Travelog for: PampleMoose

This afternoon we travelled into Darling Harbour to go the Backpacker and Adventure Traveller Expo at the Convention Centre to help Bec & Kalli with their travel plans.


Those white posts are part of the roof of the Convention Centre. The centre was built in 1988 as a part of the Australian Bicentennial celebrations and I guess they're supposed to represent the tall ships that bought the English to Australia in 1788?


After we'd collected a lot of information, brochures and other stuff we took some time to explore Darling Harbour. It was very crowded, probably because it was such a nice day after a week of heavy rain and cool weather.
This is part of the city skyline. The tall building in the middle is World Tower, which is the tallest residential building in New South Wales, and the second tallest in Australia. It is so big it has it's own postcode!


The playground next to Tumbalong Park with Sydney Tower in the background (plus Macca's and the funny red and blue building used to be Sega World, but is now an game centre)


There was an Egyptian Festival happening in Tumbalong Park, but we had too many other things to see in a short time before we had to head home again so I couldn't check out the food stalls.


The park around the lake is a great place to sit and eat lunch & in fact we did just that!


Buzzing around Darling Harbour are all these mini trains that take you from one place to another, as well as advertising various tourist destinations in the precinct. The creature sitting on top of this train is a Frilled Neck Lizard. (Berlin Bear got a better view in his photo). The lizard raises up the frill around it's neck as a sign of aggression.


The sun was getting hot and there is a great gelato stand ..... so we stopped and had gelato! Yum! Though the choice of passionfruit and rum&raisin may have seemed a little strange....
It had to be eaten quickly before it melted everywhere.

After the gelato it was time to run and jump on a ferry to get to Circular Quay. My host tells me there's no better way to make the trip home from Darling Harbour, and on a day like today I'd have to agree. (Tho the humans escorting us did get a little sunburnt sitting on the outside deck so us TV's would get a better view of the Harbour!)
This lighthouse is a part of the Maritime Museum.


As is this tall ship.


The famous Sydney Harbour Bridge.


The Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Two icons in one pic!


A closer view of the Opera House


And then it was time to get on the train and go home.

I really have to apologise for how long it's taken to do this update! Have just had a really busy (& exhausting) few weeks at work. Bec
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Bec decided to take us to see the Blue Mountains where we were promised some amazing sights to see, like the Three Sisters and the view of the Jamison Valley. Unfortunately the weather in the mountains was worse than the weather at home, and instead all we saw was clouds, rain and more clouds!







Here is a link to an image of what we should have seen: The Three Sisters

Our next stop was at Scenic World. Scenic World is the home of the Scenic Railway (which is the steepest incline Railway in the world), the Scenic Cable Car and the Scenic Skyway that either carry you down into the Jamison Valley or across it.  We took the Cable Car down into the valley.


Here are Seamus and I taking in the view on the way down:

It was a bit scary when it dropped over the edge, but the view was impressive - bet it's even better when the sun is shining!



It was very beautiful! (But wet!)









We thought this was a very appropriate question for the day!


On the way out we came across these sculptures, representing the legend behind the Three Sisters formation.


This is the legend:

PampleMoose is on his way to Germany.
Having had no replies from his mentor re: his future plans, he's taken matters into his own hands arranged a trip to visit with Pandamao.
Hopefully this meets with Sleepybirdy's approval?

Was rescued out of the mail-box today - I had already waited in there for a while.

Today my host said that I should have a mulled wine to taste for my welcome. The usual mulled wine is made with red wine and spices. For this occasion I got a special one - made with elderberry wine! Mmmmh, delicious 

Yesterday we went up all the way from Munich to Wilhelmshaven - a seven hour train ride. Today we all go on a ferry to go onto one of the East Frisian Islands in the North Sea - Wangerooge.

We had a nice New Year' party last night. Today we just have an easy day walking around the island.

Today the weather was really nice so we all went to Munich's city center, Marienplatz and Neuhauser Straße. Lots of people were out to celebrate carneval - it's called "Fasching" here.

When we came close to the Stachus we saw a strange creature flying --- we had a nice chat and talked about toyvoyaging. But no way this creature will become a toyvoyager, the postage would be enormous 

I passed the German Museum (a science museum) when I went shopping with my host. We all sat in front of a big part of a turbine which is used in hydro power plant. Imagine, how big this plant is!

There was a knock on the door and when we looked outside there were two little packages sitting on the doorstep. Visitors! Sylphide, Tenderheart Bear and Snegovik!

Today Barthélémy wanted to visit the "Alter Südfriedhof" (Old South Cemetery) so I just came along.

This is what I read about the cemetery:

It is a little known fact that Munich's oldest green area is 450 years old, that it's in the heart of town and that it's a cemetery - the Alter Südfriedhof. The cemetery is something of a conservation area and bears unique testimony to the city's cultural history. Its romantically overgrown graves, tombs and mausoleums pay homage to distinguished Munich figures - artists, architects, master builders and scientists.

In the plague year 1523 graveyards within the city walls were so overfilled that a new cemetery - the "Äußerer Freithof" - was opened outside the city gate at the Sendlinger Tor. The cemetery wall and all the buildings were later destroyed as a preventative military measure in the Thirty Years War. Well into the 18th century the cemetery was looked on as a poor man's burial ground. In 1844, a new section designed by Gärtner was added and it continued to be Munich's central burial ground up to 1868.

Even if the cemetery is not in use anymore many people were walking there. It is like a park nowadays. We saw little spring flowers blossom and sat on a bench in the sun.

Some of the graves are inside the back wall of the houses. And windows pop up between the statues on the graves.

The cemetery suffered severe bomb damage in 1944-45. Today, only a quarter of tue graves are identifiable and many are in urgent need of renovation. Work is underway.