Tag Archives: Darling Harbor

Blue Haze (Sydney Day 1)

This evening we arrived in Sydney, and enjoyed a lovely dinner at our friend’s apartment. By late evening we were exhausted, and headed across the street to the bed and breakfast we had booked.

Blue Haze

The next morning we visited the Blue Mountains, my second time, but my mom’s first time in the area. However, today was a unique day because planned burns were happening throughout the mountains. This area of Australia has been very dry lately, which makes forest fires more of a threat. In order to reduce the risk of fires, planned burns are carried out, leaving the entire area in a bit of a blue haze. In fact, the smoke is so strong and travels so far, that it even was hazy that morning in the city (it takes and hour and a half to drive to the blue mountains).

Leura

Our first official stop of the day was at a small town in the Blue Mountains called Leura. We visited this quaint area for high tea, which was a treat from our friends who highly suggested we go. It’s basically a fancy English-style tea, with tea or coffee, scones, mini desserts, and petite sandwiches. It was quite and enjoyable morning! We spent a little while walking through artsy shops, then headed to the actual mountain area.

High tea table setting

High Tea room

Scenic World

Although a bit touristy, we were glad to stop at this attraction center. Based at the top of the mountains, this discovery center offers a railway or cableway down to a walkway in a lower level of the forest, and a skyway car that travels across a mountain gap and over a huge waterfall. We took the railway down, then walked through the beautiful forest enjoying natural and the local artist exhibitions placed throughout the trail. Then we took the cableway back up, and also went across on the skyway. The center itself was very crowded and the lines were long, but overall it was a great experience!

“Tunnel of Love” artwork along the trail

View from Skyway

View of waterfall from Skyway

Darling Harbor

For dinner, we headed to Darling Harbor, and enjoyed fantastic food at Olive, an Italian restaurant on the water. Since it was Saturday night, was also saw the harbor’s weekly firework show. It was a beautiful evening and wrapped the day up perfectly!

Fireworks over Darling Harbor

Sydney Sites (Sydney Day 1)

This week my friends and I went on a tour through Sydney, with the highlight being the Pride Mardi Gras celebration! It was a wonderful weekend filled with incredible sites and experiences, and definitely worth the trip. We started out by taking an overnight bus to Sydney Thursday evening, taking about 12 hours to get to the city. The bus ride didn’t seem too long, but it was a bit weird arriving early morning and jumping right into the day!

Downtown Walking Tour

After arriving to Sydney early morning, we checked into Maze Backpackers Hostel, which was my first time staying at a hostel! It wasn’t the most glamorous accommodation, but considering we were pretty much only there to sleep, it worked well for the purposes of our trip. We all freshened up and headed out on a walking tour through the downtown area.

Our first stop was at Hyde Park War Memorial, which is an Anzac memorial in Hyde Park South. This building commemorates all Australians who served in the war, and is the principle State War Memorial in New South Wales. Built in 1934, the structure has been preserved very well, and is still in great condition today. Our next stop was the Hyde Park Archibald Fountain. This gift was built in 1932 for the City of Sydney in J.F. Archibald’s will. The fountain was created by Francois Sicard, and commemorates the relationship between Australia and France in World War One. We next visited St. Mary’s Cathedral, which stands just across the road from the Archibald Fountain. This English-style gothic church represents spiritual origins of the Catholic Church in Australia, and was built by William Wilkinson Wardell from local yellow-block sandstone just like the city is built on. The inside of the building is just as picturesque as the outside, and has a very warm and inviting color scheme in addition to the detailed architecture.

Hyde Park War Memorial

Hyde Park Archibald Fountain

St. Mary’s Cathedral of Sydney

Inside of St. Mary’s Cathedral

From there we walked to and through the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney, 30 hectares of gardens in the middle of the city. Started in 1816, this property spans around Farm Cove at the edge of Sydney Harbour, and inhibits plants from Australia and the world.

I think my favorite area of the gardens was when it opened up to the edge of the harbor, giving a view of the water and opera house in the background. Following the pathways out of the gardens, we walked to the iconic Opera House, where I was ecstatic to see this beautiful work of art in person!

The opera house is known as Australia’s most recognizable building, and took 16 years to build (1957-1973). A master of modern architectural design, engineering, and construction technology, it truly is an impressive work of art. We spent about an hour walking around the property, taking in the sites of Darling Harbour, and enjoying lunch on the water at Searock Grill.

The last stop on our sites walking tour was the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where we climbed the first pylon to see a spectacular view of Sydney. After walking out to the center of the bridge, we climbed 200 stairs to the Pylon lookout, 87 meters above sea level. This iconic bridge initiated construction in 1922, and opened in 1932. Even though we were not on the very top pylon of the bridge, it was still a spectacular view of the surrounding area!

Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Harbour Bridge

View from Sydney Harbour Bridge first pylon lookout

At the conclusion of our walking tour, we headed back to the area near our hostel. We made a brief stop at Patty’s, a market center in Chinatown, to pick up a few last-minute costume additions for our Mardi Gras outfits, then headed back to the hostel to get ready for the evening.

Darling Harbour Sunset Cruise

In the evening we walked back down to the Darling Harbour area, and along the way passed many people and decorations present for the weekend’s celebration. Seeing all the pride colors was heart-warming and very festive! Walking through the harbour area at nighttime was very pretty as well, with all the lights and evening bustle around the waterfront. We soon boarded a dinner cruise boat for the evening, and spent the night on the water. It was a lovely evening with friends, food, and beautiful skyline views of the city at night. After a few hours on the water, we docked and headed on a party bus to Side Bar, a local bar that was included with our tour package. We returned to the hostel after exploring Sydney nightlife for a little while, and got ready for our next day of adventures!

View of Sydney Harbour on the dinner cruise

Sydney // Days 2-4

Throughout the next three days we found plenty of time in the beautiful weather to explore all around the city. I took a tour of the opera house, and learned about the struggle to build it. I was able to go to Bondi and Manly beach, I preferred Manly beach as it wasn’t as touristy and we had better weather when I visited. I enjoyed walking around the old part of the city. Everything was very clean and I never felt unsafe walking around.

Some of the most beautiful parts of Sydney were the Royal Botanical Gardens surrounding the city. I was able to go out to the rocks and view the sunset over the Sydney Harbor with the opera house and bridge views. I spent a few hours walking around the gardens as there is so much to see and many great views of the city and of the harbor.

On the last two days I went to the aquarium, which was neat because you were able to walk underneath the aquarium and get some great pictures of the various marine life. I also the toured the National Maritime Museum which was directly across from the aquarium in Darling Harbor which is a really great to just take it easy and view the scenery. We also toured a Chinese Garden in the center of Sydney, which was a real relaxing place to go in the middle of the city. I walked many blocks down St. George’s street which is similar to Broadway in New York as it is a very busy and fashionable main artery in the city.

I would highly recommend going to Sydney if you get the chance, I really enjoyed my time and even though I had 4 days, I didn’t get to see all that I would have liked.

Location: Sydney, Manly Beach, Bondi Beach

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