimpse of the mighty craft are forced to use public transport.

While I was waiting for a bus

Sunset. Bondi Beach, Sydney

North Head

Photo gallery: North Head

North Head is a headland south-east of the suburb of Manly as a part of Sydney Harbour National Park. It is situated just opposite to South Head.

We found that this area is really nice for a walk, look at both the city and ocean and also for a picnic of course :)

New Zealand: Map Of Our Trip

New Zealand: Christchurch

Photo gallery: Christchurch

Our last stop in New Zealand was Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island situated midway down the east coast. We consider Christchurch one of the most beautiful cities we have seen in New Zealand, especially thanks to the pretty architecture, quaint streets and simply many nice parks and squares.

Moreover, our sightseeing was livening up with World Buskers Festival being held in many places of the city.

We spent two nights there but we had big trouble finding free rooms because of the Ping Floyd’s concert! We found two beds in a dorm finally. Unfortunately, it was pretty bad experience for me – I slept in a dorm for the first time and I really hope I’ll never have to repeat it :).

We flew from Christchurch back to Sydney and that was the end of our stunning vacation. Of course, another one started being planned on the airplane...