Tag Archives: Sydney

Back to Bondi (Sydney Day 4)

Today our friends took us on another short driving tour of the city, exploring a different area.

Centennial Park

First we stopped at Centennial Park, which was designed in 1811 and opened to the public in 1888. This area is unique because it is a beautiful recreational park in the center of busy downtown Sydney. With stunning views, lovely wildlife, and happy people, it is definitely worth a visit!

Centennial Park

Duckling in Centennial Park

Wildlife in Centennial Park

Bondi Beach

Next we headed to Bondi Beach, which I had been lucky enough to visit when I was in Sydney earlier in the semester. Our friends walked with us through the town, and we went into a few shops in addition to taking in the beautiful Bondi Beach views. If you continue along the coast, you can follow the trail to the end destination of Coogee Beach.

Mom & I on the coastal walk

Bondi to Bronte

We followed the Bondi to Bronte Coastal Walk trail to Bronte Beach, and the views along the way were just as breathtaking as I remembered. We took plenty of photos along the way, and made it to Bronte all to fast.

Classic coastal walk view

Since we had some extra time, we walked to the coastal lookout on the far side of Bronte, and checked out the original saltwater pool. This pool sits right on the ocean’s edge, and the waves overflow into the pool basin, filling it with nature saltwater. Originally this pool was only open to women for several hours of the day on specific days. Today, anyone can enjoy it free of charge. A more very similar, but more modern day, infinity pool is present at Bondi Beach, called Icebergs. Although it’s mimicked after Bronte’s pool, you must be a club member or pay to swim there!

Original saltwater pool (Bronte)

New saltwater pool (Bondi)

Rock formation near Bronte Beach

To wrap up our day, we had lunch at a café overlooking Bronte Beach, then headed back to our bed and breakfast to finish packing. Before we knew it, we were on the way to the airport for one last day in Brisbane prior to heading home!

Exploring Sydney (Days 2 & 3)

During the next two days, we explored downtown Sydney, Darling Harbor, and the surrounding areas.

The Rocks

This morning our friends drove us around the area of Paddington, a wealthier area that we were staying in during our visit. They showed us nearby suburbs and beaches, and eventually we made our way back to Darling Harbor. We visited the Rocks Markets, an open-street market held on Saturdays and Sundays just off of Darling Harbor. It is home to lovely little craft vendors and artisans, and we spent the afternoon wandering through the setup. After lunch at a nearby café, we caught a ferry ride back to Double Bay, where our friends picked us up after a full day of enjoying Darling Harbor.

Later that evening we took a long walk through the neighboring park, across the small suburb, down to Double Bay, and along the water to the Point. It was a relaxing way to end the evening, and a beautiful view of the water and marina. That evening we had leftovers and talked to our bed and breakfast host for a long while. It was quite a relaxing evening!

The Opera House

The next day we toured the iconic Opera House, and it was well worth it! The beautiful and magnificently structured building houses three smaller theaters, a larger concert hall, and opera/ballet theater. The original design was selected among around 200 others who entered a contest to see their work come to life. The building went through several obstacles during its construction, and by the time it was completed, the original designer, Jorn Utzon, was never able to actually see his work come to life. Regardless, the building is still a masterpiece, with a series of shells creating a roof far above the actual roof of the theater buildings.

Mom & I outside the Opera House

Inside of the Opera House

The Botanical Gardens

Next we explored Sydney’s Royal Botanical Gardens, a huge complex spanning for 30 hectares in the heart of the city. This beautiful property is very well kept, and is home to many species of flora. We had lunch at the café in the gardens, then explored through Hyde Park on our way to downtown.

Interesting tree in the botanical gardens

Ibis bird

Example of a hut used in aboriginal life

Pitt Street

Downtown, we walked around Pitt street, the shopping mecca of Sydney. We explored a bunch of shops, and visited the renovated Queen Victoria Building. Originally a municipal market, the QVB was restored in 1986, and now is home to fashion boutiques, jewelry stores, home shops, cafes, and restaurants.

Inside the Queen Victoria Building

Bei Amichi

For dinner, we joined our friends for a fantastic dinner at a well-reputed Italian restaurant. We spent the night catching up and remarking on the amazing food, and eventually headed back for our last evening in Sydney.

Exploring the past two days in Darling Harbor and Paddington was just lovely!

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

Pride Mardi Gras (Sydney Day 2)

The Blue Mountains

This morning we took a bus out to the Blue Mountains, and explored a few breathtaking locations. The Blue Mountains are located in Western Sydney, New South Wales, and are also well known as the Australian version of the Grand Canyon. After visiting, I can see why, because they really do look similar, just not quite as deep and are covered with trees.

Govetts Leap

After about a two hour drive, we arrived at our first stop, Govetts Leap. Here we saw the vast mountain canyon, and were able to experience one of the most untouched but well known natural attractions in Australia.

Govetts Leap

The Three Sisters

We then drove to the Three Sisters lookout, located at Echo Point Katoomba. This unusual rock formation represents three sisters who where turned into stone in an aboriginal legend.

Meehni, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo lived in the Jamison Valley and were part of the Katoomba tribe. They fell in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, however tribal law restricted them from marrying. As a result, the brothers were said to have kidnapped the sisters, caused a huge tribal battle, and in response a witchdoctor from Katoomba turned the sisters into stone to protect them. However, the witchdoctor was killed in the battle, and therefore unable to turn the sisters back after the fight ended. To this day, the sisters remain in their rock formation. Each sister stands 922, 918, and 906 meters tall, a very unique sight to see.

