Phew. I’m tired already. We’re just departing Sydney after a short two-day stay. We kind of messed up with planning in that we forgot it takes “two” days to fly to Australia because we have to cross the date line. So we thought we’d have three days here, but no luck. I’d say we did a pretty good job of making the most of it, though.
The flight over had a stop in LA, and then it was fifteen hours to Sydney. It was actually strange, because it was kind of a red-eye, in that it departed at 11pm and arrived at 9am, but because there were fifteen hours in between, we were still able to watch two movies and get a full eight hours of sleep!
When we arrived, we dropped our things at our Airbnb and wandered our way through Potts Point and Wooloomooloo. (Yes, that is a real place.)
As we rounded the naval shipyard, we happen upon a bunch of people eating meat pies topped with mashed potatoes and mashed peas. It sounded insane, so we had to try it. Overall pretty tasty. We thought we were diving headfirst into Australian cuisine, but after conferring with some locals, we discovered this is not actually super Australian, and it’s just this one weird food cart that sells this. Hahahaha.
What struck me more than the buildings or the harbors was this crazy sandstone that was everywhere! So gorgeous!
Found some art along Wooloomooloo Bay….
Then we crossed over to the Royal Botanic Gardens and got our first glimpses of the Opera House! Very unexpected!
We wandered our way through some malls to find a ramen place, and then we sat and waited for about fifteen minutes before someone told us we were supposed to order on these iPads that slide out of the table. What the what.
After lunch, the group walked over to Darling Harbor and peeked into the Chinese Friendship Garden. (We were too cheap to buy tickets.)
Then we took a tram to the Circular Quay and The Rocks which were decked out with zodiac statues in celebration of the Lunar New Year.
With rain on the horizon, we bid adieu to the Aussies and walked to the Opera House to try to catch a 6 o’clock show.
Unfortunately, the show, “Six,” was completely sold out, but we were able to watch the opening number on the screen they use for latecomers, and we were satisfied with that. Our next plan of action was to just wander around the Opera House, but the rain really started coming down at this point. We fought the wind to get to the edge of the harbor, but eventually, we hid under cover again.
The rain was spotty, though, so it lightened up enough for us to keep wandering.
Once the rain decided it was not going to lighten up, we walked back through a bit of the Botanic Gardens and were just about to head into a restaurant when we heard the drums of a Chinese lion dance starting up! I pulled Jonathan back into the rain and we watched under the bridge. He’d never seen one before, and the dancers were very talented, so it was a fun surprise.
We ate dinner at a yummy Indian restaurant, traipsed through the pouring rain a bit longer, and tucked in rather early in exhaustion.
We started Day Two at an adorable French cafe where the staff was made up of swarthy Frenchman. It was pretty great.
The rain had subsided by the end of breakfast, and it brought with it a break from the smoke.
Our first activity of the day was to visit the State Library – eeep!
Jonathan was pretty enthralled by the transcripts of the Australian Parliamentary Debates, and I was obsessed with the reading room.
There were also a bunch of free exhibitions inside – gotta love free museums! I’m telling you. Libraries are where it’s at.
We did a little more Botanic Garden walking while we waited for our bus, and then it was off to Bondi Beach.
We bought some new sunglasses and swam a bit, but then I realized I’d lost my hat somewhere along the way, and in my pouting, I forgot to reapply sunscreen immediately. Instead, I lay in a sad heap in the sand and let the sun sizzle away.
Then I reapplied, saw a bunch of topless sunbathers on our way up the beach, bought a new hat, and hit up The Butcher that Cooks For You for a steak burger. Yum.
I did have a bit of an incident in the bathroom…. I was wearing a one piece, so rather than take the whole thing off, I just moved it to the side before sitting on the toilet, and SO MUCH SAND came dumping out…. Bahahahaha. It was all over the floor and the toilet. It was rather embarrassing. I cleaned off the seat and went to sit down again, and MORE sand came out! Bahahaha. I don’t know how I didn’t notice it in there…. Awk.
I looked for a broom, but couldn’t find one. I’m assuming they’re used to similar things happening since they’re right off the beach, but we made a run for it after that.
We then commenced the Four Mile Walk, a coastal walk between Bondi Beach and Coogee Beach.
I really liked the intertidal area just past Bondi. We hung out here for quite a while. One guy was fishing, though I don’t think he caught anything, and another was playing fetch in the ocean with his dog. So cute! The crashing waves were super loud here though, and it was honestly a bit nervous-making. Didn’t stop us from relaxing a bit, being cooled by the surf.
As we continued the walk south, it started getting reeeaaaaaally windy whenever we would round a bend before descending to the next beach.
Tamarama was lots of fun – I got to swing and make faces at a bunch of babies. Was pretty great.
The next beach was Bronte. The whole beach was pretty windy, and up around the far side of the beach, there was a saltwater pool called the Bronte Baths. It looked so fun. The Boy had worked up a nasty blister, though, so he was wary of the salt water. Sad… I walked in a bit and decided against it. Maybe next time….
By this point, big, dark grey clouds had rolled in, obliterating the sun and bringing chilling gusts of wind to the beach.
We scurried up and away, but only into more wind!
When we made it to a large, beautiful cemetery overlooking the water, Jonathan wanted to tap out, and we had a dinner date to make, so we caught a bus into Maroubra.
I was in a bit of a sulky mood since I didn’t get to swim in the baths and we didn’t have time to complete the coastal walk, but then I found a bunch of hair flower trees, and things were a little better.
That is, until we got off our bus and I realized I had left my hat on the seat!!!!! UGH! Two hats in the span of about six hours, just gone! I was pretty pouty at that point.
I found another hair flower tree though, and things were a little better again.
Jonathan’s friend Terry had us over for dinner, and he and his mom prepped an adorable meal with Aussie flags. Too cute.
When we left the house to return to the city, the smell of smoke was strong in the air, and the night sky was orange. I guess the rain storms of the night before were only a short reprieve from the smoke, and they didn’t seem to help much with the fires themselves.
For some reason, I woke up rather early the next morning. I lay in bed for a while before finally checking the time, and it was only 7:30! Crazy! I knew Jonathan would want more sleep, so I snuck out for a cute solo breakfast. It was so relaxing. I had some “breakfast rice,” which was a mixed grain rice topped with yogurt, muesli, and a bunch of fruit. It was so delicious. I’ll have to try making it at home!
And not long after that, we were off again – high in the sky and on our way ever closer to the equator. Stay tuned for more!
Cheers/ venlig hilsen,
-Lizzy-wa