Australia’s Most Celebrated Icon – Uluru (Ayers Rock)

Uluru Ayers Rock

One of the images that many people associate Australia with is this huge red monolith that looks like a plateau in the middle of the dead flat outback. It’s what most people know as Ayers Rock, but the traditional Aboriginal name of this natural rock formation is Uluru. Since I moved to Australia, I’ve always wanted to visit this great natural wonder, and just over the Easter period, I went to the middle of Australia (known as “The Red Centre”) to see it.

Getting to Ayers Rock

Virgin Australia plane

While many people think they have to fly to Alice Springs to get to Ayers Rock (Uluru), this isn’t necessarily the case anymore. Ayers Rock has its own airport, and flights have become more reasonable in the past few years, with the introduction of flights by Virgin Australia.

The airport is 18 kms from Ayers Rock itself, and is much closer than the extra 6-hour drive from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock itself. Both Qantas and Virgin Australia fly direct from Sydney to Ayers Rock. Qantas also has flights into Ayers Rock airport from Alice Springs, Cairns, and Perth. Landing into the Ayers Rock airport is also quite scenic, as you get to take in the view of the Rock and the Olgas as you land.

Transport – Do We Ride On Camels?

Yes, there are camels around, but you won’t get very far with them! Kidding aside, there are 2 options for you to go about going around Ayers Rock: by tour bus or by self-drive. Tour packages tend to come out cheaper as a whole, but when it comes to flexibility of where to go and what time, tour groups always don’t have that choice. Hence, my friends and I decided to hire a car between 5 of us, and it ended up costing us around $80 each person for the 4 days we were there (this already includes petrol and insurance). If you can get discounts on the car rental companies, it can come out cheaper than this.

Ayers Rock (Uluru) – The Magnificent Rock

Uluru at sunrise

Ayers Rock is in every way a very fascinating natural wonder. It looks like a plateau or a small mountain from afar, and prior to seeing it, I thought that people just called it “Rock” as a carry-on from a misnomer when it was first discovered. BUT, it IS truly a big piece of rock that just sits in the midst of the vast flat Australian outback!

Ayers Rock itself is enormous, and doing the Base Walk around the entire Rock can take between 3 to 4 hours! And if you’re a keen photographer, it might take you even longer, as there are some really cool rock formations and wildlife around! One thing to note though, there are some spots that are sacred to the local Aboriginal people, and they would not allow for people to take photos of them.

Ayers Rock radiates with various colours and shades throughout the day. Check out Uluru at different times of the day, particularly sunrise, midday and sunset, as you will find that the colours are vastly different. Below are some more photos of Ayers Rock (Uluru) at various times of the day.

When in Uluru, you have the option to climb the Rock itself. However, if you want to respect the locals, you would not do it. It is a sacred ground for them, and climbing it is offensive for them. You will still see people climbing it and choosing to ignore the local customs, but I would highly suggest that you follow the local customs and NOT climb the rock.

Apart from Ayers Rock (Uluru), What Else is there?

The Red Centre is more than a barren piece of land. It has so many interesting sights and natural rock formations to marvel at. So apart from Ayers Rock (Uluru), here are some of the other places you need to check out while you’re there:

The Olgas (Kata Tjuta):

The Olgas Kata Tjuta at sunset

The Olgas are rock formations located roughly a 45-minute drive from Uluru, and like Uluru, changes its colour at different times of the day. However, unlike Uluru, The Olgas have interesting shapes or mounds, and walking around the rock formations can be more challenging than the Uluru base walk.

There are about 3 different walks you can do around the area. The most famous (and longest one) is the Valley of the Winds. It’s a 3-hour walk that goes through the valley between the big rock formations, and has really fascinating wildlife and rock formations around. Towards the end of the walk, you can get a good view of the rest of the rock formations. It’s well worth seeing, and with the hilly terrain, the walk can be more interesting than at the base of Uluru.

Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon is part of the Watarrka National Park,  a 4 hour drive from Ayers Rock (Uluru). Being a 4-hour drive means it’s not that close to Uluru, but close enough considering the vast distances between towns and stations around the Outback.

