Our third and final stop on this absolutely amazing trip was Sydney. When I think of Sydney, I think of the Sydney Opera House. To be honest, I didn’t really know much else about it. Someone had mentioned that it was more of a hustle and bustle city than Melbourne and much more fast paced so that was my kind of energy and I was excited to see what this city had to offer. Plus we had some really cool stuff planned as well. We were definitely going to make the best out of last destination.
Day 13 Sydney: Our flight out to Sydney this morning wasn’t until noon so we had a 9:15 pick-up from the hotel to the airport. Since I am incapable of sleeping in, I got up around 6:30 and after laying in bed for a bit, I decided that I needed to get down to the beach. I had to try again after getting “lost” last time. I got dressed and went to the front desk to get directions again and when the guy gave me directions, he told me to turn left at the end of the street. Last time, I went right which is why I had issues finding it. I asked him if I had to trek through the jungle to reach it and he said definitely not so I was relieved. I got there easily this time and was blown away by how pretty the beach was. I had read about Four Mile Beach in my research for this trip and now I was on it. It was gorgeous. So many people running and walking and a beautiful sunrise.
When I got down there, the beach was huge (perhaps four miles long?), so I was a little worried that if I walked for a bit, I wouldn’t be able to find which entrance I came out of. I actually marked a really big line in the sand and hoped it would be there (and I would see it) when leaving. As I just said, the sun was finishing rising over the water with the rays coming through the clouds looking postcard-esque. I walked
for a bit and was feeling good, so I decided I would run for a bit. The tide was low and the sand was packed hard so it was easy to do down there. I ran a mile, then turned around and went back in the other direction for a bit as well. I had to keep a close eye on the time because I did need to get back, shower, and finish packing. I didn’t want to leave the beach because it was so beautiful and I was so glad I tried again to get down there. When I was going back, I saw my big line in the sand and knew this was my exit to head out. I was so proud of myself for this little hack in knowing where to exit.
After showering and getting ready to check-out, we got to the lobby and our driver was already there, thankfully. We had been a bit concerned since the fiasco when we arrived, but all was well. The driver was kind enough to stop at a lookout point (Rex Lookout) along the way, which was stunning. The mountains and the Coral Sea…gorgeous. He also pointed out some wallabees along the way as well as some saltwater crocodiles along a river. Unfortunately, no koalas here, but as we know, plenty of other wildlife.
At the airport, the check-in and baggage check was seamless and way more organized than in Melbourne. There wasn’t even an issue with my luggage being overweight at check-in, but I also left about ⅛ of it off the belt this time. Fuck it. No one said anything either so whatever. Each time at check-in with Jetstar they also ask you if you weighed our carry-on because if it’s above 7 kg (in total, not each), they charge you. Because of course they do. Eye Roll. Neither J or I weighed it (and hadn’t done so once this trip) and just hoped for the best. We had heard that sometimes the airlines ask you to actually do it at the gate, but hadn’t experienced that yet. Because of the airline losing my baggage on our last flight, I packed my carry-on very purposely this time, with outfits for all three days, plus pajamas. I was going to be prepared if they did it again, but it did make my carry-on heavier than usual. And of course at the gate, they were weighing people’s bags. J and I tried to go past it and thought we were in the clear, but a flight attendant stopped me and asked me to weigh my bag. The first bag was 7.10 kg alone and the guy was trying to make me pay, especially when he saw I had a second bag as well. I immediately refused and told him that the airline lost my bag on my last flight so I had to be prepared again for that. At first, he was hesitant to listen, and then I got louder and made a bigger stink. I’m sorry your airline fucked up last time, but I am not going to be fooled twice so you better make an exception this time. And he did. And then he apologized to me. I wasn’t paying. Nope. Thankfully we are flying American Airlines back home and hopefully won’t have any of these baggage issues (weights, lost bags, etc…)
Our flight took off about 20 minutes late, but we arrived in Sydney safely (and with our luggage) so we’d call that a success. Once we got settled at the hotel, we got our paper map and immediately set out to explore a bit before it got too dark. The location of the hotel was perfect in relation to the Circular Quay and Sydney Harbour. It was a quick five minute walk and we set our eyes immediately on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the iconic Sydney Opera House. We were both blown away with its beauty and just all the sites and sounds around us. I immediately got the feeling we were in NYC on the west side by Brookfield Place. It very much had that feel, which of course, I loved. We had to Royal Botanic Garden on our list, but since it’s winter, it closed early. It was to open again at 7 am so we figured we’d go in the morning.
