Sydney

Bondi Beach
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Sydney was just voted the best place in the world to live by some international survey although there is debate in the local papers about this due to the high cost of living, the traffic congestion, poor infrastructure and people are leaving Sydney for other cities such as Melbourne and Brisbane for a better quality of life. With all of this hoo haa, we were quite interested to see what it was like.

Overall, we loved Sydney just as we had Melbourne although it didn’t seem quite as cultural and definitely more touristy than Melbourne. Even though Sydney is only a half million people larger than Melbourne, it seems heaps bigger. We stayed in Paddington which is a happening neighborhood just outside of downtown with great access to restaurants.

Rush hour at Bondi
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As for activities, we felt as though we did more of the touristy things here just because there are loads of them here. First, we had to hit Bondi beach (the quintessential Sydney beach) – not because we are sun or surf worshipers, but because we had to see what it was like and it was conveniently located to where we were meeting up with a friend from Sydney that we had met on our China tour. We couldn’t believe all of the surfers in the water. It was like rush hour traffic out there at 4pm! Our meeting was at Coogee beach which was a few beaches and bays south of Bondi. One hour and 20 minutes later on a gorgeous ocean view walking path, we came to Coogee beach. Oddest thing was that along the way you pass through a very large cemetery with plots dating back to the late 1800s. They bank up right against the walking path and the cliff essentially. We could all only hope for as stunning a resting place as they have. Can’t imagine what the plots cost today!!!

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The next few days included the highlights of taking the Manly Ferry over to Manly Beach. The ferry is a must do and offers fantastic views of Sydney Harbor. We hung out at the beach and watched some sand volleyball – both the professional two person style and those who were taking volleyball lessons. It was actually more entertaining to watch the beginners.

What better place to take in the sunset than from the Royal Botanic Gardens where you get great views of downtown, the Opera House and the harbor bridge. The Opera House is definitely stunning and typifies the view of Sydney. I think we took over 100 photos of just that building! The freaky thing was that there are bats here (or flying foxes – whatever you want to call them) and they are mammoth! I screech as one flies over my head and when I tell Scott that it’s a bat, he says “No! that would be the biggest bat I’ve ever seen”. Well, after about a hundred more flew over us, he agreed that they were bats.

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We then had dinner along Circular Quay with views of the Opera House and the harbor. We pondered taking in a show, but then decided our flip flop attire may not be appropriate for the Opera House. Maybe next time. As we were having dinner, fireworks lit up the sky behind the opera house. We weren’t sure what the occasion was, but they were quite good regardless. At least we could actually see them unlike those in Singapore on New Year’s Eve!

A walk across the harbor bridge was on the itinerary and on the other side we met up with a couple (former co-workers of Nancy’s) for a picnic lunch in the park in North Sydney. Nothing but great views here again. You can actually climb the harbor bridge and we saw heaps of people doing it, but we chose to skip it as we couldn’t see spending the $200 per person, especially for me if I couldn’t jump off of it and couldn’t bring my camera along for the trip. We thought the views along the walk over the bridge were just as good.

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We cannot forget our other sights which included strolling along Darling Harbour, the Chinese Garden, and the Rocks historic district. Of course, there was also the wine (thank goodness). Luckily, there was a Cellar Door Wine Festival in Hyde Park while we were in town which offered tastings of New South Wales regional wines. Couldn’t miss this opportunity so I got my six tastings in while people watching. There were regions with great wines that I had never even heard of beside Hunter Valley like Orange and Mudgee. Can’t wait to see what’s available back home.

Too much fun for some at the wine festival
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In terms of food – we loved the food here as we did in Melbourne. Absent our one meal on Circular Quay, we had all our dinners in the Paddington or adjoining Darlinghurst neighborhood at fairly low key spots. We actually realized on the last night here that we had eaten at three restaurants right in a row on the same street. No matter as they were all recommended by our hotel and they were all fantastic. We managed in the process to hit a number of cuisines – Lao, Thai, Vietnamese, and Mediterranean tapas. Okay – there was no Aussie fare in our list, but we find ourselves missing Asian fare quite a bit since leaving there. Each and every meal was a home run! Again, travel always comes down to the food and wine doesn’t it.

Circular Quay
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Our last day was spent lounging on Bondi Beach taking a break of course for fish and chips at the beach café – which all made for a great final day! We were very lucky as the weather was fantastic for our entire time here.

Next, we make our way up the coast to Queensland……