Kings Canyon has 2 walks that you can do, one at the bottom of the Canyon called Kings Creek Walk (and this takes roughly 45 minutes return) and the longer but more spectacular 6-km walk above the canyon called Kings Canyon Rim Walk. The Kings Canyon Rim Walk is a must for those who are reasonably fit and walk for 3-4 hours. The vwalk takes you to the top of the canyon and offers some spectacular views. About half way through the walk, you will get to a place called the Garden of Eden, where you will find something like an oasis in the middle of the dry landscape. Native palm trees thrive in that area and a series of rock pools can be found as well, where people can go for a swim on a nice warm day.

Kings Canyon has 2 resorts you can choose to stay from, but the closest one to the Kings Canyon walks is the Kings Canyon Resort. It offers almost everything you need in that resort, and has a bar, a restaurant, pool and good standard accommodation. But, be warned that there are no shops or village in this area, unlike in Uluru.

Vivid Sydney is over, and it won’t be on again til the next year. This may be delayed, but as promised, here’s the next instalment of photos for Vivid Sydney 2010. I will be making this post brief, so you can enjoy more of the photos from this colourful festival of lights. Make sure you try and catch next year’s Vivid Sydney event and book your next holiday to Sydney with the world’s largest travel booking website

Sydney Opera House

While the Sydney Opera House is one of Sydney’s most recognizable icons, there is more to Sydney than this distinctive landmark. Explore the beautiful harbour city of Sydney, and it will definitely leave you wanting to stay.

Have a Fabulous Journey ahead!

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Vivid Sydney – The Sydney Opera House Comes To New Light

It’s one of the annual events in Sydney, and it draws attention to its star attraction. The Sydney Opera House comes alive with vibrant colours and funky motifs as the Vivid Sydney festival begins. This year, they have more unique

motifs projected onto the sails of the Sydney Opera House, with great animation and light displays. The Vivid Sydney festival is a celebration of light, music and artwork, but has been more focused on the light projections and displays that it puts out on the numerous historical and iconic buildings around Sydney CBD.

In continuation to my post on Staycation, I decided to write something about my current home city, Sydney, particularly this very colourful and inspiring festival of light displays. I’m a keen photographer as well, and one of the

things I love to do is play around with my SLR camera and have fun creating shots using different techniques. Hence, I’m putting out this post to show you what I’ve taken with my SLR camera for Vivid Sydney 2010:

Up Close – Sydney Opera House

Opera House in Purple

Blur in colour - Vivid Sydney

Flower Power - flowers on the sails

Playing with light - my rendition of Vivid Sydney on image

Funky lights at the Sydney Opera House - Vivid Sydney 2010

Sydney Opera House Lights from a distance

More photos to come on Part 2 of Vivid Sydney 2010. I hope you enjoyed my work through the lens.

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Calm Waters And White Sand Beaches

Australia is blessed with so much great beaches and clean waters that it is often hard to choose which beach to go to. One thing that is common with the beaches here in Australia is the huge waves that a lot of surfers enjoy. Having a calm, quiet swim is something of a novelty with Australian beaches (as are those beaches that don’t have jellyfish – or stingers, as they call it here in Australia – or crocodiles) .

In saying that, I’m sure there are still a number of nice bays and lagoons that have calm waters where people can swim in, and it is something I would endeavour to look for. One such area that offers that is Port Stephens in New South Wales. Port Stephens is only a 3 hour drive north of Sydney along the Pacific Highway, and is close to Newcastle and the Hunter Valley region. One interesting fact that got me confused with Port Stephens was that I thought Port Stephens was a town. I soon discovered that Port Stephens is an area or region with a few towns and villages in it, the biggest one being Nelson Bay!

The myriad of bays and beaches in Port Stephens itself makes for a difficult decision on which one to go for. After surveying the area, a few beaches stood out for me. One particular beach was Shoal Bay. Shoal Bay is a 10-minute drive from Nelson Bay, and is one of those beaches that have calm waters where people can swim in them. What’s great about Shoal Bay is that it has a few restaurants, pub, cafes and shops, yet it is not a crowded and as busy as Nelson Bay. The beach on Shoal Bay is also fantastic, and definitely worth checking out.