From there we followed the map and made our way to the Hyde Park Barracks which use to be actual barracks for prisoners. We had heard that Sydney is where the UK would send all their prisoners, and the area we were staying in, The Rocks, was where a lot of the prisons were. And the pubs for the guards. Standard. From there we headed to St. Mary’s Cathedral, where we went inside to see it as well to see the architecture. and then walked through Hyde Park. It was only like 6:00, but it was super dark outside already. However, the city was bustling. Sydney was definitely more fast paced than Melbourne and of course I loved that. Then we made our way to Queen Victoria Building, which was like an upscale shopping center that I would compare to 900 N. Michigan Ave. The way the building was set up with the railings and escalator, and ceilings, it was very reminiscent of that.
Finally, we were getting hungry and had a taste for Mexican food so we used google to find a place for us and it ended up being like a fifteen minute walk to a really cute little Mexican restaurant that seemingly did a really good happy hour based on the crowd. We ate our quesadillas and headed back for the hotel ready for an early morning wake-up the next morning. For a short and dark first night in Sydney, we were happy with the ground we covered already. We got the lay of the land to be more familiar for day two.
Day 14 Sydney: J and I wanted to get up bright and early this morning to get back to the Sydney Opera House to get pictures without any people in them (the only way to do it) and also walk around the Royal Botanic Gardens since it was closed when we got there the previous day. We walked around the path in there that goes around the harbor as well and it had some great views of the opera house and the bridge. We saw some pretty trees and made our way to Mrs. Macqueries Chair which is a look-out point, but actually was quite underwhelming. It started raining a little on our way back to the hotel, but we didn’t really think much of it.
After we ate, we were meeting up with our guide to do a coastal walk from Coogee Beach to Bondi
The waves at all the beaches were HUGE. We saw Coogee, Clovelly, Shark’s Point (named for its shape and not the amount of sharks there, Bronte, Tamarara, and then the famous Bondi Beach. Since it was winter, the beaches were pretty much empty, minus some surfers here and there taking advantage of all the big waves from the wind. Plus rain was in
To get out of the rain, J, myself, and our guide all walked in town to grab some lunch. We had some pizza and when we were done, the rain had pretty much let up, but my feet were soaked and I was uncomfortable. We took the bus back to the hotel, changed shoes and then wanted to take a ferry somewhere because we had heard the views were cool from the actual boat, and it would take us to a different part of Sydney where we could walk around. Originally we had wanted to take the Ferry to Manley Island, but our guide had told us it was another beach and some shops and it was a further ride. We decided we would go to Darling Harbour instead and then walk around there and walk back to the hotel. The views of the bridge and the opera house were wonderful from the ferry and we got to see Luna Park all lit up too. We got off the ferry at Barangaroo and then walked to Darling Harbour seeing all the gorgeous tall building lit up. The social scene down there seemed fun too with a lot of cool looking restaurants and bars along the harbor. If we hadn’t eaten a late lunch, we probably would’ve eaten dinner there, but we weren’t hungry so we decided to head back to the hotel. We impressed ourselves navigating our way back without google maps (because no phone service) and using familiar buildings from our car ride in the city and as we got closer, our other explorations around there. About two minutes before we got back, it started raining again. And then it started really pouring, really hard. We were over the rain and being wet at the point and had been out and about pretty much all day so we called it a night at like 6:30. We got in our beds (yes, that early. Zero shame.) and decided to DoorDash our dinner. The thought of going back out in the torrential rain was not anything we wanted to do. It was coming down so hard and we just didn’t want to deal so it was a really chill night in to prepare for our last day in Sydney the following day.
