Sydney

Wednesday

We started Sydney off right-the famous opera house! We decided to take a tour since we wanted to know all there is to know about this beautiful building. It was fascinating...Everything from its construction to the year-round performances that are held in its numerous concert halls. We would have loved to see a performance while we were in Sydney but there wasn't anything that really caught our interest. Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow pictures inside the building so we had to wait until we had a good view of the entire opera house to get a good picture together. These pictures were taken from the ferry we took each morning from Manly to Sydney. It was a beautiful morning!

 When we disembarked the ferry, there were aboriginals were performing for us! This is a didgeridoo-a popular aboriginal instrument.

We ate lunch at the Sydney Harbour after our tour. We ate at a little café overlooking the harbor and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We ate delicious bruschetta and an Italian pizza. I think the Sydney Harbor area is one of the most expensive places to eat in Sydney, but it was delicious!

After lunch we walked through the Royal botanical gardens. We were constantly amazed at the amount of parks in Australia. The gardens were beautiful! We took numerous pictures of the Opera House and Harbor. We walked to Mrs. Macquarie's point where you can get a spectacular view of the harbor. We sat in Mrs. Macquarie's chair which is a chair that was carved into a rock for Governor Macquarie's wife to enjoy the harbor.

We were so tired from the tour and walking through the gardens, but we wanted to walk over to The Rocks on the other side of the Opera House to look into climbing the Harbour Bridge. After walking what seemed like 100 miles, we finally arrived. Believe it or not, they had a climb scheduled 10 minutes from the time we arrived. We decided to do it! We climbed the harbor bridge equipped with jumpsuits, a walkie-talkie, a raincoat, handkerchief, a hat, and sunglasses. We were prepared! After climbing over 1000 stairs we reached the top of the bridge. It was breathtaking! Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow us to bring cameras due to the fact that they may fall 150 meters into the water so we were unable to take pictures. And of course, they wanted to charge us for the pictures they took at the top. Luckily, we got this group shot for free-I sure miss those guys!

Oh! And we each got a certificate of completion to frame when we get home.

We were starving by the time we got to the bottom of the climb. We found a delicious Italian restaurant in the heart of The Rocks. The Rocks is an area where many immigrants and poor Australians lived nearly 150 years ago. Many of them helped build the bridge. We loved hanging out in The Rocks. The buildings were beautiful and there were lots of fun places to shop and eat.

We returned home late that night completely exhausted. We chatted with Az and Hannah for sometime, and planned a beach day for Thursday. We hit the sack excited for a relaxing day at Manly Beach.

Thursday

We hit the beach early with Az and his family. Manly Beach was just a short walk away and it was beautiful. We spent the morning playing in the water, lying in the sun, and entertaining the kids. We took a short walk to a beach called Shelly Beach. The sand wasn't even sand at all, but millions of little shells! It was awesome, but I couldn't walk on it due to the extreme exfoliation factor.

Hannah, Az, Harry and Ethan

We all grabbed lunch at a burger place and walked back to the house to eat while the kids napped. Conner and I headed back to the beach after lunch to catch some more rays. Believe it or not, there had been a shark sighting! They strongly advised us not to get in the water. We had no problem obeying. Some surfers, however, weren't going to let a little shark get in the way of their waves!

Looking manly on Manly Beach

We met up with Az and Hannah once again for dinner and a little shopping. It was so fun to spend some time with them and their cute kids. They were so nice to meet us in Sydney and allow us to stay with them.

Friday

Friday morning we went to Nielsen Park. We figured we had to go, even if it was just to get a picture with the "Nielsen" sign. It took us a bit longer to get there than we expected, but it was beautiful. It actually wasn't much of a park, but part of the Sydney National Park. We walked around for a while exploring, hiking, and taking pictures. We found a Kookaburra in a tree… This bird is known as the Australian monkey. It makes noises just like a monkey!

Through the trees, we could see the harbor!

 Once again, we worked up an appetite so we picked up a couple sandwiches at the Nielsen Park Café. They were surprisingly delicious! Unfortunately, we had to wait about an hour for the ferry back to Circular Quay. So we took some time feeding trail mix to the seagulls and then boarded the ferry with about 1000 Asians.

Once we were back in town, we did a little shopping. Conner was anxious to find an Australian jersey so we went to a place called Rebel Sports. He not only left with a jersey, but a cricket T-shirt as well!

We then went to a neighboring harbor called Darling harbor. We had a sailing appointment at five. The weather hadn't been great and it was a bit windy, so we were kind of nervous. It did end up being rather crazy in the harbor, but it was fun! We got a turn to steer, help with the sails, and learn different sailing tactics.  It definitely wasn't easy!

 On our way home, we decided to eat at the same Italian place in The Rocks as we did before. I just couldn't resist having some more of their lasagna! And of course, we had to get some Baskin Robbins for dessert. Conner says I'm getting a baby bump...I think I have just eaten too much since being on vacation!

Saturday

Saturday morning we woke up to pouring rain. We decided to sleep in. When we finally got going, we decided we would go to The Rocks market first. I had been waiting for these markets for weeks! The ferry to Sydney from Manly was a bit crazy. Huge swells caused the boat to rock back and forth.

We were nervous when we saw a few empty tents, but as we got walking, we found an alley of vendors. I found a pair of earrings, and a beautiful scarf. We got Conner's favorite market food for lunch- bratwurst.

Although it was raining, we had free tickets to the pylon lookout since we had climed the bridge earlier this week. There are four pylons at the end of the bridge-two on the north end, and two on the south end. They are huge granite towers that look like the ends of the bridge, but really have nothing to do with holding up the bridge. They just make it more aesthetically pleasing. You can climb the southeast pylon, take pictures, and peruse the museum inside. Our walk to the pylon was horrific. The rain started pouring down, the wind was blowing, and I was afraid a huge wave might come and wash us away. It was insane! Once we arrived, we hurried and climbed inside. We were soaked! We took our time learning about how the bridge was built, watching a short film, then decided to climb to the top. The weather had calmed somewhat, but we didn't bother taking any pictures. Although the view was spectacular, everything was bleak and gray.

We attempted to take the ferry back to Manly and start packing our things but the ferries were no longer running. The waves had gotten so severe, they shut down the wharf. We waited in the pouring rain for the bus, and finally made it back to Manly. We took some time drying off, watching TV, packing and blogging before going to find some dinner. We ate at a little grill on the beachfront. It was DELICIOUS! Despite our full tummies, it was our last chance for ice cream, so we stopped at Ben and Jerry's on the way home. We watched "Music and Lyrics" while we ate our ice cream and went to bed.

Due to all the rain, I didn't take ANY pictures on our last day. But I'm pretty sure we couldn't have had any more of the harbor. We just couldn't get enough!

Sunday

Time to go home! We woke up early to tidy up the house and make sure we got to the ferry on time since we weren't sure if they would even be running. We were right-no ferries due to the wind and waves. So, we took all our luggage and boarded the bus. We arrived in Circular Quay, kissed Sydney Harbor goodbye, and took the train to the airport. We were about 3 hours early, but we didn't want to risk missing our flight!

Long story short, about 20 LONG hours later, we arrived home! After traveling all day then having to stay up another 12 hours so we could keep our body's on a normal sleep schedule, I have never been happier to climb in bed. What an adventure!