Sydney – where do we start?

Proof - we're here!
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Arriving in Sydney after a week on Moorea couldn’t have been a more dramatic contrast. Our Air Tahiti flights and transfers were fortunately somewhat smoother than our arrival into Moorea – thankfully no tropical storm this time and we arrived at the Grace Hotel in the city early the following morning. It’s a truly amazing city – sprawling and with so many contrasting scenes and sights but so much traffic and very, very busy. And again, like the US, everything’s so much cheaper here.

You can't not have a pic of this, can you!
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We’ve spent the first couple of days getting familiarised with the various areas, the harbour, the transport system … and sampling the fantastic variety of food! Last night was spent in the Bavarian Bier Café and the night before in a local noodle bar!

Our hotel’s right in the middle of the business district, very handy for everything and a great change from the faceless corporate hotels that we experienced in the US. We pleaded fatigue and hunger when we checked in, which must have worked as they upgraded us to a huge corner suite, with a bath that takes an hour to fill!

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So then it was on to much needed haircuts (especially in Mike’s case). We thought this would be easy, but kept being told ‘oh no, we’re fully booked as it’s the Melbourne Cup’. But we’re in Sydney we thought? It turns out that the Melbourne Cup is such a huge event here in Australia and everyone participates whether they’re in Melbourne or not. It was actually fascinating to see, as we were out early getting breakfast, everyone was arriving for work dressed in their finery – the ladies in the most amazing hats and outfits – all ready to go to their various bars and venues in the afternoon to watch the race. Everything stops for the Melbourne Cup – including getting our hair cut!

Pretty Botanical Gardens resident
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So far, we’ve explored the city quite extensively on foot – Darling Harbour, the Rocks, the Botanical Gardens (with parrots and fruit bats flying freely), been up the Sydney Tower, and generally got our bearings. We’ve also experienced a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the Sydney Opera House, but more of that later.

We have, unsurprisingly, also been shopping! No doubt there will be a later addition to the blog purely on this very subject – apparently it’s so good it warrants a separate entry …

Scary Botanical Gardens resident
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Our other major achievement this week has been to find ourselves accommodation for the remaining (nearly) three weeks of our stay in Sydney. On Tuesday we took the 20-minute ferry across the harbour to Manly – a very cosmopolitan surf resort on the north of the coast. Thinking we were here very early in the season, it turned out after visiting a number of rental agencies, there was little accommodation available. Oops. Our limited choice ended up being two apartments – one really unpleasant studio flat not even suitable for backpackers and probably last cleaned when it was built – the second being completely over-budget. A beautiful apartment right on the seafront, overlooking the surf dudes changing (sorry, surfing!), with a wrap-around balcony. In typical style it has three bedrooms, when we only need one. So, if anyone we know can get out here by Friday, the spare room’s available for a couple of weeks!! (No Daniel, don’t even think about it!).

Friendly Botanical Gardens resident
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And, after that, we’ve booked a couple of nights in the Hunter Valley wine region before heading further north to Brisbane. But that’s a long way off yet…