Another great beach to check out is Salamander Bay. It has white sand beach and the waters are also calm enough to have a relaxing swim in the sea. Next to Salamander Bay is Soldier’s Point, where you will find a marina full of awesome boats and yachts. On the marina is a restaurant that offers reasonable food and a good view of the sea.

Stockton Sand Dunes

Tin City - stockton sand dunes

One highlight for me when going to Port Stephens is the sand dunes that stretches from Stockton to Anna Bay. The Stockton Sand Dunes stretches to 32 kms along the coast, and goes as far inland as 9km in certain parts. The sand dunes offer a desert-like environment, and is quite unique to this part of Australia. There are sand hills where you can do sandboarding and slide down the slopes of the sand hills. The Stockton Sand Dunes is also one of the film locations for the 1980s movie “Mad Max” starring Mel Gibson. One of the scenes from the movie features the small settlement in the area called Tin City, which was built by a small group of labourers during the Great Depression in the 1930s. The settlement is unique in that no one is allowed to buy any of the properties there or develop anything in the area. All the existing structures have been passed down from generation to generation.

Australian Shark and Ray Centre

On our trip to Port Stephens, we were unfortunate enough to have caught the wet weather. Instead of spending a lot of time by the beach as we initially intended, we merely skimmed and had a look at the beaches and then had to find alternative activities in the area to amuse ourselves. One great place to go, especially if you have kids is the Australian Shark and Ray Centre. At the Australian Shark and Ray Centre, you can hand-feed the sharks and ray inside the huge tanks where they keep them. The sharks and rays have been tamed in that the barbs of the sting rays have been cut off, and the sharks don’t have the huge sharp teeth to bite anyone. If you’re one of those people who are afraid of sharks, this will definitely challenge your fears. It certainly challenged me, and I didn’t think I was up for it, but I did feed those so-called monsters of the sea!

The Pelicans

pelicans

You will notice while going around the beaches that there are a number of pelicans around. They are such cool birds! I love their huge beaks and calm disposition. I thought it is worth noting this, although you will notice along the East Coast of Australia, there are pelicans around in some of the beaches as well.

If the weather were nice to us, we could have enjoyed more of the beach and the calm waters in the area. I would definitely recommend checking out the area especially during the summer when it’s nice and warm.

Here’s to more Fabulous Journeys ahead!

Stockton Dunes Sand Boarding

World’s Whitest Beach?

World's Whitest Beach

If you thought you saw the whitest sand in the world somewhere in the Caribbean, Asia or the Pacific, perhaps you ought to read this. It’s not quite in any of the tropical paradise that most people would associate a nice white sand beach to. I never thought that a world record existed for the World’s Whitest Beach or World’s Whitest Sand, but it apparently is in the Guinness Book of World Records. I really wonder I recently came back from a short trip over Easter, and this is how I found out about the record. As you can tell, I love spending time on the beach. My dream is to own a house by the beach, where I can just walk out of my backyard and step into some fine white sand beach. Thus, I was extremely curious when someone told me about the world’s whitest beach!

The Road To Whitest Beach In The World

View from Stanwell Tops, Grand Pacific Drive

I visited the Jervis Bay area to check out what most people who visited the area have been raving about. Jervis Bay is in the South Coast of New South Wales, roughly a 3-hour drive from Sydney. The drive from Sydney to Jervis Bay along the Grand Pacific Drive is very scenic and definitely worth doing. This stretch of coastal road starts from Stanwell Tops in the Royal National Park and goes through the city of Wollongong, Kiama and Shoalhaven. The views from Stanwell Tops are magnificent, and you can see the Seacliff Bridge clinging on to the craggy coast from a distance. A stop at Wollongong is also worth taking, with its nice beach, old lighthouse and a very relaxed town.

