We left Hawaii on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 11:00 AM and arrived in Sydney, Australia on Friday, Sept 13 at 8:00 PM. We literally chased the sun as we headed west around the globe. Needless to say, our biological clocks are messing with us at the moment as we repeatedly awake by 4:00 am looking for a cup of coffee while all sane Aussies are still sound asleep.
Our trip started with a lesson. Initially, we couldn't check in for our flight to Australia as we had not booked a departure flight back out of the country. Since we are heading to New Zealand after we leave Australia, Dan had to quickly book something for us for our planned exit date of March, '20. The lesson is...........that each country will require us to have an exit booked in advance of entering. Thank goodness for helpful Hawaiian Airlines staff and Travelocity/cell phones!
We spent 3.5 days "metro" hiking around Sydney averaging 12-15 miles per day. We find the city to be an interesting mix of new and old. It is definitely an international city with languages from all over the world heard on the streets. Australia is a huge travel and immigration destination for many folks from Southeast Asia and China.
 |
| Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park |
 |
| St. Mary's Cathedral was absolutely stunning both inside & outside |
Along with the major attractions like the Opera House, Harbor, Harbor Bridge, The Rocks, Millers Point and Hays Market, we visited some lovely parks. On Sunday, Sydney hosted the Blackmores Marathon. It is Australia's equivalent of the NY Marathon and attracts more than 37,000 runners from all over the world. The race ends at the Sydney Opera house. The crowds were massive!
 |
| Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge |
 |
Marathon finish line on the Harbor
|
The Sydney metro area is made up of 70+ suburbs with homes and shops lining every inch of the city. We found many more pubs than restaurants in the city. The pubs are generally very small with room to seat no more than 25 folks. It is customary to order your drinks and food at the bar and pay for your meal in advance. A server than brings your food to the table. To date, we have had excellent meals everywhere. The best lunch we had was in a VIP lounge, a betting parlor where the beer is extra cold and the modern Thai food is really tasty. Betting parlors seem to be on every corner in the city and the newspapers have at least a half dozen pages dedicated to keeping score.
 |
| Typical neighborhood in the suburbs around Sydney |
Sydney is an easy place to navigate with efficient train systems, good street signage and plenty of folks willing to provide directions. We were surprised by the lack of noise pollution as compared to some of the large metros in the US. It was rare for us to hear the sirens of an emergency vehicle and car honking doesn't seem to happen. Safety was never a concern for us and we tromped well off the beaten path on many occasions to bird watch or "twitch" as they say in Australia. Sydney is a city that offers something for everyone and we look forward to our return trip in February of next year.
Stay Curious!
Cheryl & Dan
Comments
Post a Comment