After three days in the Blue Mountains, we have returned to Sydney and I am finally getting the feeling that I actually am in Australia!

Firstly because there was a huge, no HUGE cockroach in our apartment yesterday! We came home from the pub, I was brushing my teeth and there it suddenly was, on the wall, as big as my hand and almost staring directly at me. This was bad enough to scare anyone (even mr. Scientist upon seeing it said: “Let’s close the bathroom door for tonight”), but as an X-Files fan, these were the images that immediately appeared in my mind:

Luckily we also had some other typical Australian sights these days, amongst which (finally) some beach. We met up with my Swiss friend Till and his mother, that had just arrived the day before and took the ferry to Manly. After cruising for 30 minutes we arrived at what can only be called a true holiday destination. We were greeted by people in swimsuits with surfboards under their arms, the sun was shining and there was ice-cream at every corner. We walked up the Corso and there it was: our first Australian beach.

Before we walked around, we decided to have some lunch though. And what did my little eye spy on the menu..? Crocodile burger! I even asked one of the waitresses if it actually was crocodile and not just called a crocodile burger, but yes it was. So, Till and my dinner choices were made. And I can only tell you it tasked quite good. It was white meat, less dense than beef and very tasteful.

Being well fed we were now able to walk around the beaches for the rest of the day. Of course this is Australia, so we were careful not to thread on the many jellyfish that were washed upon the beach. This turned out to be very wise, because these bluebottles are venomous even days after they have died… You can read more about them and the wildlife we encountered in mr. Scientist’s post.

Besides the typical Australian landscape, I have also started to encounter the typical Australian mentality. By this I mean the infamous Australian theory of ‘no worries’. Sitting on the train back to Sydney I heard people on the phone giving their loved-ones profound advice like: “I am sure that if you go look for it, you’ll find it” and “If you stop worrying it will be fine”. Or the response I got from the receptionist the other day after asking her to fix the Wifi “Yeah, yeah, I don’t know, yeah, I wish I knew more about these things yeah, but I am sure that if you keep trying you will fix it.”

After this it was clear to me that I had to get a bit more used to this way of life, so it was time to get better acquainted with these people and their country. In order to achieve this goal, we set out for some cultural and historical lessons. But more on that in another post!