AOE: Vacation to Blue Mountain.

Do you like nature? For me, nature is a gift from God. Nature is a real deal if you want to see a beauty of the world. Nature is a place when you want to release your stress. Nature is the best destination of traveling. I love nature very much.

I also went visit to nature in Sydney. It was Blue mountain. I am sure that you've heard it before. The kilometers-square area of vacation-land with its world-famous masterpiece, the Three Sisters. You have to take a train from the City to Katoomba. It takes approximately an hour.  

Katoomba train station.

After you get out of the train station, you will find Blue mountain office. There is an officer that you can ask about the land. You'll be charged a few dollars (AUD 35) for the bus service around the land, but if you want a cheaper price, you can find an ordinary bus service (but it's not stopped in every spots of the land).

Blue mountain bus service.

You can choose the spot you like or you can choose them all. I prefer to choose the best first instead of the easier first.

Yes, you have to walk in most of the spots.

Yo, relax for a while. :D

Scenery from Queen Victoria.

Most of Blue mountain fields can be done with hiking as you can see above. You cannot use any transportation but walking. Don't forget to bring an umbrella because sometime the weather could turn to rain drastically.

Above are the pictures from Wentworth falls.

Beside the nature spots, Blue mountain also has another interesting places to visit. One of those is Chocolate house. You can buy a handmade chocolate art here for a gift. You can taste a free chocolate as well.

You also can visit Aboriginal museum. Below is the sneak peek of the museum. They sell Aborigin authentic weapon in a present form (of course it's not real, just as a symbol).

And this is the world-famous masterpiece I told you, the Three Sisters! The commonly told legend of it is that three sisters named Meehni', Wimlah', and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe. They fell in love with three men from a neighbouring tribe (the Nepean tribe), but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters. A major tribal battle ensued, and the three sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back. (Wikipedia.org)

You can visit other spots like we did. Here are some pictures that may be can give you a description about the Blue mountain. I hope it is useful for you who want to visit Blue mountain. Happy holiday!

AOE: First time seeing a real Koala and Kangaroo.

Once we hear about Australia; Opera House, Kangaroo, and Koala are suddenly appeared on our mind. That's exactly what happen to me when I was planning to go to Sydney. Since I have visited the Opera House on the second day of my Sydney trip, I kept saying to myself "I must see real Koala and Kangaroo!" almost every single day. Guess what? I spent few dollars to fulfill my desire. Instead of going to general zoo, I prefer to go to Koala Park Sanctuary. Almost all of Australia's authentic animals can be seen in this place.

Forest look-like makes this park remarkable.

Animals map. See, no giraffes, no lions, no tigers, and no other common animals that zoos used to have.

I am not interested with small birds, but this one, Budgerigars, just got my intention.

Dingo. I think I have heard its name, but I don't remember where I heard that name.

Hi there, I found you! This Koala was not in the cage. I found it when I was looking around.

I walked into an open-land caged by some woods. I could see some Kangaroos relaxing their *ss on the dirt. Guess what? I had no courage to take a selfie with the Kangaroos. Haha.. I was afraid they would kick my DSLR camera which is not mine but my gf's. So, I just played safe. Haha...

Kangaroo A: Hey, someone is staring at us.

Kangaroo B: It seems he wants to take a selfie with us.

Kangaroo C: Man, we have no time for that. We are sunbathing.

Cassowary. If you see the real Cassowary, you would be amazed of its size which is almost as big as Emu or Ostrich. 

Hi, my name is Emu! This Emu walked toward me and starred at me when I was aiming my camera to it. What a clever Emu!

Shaun the sheep (?)

The officer showed us to do sheep shearing.

He also taught us how to use boomerang. The boomerang hovers curving triangle. So, you have to throw it to the front and catch it back at your left or right side depends on how you throw it.

Fact 1: Koalas spend their lifetime mostly for sleeping.
Fact 2: New-born baby Koala is 2 cm long which is shorter than adult fingers.

These penguins don't need 'cold' weather to live. WOW!

And the last but not least. Wombat! like "Mortal Wombat"? Haha..

Actually, there are still more animals that I haven't showed here. That's no matter since the authentic animals have been showed in this post. So, I have fulfilled my desire finally. 

Authentic animals, places, foods, cultures, etc; become my traveling desire/passion since first time I went out of my original environment. I am pretty excited if I can meet my passion. Not for showing off but for sharing with other people. See you on another journey!

AOE: Come on join me to visit Darling Harbour! (bahasa)

Pada suatu hari, saya mendengar suara mesin yang sedang berjalan dengan kencang.....

Angin sepoi-sepoi menerpa wajah......

Suara burung camar yang sedang terbang menenangkan pikiran.....