We were one of the first people at the park and the rain had pretty much stopped (hallelujah) when we got there. As soon as we walked in the park, we immediately saw and ran into wallabies. They are like mini kangaroos and they were just wandering around the property. We had seen them once or twice from the car on drives in Melbourne and Cairns, but never this close. They seemed like gentle animals, but I didn’t want to touch them or get too close. It was super cool to see them so close up though. Up next was the koalas. We saw them sleeping in the trees and then the area where we got to pet one and pose with it. Since it was so empty at the park, there was no line and no real rush to go quickly with the koala. One was on a tree eating some eucalyptus and we each got to pet it for a solid five minutes or so and snap some pics; professional ones and ones with our phones. As we all know, I am NOT an animal person because of allergies and general unpredictability of them, so I am always very cautious around them. I had packed Benadryl with me just in case I needed it from them, but thankfully it wasn’t necessary. The koala was so soft and so sweet and really didn’t even notice me petting it. I could’ve done it all day long. It was like a real-life stuffed animal.
From there, we saw the scariest animal of them all: the Cassowary. This is the bird we had been warned against in Port Douglas in Daintree, that is basically as tall as us, quite fast, and can basically rip your face off with its raptor-like claws. It also has this hard shell thing on top of its head it uses to head butt people. Anyway, the park had this animal, in fact, many of them, and they were just chilling behind ONE fence roaming their own area. For such a dangerous animal, it seemed bizarre they had it there with no real warning. And of course, J and I refused to make eye contact with it, but also didn’t want to walk too quickly past its cages to make it want to hunt us. This bird, this cassowary, must be a recent descendant of dinosaurs. Based on its claws alone, it reminds me of a raptor right out of Jurassic Park. Terrifying. And speaking of other deadly and scary animals, the zoo also had a reptile house with lots of horrifying snakes and spiders. Did you know Australia is home to 17 out of the 20 most deadliest snakes in the world? Not just in zoos, but in the wild, which is what makes it 100x more scary. We had learned this days ago, but that fact was not forgotten by either J or I this entire trip.
Other animals we saw at the park were penguins, storks, wombats, dingoes, emus, and obviously kangaroos (and many others). Big ones, and one that even had a joey (a baby) in its pouch. You were allowed to walk in an area with them and interact and J and I did that, but again, didn’t touch them. The big daddy kangaroo was looking oftly suspicious to us, seemingly ready to pounce, so we kept our distance.
When we were getting ready to leave the park, they made an announcement that it was the park’s 50th birthday and would be serving some cake at noon. We stuck around there for a little while to help them
I was a little nervous about this because of my issue with heights, but also had heard it was an unmissable experience. When they were showing the orientation videos and going over all the instructions and rules, it actually made me feel much safer about the whole thing. I actually wasn’t scared. Who even was I? We had to take off all our jewelry and hair clips and <gasp> watches under our suits and obviously leave any personal items, including phones, locked up. The whole watch thing was particularly irritating to me because we would be walking over 4,200 steps (and burning close to 500 calories) and none of them would actually count because I couldn’t wear my watch. If you know me well, you know how much this drove me insane. But all good. I’ll live.
After getting suited up and given even more instructions, we were ready to begin the climb. Our timing was for dusk climb which meant we would get to see the sun set while on top of the bridge. One of the reasons I felt so safe and secure climbing this was that we were harnessed and clipped the entire time. If you are following the directions, there is seriously no way you’d be able to fall off. There were some ladders to climb and then some stairs and soon enough you’re at the top of the bridge, 134 meter above sea level. The views from up there were fucking spectacular. There were 360 views of the city from the opera house to Manley Island to Luna Park to all over the entire city. You get the picture. And speaking of pictures, along the way, they take a bunch of pictures of you with the amazing scenery behind you. They’re smart because you can’t bring your camera up there and will want pics, to have their professionals do it for you.
Back on the ground, J and I each got certificates of BridgeClimb completion and one free picture. We also ended up purchasing electronic versions of all our pictures and our one twerking video. They offered to make a video for you up there and of course J and I didn’t turn that down so we decided to shake our booties up on top of the bridge. Not to toot our own horns, but our photographer and the woman at the counter to buy, both said it was the best video they’ve seen from up there. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
When the climb was done, we grabbed a quick dinner and then went back to the harbor one more time for a last view of everything and picked up some final souvenirs. It was almost 8 by then and we wanted to get back before it was going to rain again (which of course it did), and finish packing for our early pick-up in the morning. And as J kept saying this whole trip, “And just like that,” our absolutely incredible trip of a lifetime had come to an end.
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