Days 17 and 18 Back to Sydney

I spent my last full day in Sydney in the North Harbour on the national park walk between Manly and the Spit. I did the first bit of the beachside/bush walk to the Spit (about 1.5 hours) in 35+ heat and full sun. Cooled off at Reef Beach (I later found out this is a known nudist beach).

I walked around the Opera House before taking the Manly ferry and noticed that it is not in great condition. Apparently there is a controversy in Sydney as to how to reduce the costly maintenance of the building.
Sydney opera house

In terms of "wildlife" in Australia, I saw hundreds of washed-up Blue Bottle jelly fish at One Mile Beach (Anna Bay), otherwise known in the rest of the world as Portuguese man of war. Chose to not swim. Saw some wallabies (roadkill) on the way back to Sydney from Hunter Valley. Nearly stepped on a very large iguana-like animals on the path (at least 60 cm long and 20 cm tall) - we stared at each other for 15 seconds until it joined its friend in the bushes. In Sydney proper, I saw loads of herons and sulphur-crested cockatoos.


native cockatoos