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Australia 2019

Autumn

By Danica Eliana Ferino

June 10^th, 2019

Last May, my parents and I traveled to Australia (Sydney and Canberra) to visit our grandmother and several relatives. It was my first trip to another continent - I've only been to Asian countries before (twice in Singapore and once in Taiwan). For my parents, it was their first overseas trip. My mom kept comparing the views how it looked like some of the cities in our country. But ultimately, they're just not the same. It's much better to enjoy the novelty of things and be immersed with the experience of a new city.

Chang Lai Garden

I remembered I specifically booked our airline tickets for May. I wanted to experience autumn with all the colorful foliage of trees to be seen and most importantly, the colder weather to enjoy. It is terribly hot and humid in the Philippines during that month. This two-week vacation is such a nice respite from the ungodly heat in my country.

It was already the end of autumn season when we went there. But some trees still show the magical hues of red, yellow and orange. We went to this park after our short visit at the Featherdale Wildlife Park (as told here). My mom was really ecstatic when she sees deciduous trees so my aunt and uncle brought us to Chang Lai Garden. Apparently, it was only opened recently to the public.

Blue Mountains

Our second trip was in Blue Mountains. We spent the greater part of the day at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden (Mount Tomah Botanical Garden). My mom and dad had a blast with all autumn foliage all around us.

I'm curious how the gardens would look like in spring. Maybe I'll visit it again on that season. We got a bunch of photos here; it's very beautiful. By the time we reached the Echo Point view deck for the Three Sisters sandstone rock formation, it was already dusk.

Canberra

Canberra is a three-hour drive from our place. It's rather a quiet city despite its being Australia's capital. Weather here is also colder than Sydney.

Parliament House

We visited three places in Canberra - the Parliament House, the Australia War Memorial, and the National Gallery of Australia. I think a day isn't enough to cover all that can be seen on Canberra. There's so much to discover on each location and we're a little time-constrained.

Australia War Memorial

National Gallery of Australia

I got to see a Yayoi Kusama installment here (The Spirit of the Pumpkins Descended Into the Heavens). Lucky!

Sydney CBD

It was only on our last week that we got to visit the central business district of Sydney. It was May 28th - one of the coldest May day in 19 years (as reported here).

Queen Victoria Building

I never would have thought that the Town Hall train station is just under the Queen Victoria Building. That was interesting.

From the station / QVB, we walked all the way to Circular Quay to watch the Vivid Sydney display on the evening. There's so much sights to see! And unfortunately, so little time to explore. :(

Sydney Harbor

Since we got a few more time before evening, we visited the Museum of Contemporary Art in which I didn't take photographs and I'm not really sure why. I liked the art installations there where you get to watch some sort of documentaries.

Vivid Sydney

Also one of the reasons why I booked our trip on the last week of May.

Darling Harbour

On our second night in the CBD, we took a ferry from Sydney Harbour to Darling Harbour. From there, we had a leisurely walk around it while waiting for the Vivid Sydney displays.

There's so much I wasn't able to see that are in my itinerary I noted in my head. But it's fine. It's not the last time I will be visiting Sydney (I hope). I'm also traveling with my parents so, at the onset of the trip, I already prepared myself mentally that I won't be able to do everything I wanted to do on the trip.