Australia – Sydney

Friday, April 27 – Sunday, April 29

  

On Friday night, we checked in to our very last hotel for the trip. Anxious to make the most of Sydney, but exhausted from our road trip, we decided to go to bed, and start the next day early.

On Saturday, we woke up early, determined to see as much of Sydney as we could. We decided to leave the rental car in the parking garage (or “car park” as the Aussie’s call it), and make it a day of walking. We grabbed a quick breakfast, then explored the area near our hotel, which included St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Town Hall, Queen Victoria building, and some neat shopping streets/arcade areas. We then ventured to Sydney Heritage Walk which included a statue of Queen Victoria, Hyde Park, some beautiful fountains, St. Mary’s Church, and the Mint.

 

Enjoying the scenery of Hyde Park in the heart of Sydney.

We walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens – a huge, beautiful and free park filled with all sorts of trees and plants. The signs said to hug the trees and walk on the grass, making it that much more welcoming. We found the Wishing Tree, and we each performed the ritual of walking around the tree three times in order to make our wishes come true!

    

We walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens, and Kristen circled three times around the wishing tree.

As we continued through the Gardens, it eventually brought us right up to the Sydney Harbor. Soon after that, we could see the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge come into view. The sights really were amazing, and it was so striking to be walking through these beautiful gardens along the Sydney Harbor, with the Sydney Opera House growing larger with each step.

      

We found it!  The Sydney Opera House was an amazing sight.

After taking in all the views, we walked up to the Sydney Opera House to see it up close. We then took a one-hour tour of the building, comprised of five different music halls. Here are a few things we learned on the tour:

• The seats inside the halls are designed to absorb the same amount of sound whether it’s a full house or not.
• The organ took over 10 years to design/build and two years to tune.
• There are nautical elements throughout the opera house’s design.
• The original design was pulled from the rejected pile of drawings.
• The Danish architect resigned halfway through and never saw his masterpiece complete.
• The Sydney Opera House started as little more than a napkin sketch and became quite a feat of engineering.
• The estimate of $7 million and three years was quite a bit different than the reality - $102 million and 16 years.

    

We're lucky Ryan found a seat inside the main concert hall of the Sydney Opera House.

On our tour, we were lucky to go into the actual concert hall since no one was performing or rehearsing. We also got to see the backstage and understage areas. Although seats were available, we decided to pass on tonight’s performance by Burt Bacharach.

Australians watch reality shows, too!

We then walked by Circular Quay, the area where all the boats dock in the wharfs. We then ventured through an area called The Rocks. This is the oldest neighborhood in Sydney, built by convicts. That’s why they say “even the roads are crooked!” We loved this little area. It had such a wonderful environment with fun, inclined streets, old buildings, cute shops, street markets, and pubs on every corner. We even walked through an alley where gangsters used to hang out!

   

We loved walking in "The Rocks" neighborhood, which was built by convicts.

We walked through a massive tunnel and enjoyed looking at all the beautiful fall colors on the trees. We passed by a few churches, and made our way to Lord Nelson’s Brewery Hotel – Sydney’s oldest hotel. Ryan had the house special, the Nelson’s Blood, which was a porter beer. We each enjoyed a “tiger” for lunch, a dish made of mashed potatoes and mashed peas on top of a beef pot pie.

   

Eating an Aussie classic at Sydney's oldest hotel, the Lord Nelson Brewery.

We walked to Observatory Hill Park, where we took a quick tour of the observatory, walked around the park grounds, and enjoyed a beautiful view of Sydney and the Harbor Bridge. The weather today was perfect, which must have been nice for the five different bridal parties taking pictures at the park!

Exploring the observatory at Observatory Hill Park.

The views were amazing, atop Observatory Hill Park.

We then walked through the Central Business District (CBD), and made our way to the Darling Harbor area/King Street Wharf. We walked around this area, filled with museums, restaurants, and people. The area boasted a great view of the harbor, and we walked along Tumbalong Park and peeked inside the convention center where a Zumba dance concert was taking place! We walked to Paddy’s Market, through China Town, then back to the hotel.

 

We ventured through King Street Wharf and Darling Harbor as the sun set.

After a long day of walking, we decided to grab our car and explore the north side of Sydney, over the Harbor Bridge. We found a lookout positioned directly across from the Sydney Opera House, the Harbor Bridge, and the cityscape.

 

Across the harbor, the skyline of Sydney was filled with all sorts of shapes and colors.

We found a small pizza restaurant on the street and had dinner before crossing back over the bridge and visiting the Kings Cross area. We observed the bustling nightlife and eventually made our way back to the hotel. We watched the Truman Show and observed the reality of his world was ending, just as ours was too tomorrow when we crossed an ocean and returned to the lives we’d put on pause for six weeks!

Walking along the Sydney Harbor towards the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge.