Harbour Hopping

Sydney Opera House
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A lesson learned (but forgotten) when we arrived in NZ last month: When crossing borders with hiking and/or camping equipment, make sure you pack your boots and tent so that they are easily accessible!! Following an uncomfortable 4-hr flight from Christchurch to Sydney – during which Sara’s seatmate (not Ryan) acted as though he was entitled to their entire shared armrest plus half her seat – we waited in endless customs queues for our belongings to be rifled through. At long last we emerged into the bright Australian sunshine. A harrowing shuttle ride to the CBD (central business district), more queues at our divey hostel, before finally getting settled and ready to tackle the town. After all that we were pleasantly surprised to realize it was only 11 a.m. Never mind that we had woken up at 4:30 a.m. in Christchurch (2:30 a.m. Sydney time) – we had practically a full day ahead of us!

Sydney Harbour Bridge
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We started by taken advantage of our hostel’s close proximity to Darling Harbour. Although within walking distance, we took the monorail and like all good tourists rode a full circuit to catch some elevated views of the downtown area, before alighting at Darling Harbour. We were immediately impressed by the views, pedestrian paths, and abundance of shops, restaurants, museum-type venues, and other attractions.

Seems we’ve mastered the art of time maximization

Colourful fish
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Our first stop at the harbour was the Sydney Aquarium – fantastic!! Can’t even begin to describe all the fascinating creatures. The best feature of the aquarium was the underwater observatories, which are tunnel-shaped and entirely transparent (except for the floor), so you can see the giant sharks, stingrays, etc. swimming above and around you.

And… we finally saw some penguins!!! Okay so we weren’t in NZ any longer and we saw them in pretty much the equivalent of a zoo, but c’mon, penguins… soooo cute!!

ba-dum... ba-dum... ('Jaws' theme music)
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Thrilled with the aquarium experience, we next headed to Sydney Wildlife World. Regret to report that it was a bit of a letdown. (We should have invested in the Taronga Zoo instead, but we got suckered into one of those buy-admission-to-both-places-and-save deals.) There were WAY too many bugs, snakes, reptiles, and other creepy crawlies for Sara’s liking. But on the upside, we did get to see several wombats, wallabies and sleepy koalas – yeh!!

Interspersed with all this nature-observing, we hung out at a trendy bar for some drinks and dinner, and wandered through much of Darling Harbour. It was a day well spent, capped off by a walk through Chinatown back to our hostel, where we crashed asleep.

Wallaby
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The next day we visited the other famous harbour, beautiful Sydney Harbour. To get there we caught a train to Circular Quay, which is the city’s main ferry dock. The train was a new experience in that it was the first double-decker subway we have ever been on. Again, at Sydney Harbour we were very impressed by how pedestrian-friendly the whole area is. We did the proper tourist thing and walked around the Sydney Opera House, gaped at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and strolled around the harbour a bit more.

Dozing koala
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After lunch we took a ferry to Manly, a popular suburb north of the city. Here we lay on the beach for several hours watching surfers get walloped by the waves. (It appears that Sara’s foot wound from the Abel Tasman track has healed, so finally we get some beach time!) Unfortunately it was a bit overcast, but an enjoyable afternoon nonetheless.

We ferried back to Circular Quay just before dark and managed to fit in a walk around The Rocks. This is a historic area from colonial Sydney times and we saw some interesting architecture and old buildings.

In the evening we spent more time in Chinatown and found the greatest food court ever! Literally hundreds of delicious Asian dishes, just like those offered in restaurants. Wish we had food courts like this at home instead of the fake westernized-Chinese-fast-food places.

Bellies full, it was the end to another perfect day.

Cheers,

Ryan and Sara