Sydney (Sid the Kid...)

Hello from Sydney!!

We arrived in Sydney almost a week ago and time really has been flying by!  This is a huge city--about 5 million people--and lots and lots of things to do! As we traveled through the city, we were impressed with the diversity of the architecture and appearance of the buildings impressed with the beauty of the city.  Much of the waterfront buildings have been renovated from its former merchant style storage buildings to stylish offices and condos. The planning of the development was great for walkers and bikers as we were able to follow the waterfront all along the Sydney coastline.

We started off staying in a hotel in an area of Sydney called Ultimo.  The city is broken down into all sorts of little neighbourhoods that make up the greater Sydney area.  The Ultimo was a great location for exploring the city--we could walk anywhere within 15 or 20 minutes of our hotel.

Our first day in the city we spent time exploring the Darling Harbour area.  As you are all familiar, Sydney is on the water and has numerous harbours throughout the Greater Sydney area.  Darling Harbour is one of the bigger harbours and they have done a really good job of utilizing all the area and making it a great place to hang out.  They have playgrounds, splashpads, a merry-go-round and lots of restaurants/bars surrounding the harbour.  We had a nice lunch on a patio here, watching the tour boats go by.  In the afternoon we joined in on a free city tour--the University students offer tours daily and make their money off of tips.  It was nice to be on a tour with a young local, as it gave lots of insight into the city.  They took you through the heart of the downtown shopping area, showed you the original buildings that were put up after England sent off the convicts to start this new country, as well as many important parks and fountains throughout the city.  It was quite interesting to hear some history about the foundation of Sydney and Australia, because its not something we would ever have learned about in history class!  The tour ended up with a view above the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge--the views in Sydney that even people in Canada can recognize!!  We were commenting to ourselves that since we really know so little about New Zealand and Australia, living so darn far away, these were really the first big tourist spots that we were waiting to see--kinda like the Eiffel Tower of Australia.  And they did impress--very nice to finally see them in real life!  One of the stops on the tour was a building that had a revolving restaurant at the top and the tour guide noted its a great place to go and see the views of Sydney and its harbour, without going to the main tourist tower. We took the guides advice and at the end of the tour had some food and drink in the revolving restaurant. We took some great pictures and were able to experience great views of the Sydney skyline.

Darling Harbour

Harbour Bridge

The Opera House

Random fact we learned on our tour of Sydney: This is a picture of the Australian Coat of Arms.  The kangaroo and an emu are on the coat of arms, because they are two animals that cannot walk backwards, making some notion about Australia always moving forwards.  Well, the interesting thing--they eat both of these animals!  They are the only country to eat the animals on their coat of arms.  Apparently you can get a roo and emu pizza at a pub in the city!

Our view from the Australia Tower revolving restaurant

On our second day in Sydney, we went on a tour of the Opera House.  We really debated between buying tickets to a show vs going on the tour, but the big problem was since it's summer holidays here, there really isn't much playing.  No true operas, and no symphony performances--just some American magicians and a bunch of kid shows!  So it made our decision easy, and we were quite impressed.  Our guide had been working at the Opera House for almost 20 years and it showed.  He knew everything about the place and was a great insight into how things really work.  We got to see into three different theaters (there are seven in total at the opera house) and they show you a few different informational videos about the design of the building and issues they had trying to create the Opera House.  The design is so truly unique, and the shape you see from the outside is reflected inside--they did a great job to use all the angles of the building to make a very beautiful structure.  After our Opera House tour, we decided to walk over the Harbour Bridge.  Not the "Harbour Bridge climb" that Oprah did--where you go over the top, all harnessed in--but the backpacker version....literally walking over the bridge!  Now neither Steven nor Angela really like heights all that much, and with the wind blowing this was quite a feat.  But--we did get some great pictures and it was good to say we've done it--but there is no way we could have gone on over on the top of the bridge!!!

Views from inside the Opera House

Staircase at the Opera House

View from outside the Opera House--there are a number of bars and restaurants along the outside, just underneath the Opera House all along the pier leading out the Opera House.

View from the pedestrian path along the Harbour Bridge; note the barbwire preventing you from jumping off the bridge!

Harbour Bridge, showing you people doing the bridge climb, going over the top of the bridge

View from the other side of the bridge, with downtown Sydney in the background

Our third night in the city was a real treat--since the big draw in Sydney is the Harbour, we treated ourselves to a dinner cruise throughout the Sydney Harbour.  It was a big boat, seating about 350 people and had a wonderful seafood buffet.  The cruise started at 730, giving us about an hour or so before sunset to enjoy the city skyline.  The boat cruise went until 1000, so we got to see the skyline through all the different lighting of the evening.

Views from our sunset dinner cruise

Sydney skyline after dark

After a few days in the city, we had planned to get out of the city and explore the surrounding areas.  We booked a few nights out in the Hunter Valley, one of the oldest wine regions in all of Australia.  We stayed at a quaint little hostel amidst the grape vines.  We went on a really nice wine tour of the area, sampling four different vineyards and a cheese shop--the smelly cheese shop to be exact!!  We found some very nice wines specific to this region and really enjoyed the rolling hills full of fruit trees.  And we had a big breakthrough on this trip--we finally found a spot to hang our hammock up!  For those of you who don't know, we found a double hammock that folds up really small and decided it was a must have for our trip.  But, hammock trees have been harder to find than we realized--until the Hunter Valley!  It was a very relaxing way to enjoy our time in wine country, and we only wished we had longer in the Sydney area to explore the Hunter Valley more thoroughly.

Wine Country hammock adventures!

We are back in Sydney now and have a few more days before heading off to Thailand.  The weather spoiled our day at the beach today, but we still went out to Bondi Beach--home of "Bondi Rescue", the reality version of Baywatch and had a great afternoon walking along the coast.  They have built a beautiful trail directly along the waterfront that leads from Bondi Beach down to Coggee Beach, another small neighbourhood inside of Sydney.  You walk through about four other beach areas and the coast line here is very impressive--rivals the Great Ocean Road.

Bondi Beach, with the Bondi Iceberg swimming pool.  The pool is literally in the ocean--the waves crash over the pool! 

This is a pic of the Bronte pool--similar to the Bondi Iceberg pool, but this one is literally connected to the ocean--you can climb down stairs to go from the pool to the ocean.  These pools embedded in the ocean seem to be common, with about four of them as you walk along this 3km coastal walk.

Picture of the coastal path we were walking along.  Lots of waves as the weather was a bit stormy.

Tomorrow we are heading over to Manly, another suburb of the city that has a nice beach and coastal walk.  We are meeting some friends for dinner who we met on our Abel Tasman hike.  We likely won't post again before we head off to Thailand--crazy to think we are almost done our time in Australia!!