Driving further south from the Grand Pacific Drive is still quite scenic. A hour away from Wollongong is a nice quaint town called Berry. The town has a very colonial feel to it, with old buildings converted into shops, boutiques and cafes. It’s worth stopping for a coffee and just walk around the small town.

Where In The World Is The World’s Whitest Beach?

Now, back to the topic (well, I was leading up to it anyway). According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the world’s whitest beach (or the world’s whitest sand) can be found on Hyams Beach in Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia. Hyams Beach is one of the many beautiful white sand beaches in Jervis Bay. My friends and I didn’t get to stay at Hyams Beach, but we managed to get a place at Callala Beach. It’s about a 30 minute drive from Hyams Beach, and has white sand that is similar enough to Hyams Beach. The only problem with Callala Beach is that from time to time, they get a lot of seaweed that gets washed up on its shores, and the seaweed then starts to rot and turn the beach into black! My friends and I were unfortunate enough to have witnessed this, and thus made us feel disappointed with this beach. However, by the looks of the postcard photos and online photos of Callala Beach, it does look like a nice white sand beach. It’s just a shame that our timing was bad and we didn’t see it on its best day.

World's Whitest Beach - Hyams Beach

Because of our disappointment on Callala Beach, my friends and I decided to check out Hyams Beach, as one of our other friends have told us that it is an awesome beach. We arrived there on a gloomy day. The sky was overcast, but it wasn’t raining. Despite the dark clouds that covered the sky, the beach was so white that it was kind of glowing with its whiteness! The sand was very compact, and has this cornstarch or cornflour texture to it. It’s not the finest sand that I’ve felt, but it definitely looks like it is the whitest I’ve seen so far.

How they have measured the “whiteness” of the beach is something that still baffles me. There is no degree of measure for the whiteness of a beach, but having the title “World’s Whitest Beach” gives Hyams Beach its claim to fame. It’s not a widely known beach around the world, and being inside two National Parks, the Jervis Bay National Park and Booderee National Park, the beach has been spared from commercialisation. Hyams Beach is a long stretch of beach, and a small portion of it has some residential units and holiday homes. This is the great appeal of the beach, as there are not that many people around every time (unless if it is school holidays or during the summer). It’s very clean, and the waters are just crystal clear.

So if you are in search for the whitest beach in the world, perhaps check out Hyams Beach in Jervis Bay, just 3 hours south of Sydney. With great travel deals around, you should book your next holiday to Jervis Bay NOW!

To more Fabulous Journeys!

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2010 Is Here!

Happy New Year to all readers of my blog! A new decade begins in the 21st Century! 2010 will be an exciting year for me. I have more travels planned, and I get really excited thinking about where I will be going this year! But before I get carried away with talking about my travel plans for 2010, I’d like to share with you some of the photos I took of the Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks.

This is my third consecutive year of watching the fireworks by the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and it never ceases to amaze me how beautiful the fireworks display here is during New Year’s Eve! Each year is a different theme. Last year, it was more aboriginal themed, and this year, it is more of “awakening the spirit”. I suppose this has a lot to do with the recent financial crisis which has affected the overall mood of people, especially those who have invested in the markets.

The photos I focused on was mainly the 9PM fireworks, as I had a great view of the harbour from a friend’s balcony in Milsons Point. Check out some of the images of the Sydney NYE fireworks for 2009 below:

Sydney NYE 2009 Fireworks - First shots

Sydney NYE 2009 Fireworks - more 9PM fireworks at the harbour

Sydney NYE 2009 Fireworks - Up close

Sydney NYE 2009 Fireworks - sparkles

Sydney NYE 2009 Fireworks - more 9PM fireworks

Sydney NYE 2009 Fireworks - about to finish

Sydney NYE 2009 Fireworks - to the finale of the 9PM fireworks

Sydney NYE 2009 Fireworks - the smoke after the 9PM fireworks

Happy New Year! - the Harbour Bridge comes alive

More midnight fireworks from the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge is lit up!

More snippets of the Sydney NYE firework 2009

Sydney is definitely in one of the top 10 locations in the world for New Year’s Eve. The amazing fireworks by the beautiful and picturesque harbour and the numerous parties happening all over the city makes it just a cut above the rest. Even if I have spent my third year watching the fireworks in Sydney, I never grew tired of it, as it is just simply superb.

