Let the east coast expedition begin

Tonight, at 22h00, we are hopping on the Greyhound, and the three week journey up the east coast of Australia begins. The stops are:

- Coffs Harbour
- Surfers Paradise
- Noosa
- Rainbow Beach (Fraser Island)
- Airlie Beach (Whitsunday Islands)
- Townsville (Magnetic Island)
- Cairns
- Port Douglas
- Cape Tribulation

The Opera House

Yesterday we went to see an opera at the Sydney Opera House. The architecture of the building, and the view from the huge glass windows, was outstanding. Un Ballo in Maschera might not be one of Verdi's masterpieces, but it was still good, and interesting for us as it is about the murder of the Swedish King Gustav III.

Cruising in Sydney

Sydney, as seen from the Rivercat

Queen Elizabeth II making its final entrance to Sydney

Too cool for school

The eight story high IMAX 3D theater

Didgeridoo

Manly

Bondi Beach

Where the streets have long names...

Harbour Bridge

Sydney is great. We've been sleeping in almost every morning at our six star hotel (Ewelina's relatives) and done a lot of fun things during the days and evenings.

We been taking the Rivercat to town, which gives the traveler a wonderful view of Sydney from the water. We have been sunbathing at Bondi, having dinner at Manly, checking out the world's biggest IMAX theater, walked Harbour Bridge, Sydney Aquarium, you name it ...

One of the highlights was definitely yesterday's arrival of Cunard's 40 year old cruise ship Queen Elizabeth which is now making its final world tour. It was a special feeling to watch the Titanic of our days - well, this one didn't sink - come in and blow its magnificent whistle.

Three more days, then we are off. First stop: Coffs Harbour.

First days in Sydney

Dining al fresco in Cabarita

Sydney skyline

Sydney Aquarium

Darling Harbour

Town Hall

Old School - Pitt Street Mall

Queen Victoria Building

So did Jenny and Anders who are really making us feel at home

George gave us a warm welcome

Good morning,

Our third day in Sydney, sunny as ever. Some photos to let you know what we have been doing. Yesterday we went to the Sydney Aquarium and Darling Harbour. We have also booked tickets to go to the Sydney Opera (funnily they are showing a play about the murder of Swedish king Gustav III). Tomorrow we will go check out Queen Victoria, Cunard's newest ship which is making its maiden voyage to Sydney, accompanied by world renowned Queen Elizabeth II which will be taken to Dubai to become a hotel.

Today was meant to be surf day but apparently the waves are too big at the city beaches... We will give it a try anyway.

Fiji

The Blue Lagoon

Our beach

Dinner on the terrace

The view from our bure (bungalow)

A warm "bula" welcome by the friendly locals

Approaching Oarsman's Bay

On our way to the Yasawa islands

Wow. Where do we start. You know all those holiday brochures with turqoise water on them? Well, we would say most of them are shot in and around Fiji.

We escaped mainland by ferry the day we got to Nadi (pronounced Nandy). The Yasawa Flyer to Nacula took more than five hours but it was well worth it.

We stayed in a beach bungalow, a so called bure, at Oarsman's Bay for six nights. It was relaxation at its finest. The resort itself is tucked away under the palmtrees in the most northern part of the Yasawa island group. The Blue Lagoon - the old movie starring Brooke Shields et al. - was shot right next to where we lived. If that wasn't a voucher enough, see the photos. It was as close to paradise as we have been so far. It really felt like being in the middle of nowhere, despite the three course dinners and cava ceremonies held during the evenings.

Hiroshima

The Genbaku Dome (the Atomic Bomb Dome)

Hiroshima after the blast. Almost 4 km in each direction was wiped out

Peace monument and eternal flame

Our last stop, before heading back to Tokyo to catch our next flight, was Hiroshima. We went there to check out the Peace museum and to go out to the Myanjima Island. We only had time for one of them so we chose the museum. It was tough to walk around in the rubble and read about the thousand of innocent people who died. They had artifacts ranging from Einstein`s first letters to Roosevelt, describing the new findings regarding the use of uranium 253, to clothes from the victims. The most macabre object is the wrist watch that had stopped at 08:15, the exact time the Enola Gay dropped the four thousand kg bomb that was to kill 140,000 people.

The photo above is the dome in Hiroshima, which they have kept as a memory of what happened. What`s so strange about the dome is that it is still standing. The reason for that is that the hypocenter of the atomic bomb was almost directly above the dome (the bomb detonated 600 metres above the ground to create maximum damage). Also, see the photo illustrating what the city looked like directly after the blast. The red fireball above the model of the city demonstrates the 280 metres (in diameter) core of the blast that appeared only 0,5 seconds after detonation.

Scary. And sad.

Kyoto, part 2

Kyoto Tower

Seemingly endless red bows at Fushimi Inari

Ryoanji Temple stone garden

Golden Pavilion

Some more photos from our last days in Kyoto. More UNESCO sights on our list. We visited Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion Temple), Ryoanji Temple (a Zen Buddhist stone garden we didn`t really understand), and, at night, Fushimi Inari. That`s Kyoto in a nutshell, dear readers. Next: Hiroshima.