Terdengar juga banyak orang yang sedang berbincang.....

Saya mendengar perbincangan mereka secara tidak sengaja, "Look at that!". Pikiran saya langsung bertanya-tanya, "Apa sebelah saya bule ya? Tunggu, saya sedang dimana ya?". Secara langsung saya menyadari bahwa saya sedang berada di negara orang yaitu Australia, tepatnya Sydney dan juga sedang berada di atas kapal feri menuju Darling Harbour.

Saya melihat ke sebelah kiri saya, "Wow, disana ada Harbour Bridge yang terkenal itu!"

Dan juga saya melihat ke sebelah kanan saya. Saya pun terpana "OMG, itu Sydney Opera House yang terkenal itu? Saya sedang melewati 2 icon Sydney!! Can't believe it!!"

Beberapa menit kemudian, kapal feri yang saya tumpangi berhenti di sebuah pelabuhan. Saya mengintip karena penasaran kenapa kapal feri ini berhenti, apakah sudah sampai atau belum. Seketika saya melihat taman bermain yang berwarna-warni menyejukan hati. Ternyata taman bermain itu adalah LUNA PARK! Salah satu taman bermain yang dilindungi oleh perundang-undangan pemerintah setempat dan hanya ada 2 di dunia (yang dilindungi perundang-undangan pemerintah). Saya semakin senang dan menikmati perjalanan ini. Belum lama saya melihat-lihat Luna Park, kapal feri tiba-tiba berjalan kembali meninggalkan pelabuhan dekat Luna Park. "Yahhh, baru beberapa menit tapi udah pergi lagi aja, padahal mau poto-poto." Kekecewaan saya pun tidak dapat dihindari.

Sembari agak kecewa karena belum puas poto-poto di Luna Park, saya merencanakan untuk kembali lagi ke taman bermain itu. "Harus kesitu lagi, gamau tau!". Saya berpikir bagaimana caranya untuk dapat mengunjungi Luna Park lagi.

1 menit berlalu.....

2 menit berlalu.....

3 menit berla........

Sebelum menit ketiga berlalu, saya kemudian terpana (lagi). Emang mungkin dasarnya stress setiap hari, jadi sedikit ada yang enak dipandang, langsung terpana. Saya melihat ke belakang saya, ada pemandangan yang lumayan bisa dipoto. Jepret weh!

Kemudian saya lihat ke samping. Jepret lagi!

Dan ke depan. Jepret juga!

Saya: Banyak juga ya pelabuhan disini!

Saya lagi: Ya iyalah, makanya ada transportasi umum kapal feri!

Saya juga: Bener juga ya.

Tidak lama kemudian, kapal feri mencapai pelabuhan terakhirnya, sekaligus tempat tujuan saya, Darling Harbour. 

Saya: Ternyata Darling Harbour itu kayak tempatnya "Pirates of the Caribbean" atau "Pearl Harbor" ya!

Saya lagi: "Pearl Harbor" mah di Amrik kali -____-

Saya juga: Protes mulu lo!

Setelah sampai Darling Harbour, saya turun bersama penumpang lainnya. Saya pun culang-cileung, tidak memiliki rencana mau kemana. Terpaksa saya jalan mengikuti kata hati. Saya masuk ke museum maritim nasional Australia. Ternyata untuk masuk, harus bayar. Saya pun kembali keluar dari museum tersebut karena saya tidak mempunyai uang. Tidak sengaja, saya sampai pada jembatan Darling Harbour yang dikhususkan untuk pejalan kaki atau pesepeda.

Saya pun melihat ke arah pelabuhan. Ternyata (lagi) disini ada beberapa tempat atraksi yang memang terkenal seperti Madame Tussauds, Wildlife Sydney Zoo, dan Sealife Sydney Aquarium tapi sayangnya di dalam cerita ini saya berperan sebagai pelancong kismin (aslinya juga suka gitu deng) Haha..

Dan setelah saya menikmati jalan kaki di jembatan Darling Harbour, akhirnya saya memutuskan untuk pergi dari Darling Harbour melalui jalur darat.

Baru beberapa langkah saya keluar dari Darling Harbour, tiba-tiba saya mendengar suara telepon. Dering telepon tersebut tidak berhenti dan malahan semakin keras. Seketika saya terbangun dan sadar bahwa saya tadi sedang bermimpi. Mimpi yang sangat indah. Agak menyesal karena itu hanyalah mimpi. Langsung saja saya menuju kamar mandi untuk membuang air kecil. Ketika kembali ke kasur, saya terpana (lagi-lagi) kepada sebuah foto yang saya temukan di kasur saya. Saya pun langsung tersenyum-senyum.