Come and see the fireworks spectacle here in the New Year in Sydney!

Happy Holidays from Fabulous Journeys!

Well, it’s been a heck of a year, and it has been a great one for Fabulous Journeys. For starters, this website started only 10 months ago, and there has been some avid readers of this travel site already! Thank you to all of you who have supported the site. I hope to continue sharing my experiences and my knowledge of the different trips I make around the world and also locally, and help encourage more people to travel and enjoy travelling!

This will be a short post just to wish all my readers all the best for the holidays. If you’re driving, please drive carefully and safely. I’ll be spending Christmas here in Sydney, away from my family but with a good bunch of friends. I’ll be camping at Port Stephens on the mid-North Coast of New South Wales, and I’m very much looking forward to it! I’ve been researching on my trusty Lonely Planet book, as well as other great websites around.. And you can already tell what my next blog post would be!

I will also be watching the fireworks here in Sydney and I’m bringing some friends from out of town to witness this grand display of lights that Sydney is always so proud of.

All the best to you all, and enjoy the time with your family and friends and whatever it is that you will be doing. May the holidays and the New Year (and new decade) bring more joy, peace and love to everyone! Here’s to more travels and awesome, fabulous journeys ahead!

Yours sincerely,

Kelvin Lim
Chief Blogger and Travel Nut – Fabulous Journeys

Melbourne’s Unique Charm

Melbourne

I recently spent a few days in Melbourne to watch the Melbourne Cup and also celebrate my birthday there. I’ve been to Melbourne a few times and the city never ceases to fascinate me! There is always something new to discover in Melbourne. From eclectic to artistic, Melbourne packs a lot of interesting sights, architecture and cultural activities in a small place. Its laneways, trams and parks give it a very European feel to the city. It’s distinctly different from the rest of the Australian capital cities. Despite not having iconic landmarks like Sydney has, Melbourne still offers a lot of things to be explored and enjoyed. Here’s my top ten list of things to see and do in Melbourne:

1.) Art and Cafe Culture

Brunetti's

One of the first things I noticed when I landed in Melbourne is the way the freeways and buildings are so stylishly designed and decorated. Certainly the road from Tullamarine airport into Melbourne CBD felt like a big modern art exhibit, with colourful, modern architecture and art structures along the highway, and the best part, hardly any vandals can be seen! When you walk around the city centre, it’s all funky buildings, sculptures and designs.

There is also a cafe culture in the city. Nearly every corner of the city has a small cafe, and because there is a big Italian community in Melbourne, you can almost guarantee that they take their coffees seriously! I have always had a great cup of coffee in those small cafes. After so many visits, I managed to find my favourite cafe there called Brunetti’s. They have a great range of pastries, cakes, and best of all, their hot dark Italian chocolate is really something not to be missed! The biggest cafe is near Lygon Street, but they also have a small outlet in the CBD on Swanston Street.

2.) Laneways

The myriad of laneways that dot the city centre are remnants of the original city planning of Melbourne, which dates back to the 1800s. This system of small alleyways used to be the lifeblood of the city and has now given the city its unique charm. The laneways have been spruced up and converted into nice shops, bars and restaurants. There certainly is that European character feel with these laneways, and definitely worth checking out.

3.) Museums and Art Galleries

NGV

Melbourne is considered to be the art capital of Australia, with a wide range of museums, art galleries and performance theatres dotting the city. You will never run out of things to look at and do if you love art and culture, as nearly each day, something new comes up in one of these galleries or a new theatrical production opens its curtains.

The Museum of Melbourne near the Carlton Gardens is a great place to check out. It has displays ranging from dinosaurs and the Australian bush to the Aboriginal life and culture. More importantly, it has an exhibit on the Melbourne story (how Melbourne evolved into the city it is now).

If you love art, another great museum to check out is the National Gallery of Victoria. This is where you find paintings and artwork from famous local and international artists such as Andy Warhol and Frank Gehry to name a few. It has moving exhibitions of different art forms and genres that are worth looking out for.

