Sydney, Australia
April 30, 2005
It was a 3,500 mile and 7 hour flight to Australia, crossing the equator and Indonesia on the way. Flying across the continent was pretty,
with the vast red deserts of Australia's outback underneath the plane. We got here last night, and we are so excited to be in Sydney!!! Our hotel
is near the city center, within walking distance of the harbour, the bridge, and the opera house. It was dark by the time we checked in, so we
did a quick change and headed to the restaurants and bars lining Darling Harbour. It was packed with people eating, dancing and having fun. We
went to a bar with a long, wide front facing the water, and most of the front was open air. It is late summer/early fall here right now, so the
weather is perfect- 70's during the day and 60's at night.
Sydney Sights - Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House, Darling Harbour
Today we walked to the Sydney harbour bridge and to the opera house next to it. The opera house really is as impressive in person as it
looks in pictures, with the soaring white structure sitting out in the water as sailboats float by. Sydney's downtown is beautiful; the city has
done a great job in keeping the historic buildings in the Rocks area looking good, while building newer skyscrapers nearby. There are great parks
downtown and more palm trees everywhere. Good thing we have several more days here, as there is lots to do!
Sydney's Rocks area and King's Cross, May 1, 2005
Went to another "best ever" Indian restaurant for dinner last night. It seems each Indian and Thai place we eat at is better than the last
(good thing we're walking off the calories). Walked along the streets near our hotel after that, there are lots of old English style pubs (along
with Sydney's oldest bar; over 100 years old) at the Rocks area, along with the fun bars we went to along Darling Harbour the night before. We
stopped at a smaller, fun place near our hotel.
We love Australia, and today was the best day so far! We went to a wine and food festival in the eclectic Kings Cross neighborhood in Sydney. The
city's finest restaurants and the best Australian wineries all had booths open in a park with live music, so we got to walk around and enjoy the
great weather, food, wine, and atmosphere. We spent the whole afternoon there, laughing and talking to other travelers and locals, and are
getting ready for our flight tommorrow up to Cairns, home of Australia's Great Barrier Reef!
Sydney, Australia's Bondi Beach - May 7, 2005
Back in Sydney, after our trip up to the Barrier Reef and rain forest. Many of the restaurants here are BYO (bring your own alcohol), so we
got a cheap bottle of Australian wine and ate at a small Thai place right next door to our hotel last night. Just another block away, we went to
a couple of bars with great outdoor patios. We finished the night at a bar on the second floor of a hotel; the bar had a big patio which
overlooked the street and all the people coming and going below.
After a great breakfast at our hotel this morning, we took the city bus to Bondi Beach, just a few minutes from Sydney's center. Bondi is usually
listed as one of the top beaches in the world, and it is well deserved, it is just a fun place. There is a wide beach about a quarter mile long
nestled in between large rock cliffs on both sides. The cliffs and bay seem to funnel the ocean waves into the beach, creating some huge waves,
some of the largest we've ever seen. There are dozens of surfers out in the water all day long, and the buses carrying people to and from the
beach are full of surfers and their boards. The street along the beach has lots of small swimsuit shops and great outdoor restaurants. The hills
behind there have neighborhoods full of beautiful, colorful houses, all with rooftop terraces with great views of the bay. All the neighborhoods
we've seen in Sydney are pretty, many of the homes have an English or Victorian character, but there are also Mediteranean and modern
architectures as well. We walked about two miles, along the beach and up a path which curved around the rocky cliffs on one side of the bay, then
back to the street for a lunch overlooking the beach. There were a lot of people out jogging, surfing, and enjoying the beach, even though it is
fall here.
On our bus ride back, we stopped at the Paddington weekend market which was full of local artists' work, including paintings, jewelry, and
clothes. We walked the rest of the way back to our hotel, watching everyone out for the weekend. The cafes are full of people drinking wine,
reading, and talking. This area seems to have a lot of European people and the cafes are packed all day. A cup of coffee is serious business
here. Imagine 4 cups of espresso in one cup, throw in some coffee grounds just for the heck of it, and that's a cup of regular straight coffee
here. No Starbucks around here!
Sydney Harbour boat tour to Watson's Bay, May 8, 2005
We got up early Sunday morning, because we had planned to go on a "Wobbly Wine Tour", riding bikes through Australia's Hunter wine valley,
about two hours from here. However, the bike leader was injured, so we decided to skip the regular bus tour, so we could enjoy the beautiful day
here ourselves. One funny thing about waking up at 6:30 a.m. was that we got to see people still coming out of and going into the dance clubs
here! A couple of streets in Kings Cross are similar to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, littered with the previous night's rubbish and full of
people just heading home (some of them in police paddy wagons). Within a few hours though, the streets department had the whole area spotless
again.