4.) Gardens and Parks

Conservatorium, Fitzroy Gardens

The one surprising thing with Melbourne is the fact that it is a compact city yet it is filled with a number of gardens and parks surrounding its CBD. One garden truly worth checking out is Fitzroy Gardens. This has the Conservatorium, which houses so many colourful flowering plants and tropical varieties. Next door to it is Cook’s Cottage, which is the original cottage where Captain Cook’s family lived in and was shipped from England as a gift to the people of Melbourne and reconstructed in the Fitzroy Gardens.

Another great park to check out is the Carlton Gardens. It has a nice pond in the middle, and a beautiful fountain at one end of the park. It is adjacent to the Melbourne Museum, so worth checking it out if you are on your way to the museum.

The Shrine of Remembrance is also another great place to check out. It is an ANZAC memorial built on top of a small hill, with great views of the city. The botanical garden is just next door and is definitely worth checking out.

5.) Eureka Skydeck and Rialto Melbourne 360 Observation Deck

Eureka Tower

Melbourne has some of Australia’s tallest buildings, and 2 of them offer great views of the city and the surrounding areas. The Rialto was the tallest building in Melbourne and was the first to offer a viewing platform called the Melbourne 360 Observation Deck. It offers a fantastic view of the city and across to Southbank, the Dandenong Ranges, and to St. Kilda and the Bass Strait. It seems that the Rialto has just announced that it will be closing its doors on 31st December 2009, so before it does, make sure you avail of their $7 closing entry deal and enjoy the great view!

The Eureka Tower’s Skydeck 88 is a more recent addition to the Melbourne skyline and is much taller than the Rialto. The Eureka Skydeck 88 is the highest viewing platform in the Southern Hemisphere and offers a  slightly different perspective to the Rialto. The Eureka Tower is on Southbank, which is on the other side of the Yarra River.

6.) Crossing the bridges over the Yarra

Princes Bridge

It may not sound like much, but the many bridges crossing the Yarra River each have a unique design to it. The Yarra River is a prominent feature of the city.  Walking and crossing the bridges by foot is a great way to explore Melbourne, and a great exercise as well. A couple of these bridges are pedestrian-only bridges, and each are designed differently from the other. One of the bridges has a list of countries where the settlers in Melbourne came from and some details on when and how they have arrived into Melbourne. The Princes Bridge is one of the oldest bridges crossing the Yarra and links Swanston Street to the Southbank area. The view of the city from the different bridges is great and worth exploring.

7.) St. Kilda and Port Melbourne

The seaside suburbs of St. Kilda and Port Melbourne has recently had a facelift and resurgence from being a rough area of Melbourne to one of the best place to live in the city. It has a great cafe culture, and a great lifestyle being close to the beach. In St. Kilda, there is a weekend market near the Pier and St. Kilda Baths which is worth checking out for works of local artists and businesses. Port Melbourne, on the other hand, has a good beach and is where you can take the ferry over to Tasmania.

8.) Day Trip to the Yarra Valley

Domaine Chandon - Yarra Valley

The Yarra Valley is a wine region just 45 minutes away from Melbourne CBD. This wine region produces one of the best wines in the country, and has over 70 wineries in the area. The makers of Moet & Chandon have a winery here called Domaine Chandon, and proves to be a popular one for many tourists. They make a sparkling red wine, which is quite an unusual one. Another great winery to check out is Yering Farm, which is one of the smaller boutique wineries in the region. It’s a family-owned vineyard and only sells its wines in a few restaurants and hotels in Victoria (apart from the winery itself). One of the more popular wineries is the Rochford winery. What makes this winery so popular are the numerous events and concerts that they hold on the grounds of their winery. They do make great wines as well!

9.) Shopping

Shops

Melbourne is known to be the shopping capital of Australia. It’s not that the rest of the capital cities of Australia don’t have much choices, but it is more of the number of quaint boutique stores that are available in the city. I’m not into shopping myself, but I can tell that there are so many cool boutique stores dotted around the city. The shopping malls have also started to crop up. Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) has the most branches in Melbourne than any other city in Australia. Melbourne has capitalised on this, and even has organised shopping tours where a tour guide will take you to the best bargains in the city!

10.) Docklands

The Docklands is one of the areas very near to the CBD that is being developed into a nice urban residential and entertainment complex. What used to have old warehouse and dockyards have now been demolished and transformed into nice brand new apartments and cafes and restaurants. A new shopping complex called Harbour Town has been built with a good range of outlet shops. This area being by the water has a nice waterfront walk where you can just relax and chill out.

Melbourne may not necessarily have the distinctive landmarks and the beautiful harbour that some other major cities can boast of, but it definitely has a unique charm that is worth exploring. If you find great deals on flights domestically or if you plan to visit Australia as an overseas holiday destination, I suggest you have a look at Melbourne.

Have a Fabulous Journey ahead!

The Grand Pacific Drive

Many people are familiar with the Great Ocean Road along Victoria’s southern coast. It’s a fantastic stretch of road that offers dramatic scenery and has a great history around the construction of the road. One thing not many people or tourists are familiar about is the Grand Pacific Drive along the eastern shores of New South Wales. This stretch of road starts from the Royal National Park just south of Sydney and goes through small villages and towns including Wollongong, Shellharbour, Kiama, and finishes in the inland town of Nowra. The Grand Pacific Drive doesn’t have the rock formations like the Twelve Apostles of the Great Ocean Road, but having a bridge built on the side of a cliff face and passing through some gorgeous beaches is a great sight to behold.

Reason # 1: Catch The Sunrise

Watching the sunrise is one of nature’s best light displays, along with a sunset. However, I’m not an early riser, and I always find it difficult to catch the sunrise, and only do I occasionally wake up to see it. Since moving to Australia 2 years ago, I’ve never seen the sunrise, and I thought it would be awesome to coincide it with a road trip to the southern parts of New South Wales. I managed to convince 2 of my friends to come with me and drive down from Sydney to Wollongong for the day along the Grand Pacific Drive and check out the sights along the way. Catching the sunrise at Stanwell Park and Coalcliff was one of the highlights of the trip, and seriously, one of the most underrated (or unmentioned) activities along this coastline. Catching the sunrise is not a tourist activity along this coastline, and only locals know of this. Before any tour groups start descending along this stretch of magnificent road, go and witness it yourself really soon!

Reason #2: No Tour Groups Around

There are so many organised tours to the Great Ocean Road, and while this is great for those who don’t have cars or only have a short time to get around, having busloads of people fighting for the view can be annoying. The great thing with the Grand Pacific Drive is that it is not as far from Sydney as the Great Ocean Road is from Melbourne, and the drive is not that long. It generally only takes over 2 hours and you will be able to cover the entire distance. If you take some time to enjoy each spot, it might take a little bit longer. However, it is definitely more manageable on a day trip than the Great Ocean Road.

Reason #3: Great Beaches and Views

The view along the Grand Pacific Drive is awesome! It’s either totally underrated, or underpromoted by the general public. It may not offer such dramatic scenery, but the numerous beaches and the sea views from Stanwell Tops are great! The city of Wollongong and the township of Kiama are also great attractions on this stretch of road. Wollongong has a nice beach and harbour, and an old lighthouse that adds to the character of the harbour. In the city itself is the largest buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere, the Nan Tien temple. It’s architecture is distinctly Chinese, and it was built by the members of the Chinese Fo Guang Shan community who have migrated to Australia. Which leads me to the next reason..

Reason #4: Interesting attractions in the area

Sunset at Kiama Lighthouse - Grand Pacific Drive

Before reaching Wollongong, I had the impression that there is totally nothing interesting to see in the town itself apart from the usual shops on the main town centre. I thought it was just another industrial town, with totally nothing to offer. Was I completely wrong! The harbour and beach is an attraction on its own, and the lighthouse adds character to the place as well. If you drive all the way down to the town of Kiama, you can find some blowholes along its coast. It’s a natural phenomenon wherein holes are formed from the erosion of rocks on the coastline. If you do a slight detour from the Grand Pacific Drive, you can check out the Illawarra Fly Tree Top Walk, which is about a 30-minute drive from Kiama. It offers a spectacular view of the Illawarra coastline, and the structure itself is quite a unique in its design. Its edges are suspended from the cantilever, making it bouncy and quite challenging to those afraid of heights.