We ate breakfast, and headed to the annual Sydney Mum's Day run through the Botanical Gardens along the harbour near downtown. Had we known the
bike tour was off, we would have run in the race ourselves. There were thousands of runners and entry was closed, but we had actually met the
race organizers on our flight to Sydney from Singapore, and they said they could have gotten us in. Instead, we cheered the runners along and
enjoyed the beautiful views as we walked along the side of the race path.
From there, we boarded a ferry next to the Opera House and took a narrated harbour cruise to Watson's Bay. The whole of Sydney Harbour is known
as Jackson's Bay and there are miles of waterfront land, since the harbour's uneven edges create lots of little coves and bays. And since the
area is also very hilly, we've been amazed at how many neighborhoods on these hills along the water have wonderful views of the Bay. Watson's Bay
is one of the best, it is the bay on the southern piece of land that forms the mouth of the harbour opening to the ocean. The side facing back
towards Sydney's downtown has a little beach and a couple of seafood restaurants surrounded by beautiful homes. Being Mother's Day, the cafes and
parks here were full of families enjoying the sunny day. Just a few minutes walk uphill from the beach, we crossed to the side of the peninsula
which faces the ocean. This side has rocky cliffs which look down at the ocean twenty stories below. And then looking back towards the little bay
below, and downtown behind us, we got probably the best view of Sydney from anywhere around. We got a "take away" bottle of wine and crackers
from a pub near the pier below us, and just sat on the rocks high up on the cliff for a couple of hours. A hundred or so tiny sailboats with
colorful sails raced back and forth across the bay. We could see the opera house and Sydney bridge in the distance, with the numerous other
hills, coves, and the blue water in between.
Back in Kings Cross for the evening, we met a fun local couple over a few drinks at a ritzy open-air lounge overlooking the street. Then an
awesome dinner at a tiny Thai place nearby (more of just a little booth with stools, but the food was great). Put us right to sleep....
Sydney Aquarium and Manly Bay, May 10, 2005
We had a great, relaxing last few days. On Monday, we walked to the Sydney Aquarium and spent a few hours there. They have good sections on
crocodiles (naturally), Barrier Reef fish (naturally), and sharks (naturally). We were amazed at how much we had seen and learned from our prior
excursions seeing these animals in the wild. We saw more crocodiles on our rainforest boat trip and more saltwater fish live in the reef itself
than any aquarium could hold. Our guides on those trips had also done a great job of giving us educational lectures about the animals we were
seeing. However, seeing a shark again was a bit disturbing. Our memory of the shark we saw swimming in the Barrier Reef with us still gives us
chills.
After the aquarium, we walked all the way back to the Kings Cross neighborhood to have Thai for lunch. Yes, the same little Thai hole in the wall
that we just ate for dinner at about midnight the night before. It was so good, we had to go back!
Then we grabbed a newspaper and read in the park all afternoon, giving our feet a much needed break. We've been walking at least 5 miles a day,
and our legs definitely felt it.
For dinner, we went back to a great pizza place nearby where we had eaten the prior weekend after the wine and food festival.
On Tuesday, we headed to the harbor, taking our time and walking all through the botanical garden downtown. There is a section of tall palm and
other trees that are filled with bats, hanging upside down, chirping, and every once in a while spreading their leathery wings. We had seen them
before, flying above the Sydney bridge at night and wondered where they lived.
From the harbor, we jumped on a ferry for our half hour ride to Manly beach, which sits on the northern piece of land where the harbor meets the
ocean. Again, the ferry rides are amazing, seeing how many coves and bays exist within Sydney harbor, each bay might have three or four little
natural sand beaches. The rolling hills above each bay all hold beatiful neighborhoods, each with its own character. Watson's Bay, Bondi Beach,
Manly Beach, each place is like its own little town on the water, and then you have Sydney's downtown just a half hour ferry or drive.
Manly Beach has beaches on both side of the peninsula, with some overlooking the harbour, and its biggest beach looking out at the Pacific Ocean.
It's a wide open sandy beach, with lots of surfers, volleyball games, snorkelers in some of the rock grottos on the side, and a constant stream
of people on the sidewalk by the beach. There are several streets of restaurants, cafes, surfwear, and boutique clothing stores in the short walk
between the harbour and the ocean sides.
Heading back on the ferry, our time was drawing near to say goodbye to Sydney Harbour. We sat on the pier for an hour, watching the boats go by
and the colors change on the Opera House as the sun set. We then hopped nearby to the oldest pub in Australia, in The Rocks area, for a few
drinks, before heading to a great Indian restaurant on the bay (which we had eaten at the weekend before, and vowed to come back- cheap
Australian wine and great garlic naan bread).
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