Reason #5 : Relaxing, Laid Back Atmosphere

The Grand Pacific Drive is only 45 minutes away from the CBD, and yet, the pace of life is totally different from the buzz of the big city. If you are ever tired of being always on the go, squeezing in with other people and the long queues, this place can soothe those angst and worry aside. The towns along the Grand Pacific Drive are quite small, and people are just totally laid-back. The beautiful beaches along the way would have been a highlight of the trip, and something that you can look forward to, if you’re never been down the Grand Pacific Drive.

Enjoy a drive down the Grand Pacific Drive, from sunrise til sunset on a nice clear sunny day, and you won’t regret it!

Have a Fabulous Journey ahead!

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The Run With A View

Sydney Harbor - after the bridge run

On 20th September 2009, I was fortunate enough to have participated in possibly one of the best running events in the world in terms of scenery of the course. I participated in the Sydney Bridge Run, which started from the suburb of Milsons Point, and then crossed over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and finishing at the Sydney Opera House. The run covers two of Sydney’s most popular landmarks, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. It’s an amazing experience, to be able to run across the middle of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (possibly the only time people are allowed in the middle of the bridge itself).

I did this run for 2 reasons: one was to raise money for charity, and two, to help a friend achieve a weight loss objective by training for an event like this.

Running For A Cause

The charity I supported was the Diabetes Australia. I decided to raise money for this charity because my dad had suffered from Type 2 diabetes which caused a number of his internal organs to fail over the course of 11 years. He passed away 6 years ago, and I felt that I wanted to help raise awareness of how terrible this disease is, and how it can really kill you if you’re not careful with your health and your diet. Diabetes Australia is involved in doing research and education about diabetes, how to prevent it and how to best control it. Diabetes is one of those illnesses that once contracted, will never be healed, but can only be controlled before it starts destroying the other organs of your body. If you want to donate for this cause, it would be very much appreciated. The website is on this link.

I decided to do this run only 3 weeks before the actual event itself. I was not entirely well prepared to do this, but I have a friend at work who has been wanting to lose weight, and I wanted to help him achieve his goal. Having an event to do is something he can look forward to with his workout training/exercise, and that can help him push himself with his exercise. The run was only 9km, but at the start of the training, I was only fit to run 2km. It wasn’t an easy task to push myself to get up to the fitness level to run 9km in a matter of 3 weeks! I had no expectations of how long it will take me, but I just did as much training as I can in the limited amount of time.

Admittedly though, I’ve been into running for the past 7 years, but over the last 8 months, I have been very inconsistent about my training, and I’ve not done any running events since a year ago. It can be hard work trying to get back into the swing of things, and you really notice the difference in your fitness level. I love running, and if I can afford it, I would love to take part in the numerous running events all over the world! It seems that there is a growing trend that a lot of cities around the world are hosting their own city marathon event. London has one, New York and Boston have one, and even Queenstown in New Zealand has one!

State Of Mind

I’ve been a believer that the mind is a very powerful tool that can enable you to do anything you want from it. I really believe that as long as I focus on the task at hand, visualise my outcome that I’ve achieved it, that it will happen for me. Thus, when I started training, I had in my mind the time that I wanted to finish at. I kept on thinking about, and well, true enough, I crossed the finishline at the time that I had wanted (to the exact second!). I literally had goosebumps on the back of my neck when I saw the time on my stopwatch, as it was really what I wanted to finish at!

Photos from my run are below:

If you’re ever in Sydney for the Sydney Running Festival, it’s a fantastic way to see the 2 most iconic landmarks of Sydney and getting fit! Great offers are always available with Zuji.

Have a Fabulous Journey ahead!

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