The Three Sisters

The Three Sisters lookout

Wentworth Falls

We stopped for lunch in a nearby town, then headed to Wentworth Falls. This attraction is most recognized for it’s three-tiered waterfall that runs from Jamison Creek, drops over the cliff edge, and falls 297 meters down into a pool, then flows down to the Valley of the Waters. With bush walks throughout the area and various lookout points, this stop was definitely worthwhile! Since we have not gotten much rain lately, unfortunately the waterfall and swimming area was a little too dry to use, however it was still a lovely sight to see!

Wentworth Falls

Pride Mardi Gras

After returning to downtown Sydney, we made a last minute stop at a dollar store for extra glitter and body paint, then headed back to the hostel to get ready for a fantastic evening of pride! After dressing up in rainbows, glitter, and body paint, we followed our tour guides to find a spot to watch the Pride Mardi Gras Parade, which is very well known in Australia. This is one of the busiest days of celebration throughout the year in Sydney, and also one of the biggest pride celebrations in the world! With all viewers and road blocks, it was pretty difficult to find a decent spot to see, so unfortunately we did not see much of the actual parade. It was a lot of fun though to walk around and see everyone dressed up and supporting the celebration. The atmosphere was great, with so many colors, lights, music, and people having a great time. After spending the night exploring nightlife around Sydney, we made our way back to the hostel with a few new and exciting memories.

Friends and I at the Mardi Gras Parade

Lighted float in parade

View of Pride Parade

Somewhere Over the Rainbow segment of parade

Beaches on Beaches (Sydney Day 3)

Manly Beach

On Sunday morning, we walked downtown to Darling Harbour once again, and boarded a ferry to take us to Manly beach. This beach is very well known for surfing, and also has an adorable little downtown area along the edge of the beach. We spent about two hours there, walking down to the Australian Open 2016 surfing competition and watching for a little, checking out a fitness competition that was going on, and of course getting some sun and cooling off in the water. After what seemed like hardly any time at all, we boarded the ferry back to Darling Habour, then took a bus to Bronte beach.

Manly Beach

Australian Open 2016 surfing competition

Hand painted surfboards selling along the beach

Bronte to Bondi Coastal Walk

After arriving, we started on the Bronte to Bondi Coastal Walk, which took about an hour (factoring in stopping for photos), and leads on a path built right along the coast. The views on this walk are beautiful, and you get to see so much of the natural beauty in the area. Bondi beach is known as one of the most popular and beautiful beaches in Sydney, usually a must-see for visitors, and it was definitely worth the trip. Once at Bondi, we spent the afternoon walking around the small downtown area, and simply just enjoying time on the beach. We took fun pictures by a wall of street art at the boardwalk area, and early evening boarded the bus for the way home.

Bronte Beach

Bronte to Bondi Coastal Walk

Distant view of Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach

Taking pictures along the art wall

Despite the busy schedule and back-to-back events, my weekend is Sydney was very enjoyable and extremely worthwhile. There was no place we went that wasn’t worth it, and I was thrilled to check off many major items on my bucket list. My mom and I will also be traveling to Sydney together at the end of the semester, so I am happy to have a little first-hand advice for planning our trip!

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

Hunter Valley (March 17, 2012)

Hunter Valley is known as one of the premier wine regions in Australia. Before leaving for Australia, I spent time researching possible trips I wanted to take during the semester. Hunter Valley seemed like the perfect place – a close location and lots of wine. I love planning trips, but knowing nothing about Hunter Valley, but seeing as Hunter Valley is about 6 hours by public transportation from Wollongong and the area is pretty hard to get around without a car, we decided to take a Colorful Trips tour leaving out of Sydney. Colorful Trips targets a younger market of travelers, meaning our tour was made up of twelve 20-somethings and not any snooty wine connoisseurs who actually sniff their wine and know what it’s supposed to smell like.

The drive from Sydney to Hunter Valley was 2 hours and very rainy. The rain had subsided once we arrived and the rolling hills of grapevines looked picturesque under a blanket of fog. Our first stop was Drayton’s Family Winery, one of the oldest in the area. In addition to the reds and whites, we tasted a couple port wines and chocolate liqueurs – all of which were a puckering sweet like nothing I’d ever tasted before. After our first tasting, we had a BBQ sausage lunch prepared by our tour guide Wazzo. The highlight of lunch was getting to try a taste of kangaroo meat. It was hard not too feel bad eating it, but it tasted just like steak.

Our next winery was McGuigan’s Wines. Here we sat on stools at a round table while our host went around and poured each wine and explained its flavor. Here you definitely felt like a classy wine connoisseur. The most interesting thing I learned about Australian wine is that a rose is not nearly as sweet as we would think it to be in the US. Another fun fact is that many of their sweet whites are variations of a moscato, a wine that is not commonly thought of as high-test in the US. All the wines we sampled were available for purchase and I hoped to buy a bottle to bring back as a present to my parents, but seeing as I was almost over the weight limit on both my suitcases I brought with me to Australia, I figured a bottle of wine might be too heavy – sorry mom and dad!

The other stops on our tour were the Hunter Valley shopping area, a collection of cute shops and candy stores, and the Blue Tongue Brewery. At the brewery, you had the option to sample beers, but we chose to forgo the $10 sampling fee and continue testing wines. While we were there, a bride was arriving for her wedding reception. Hunter Valley is apparently a popular place to get married – getting married at a vineyard seems like a fairytale to me! Before we left the valley for our two hours rainy drive home, we stopped at a scenic overlook to sample some strange cheeses.

Overall, the trip to Hunter Valley was a fun excursion and I would highly recommend it to those looking for a more laid back adventure. If I ever become a snooty wine connoisseur, I would love to go back to Hunter Valley on a sunny day and do more exploring in the area. Though next time, I’ll pass on the kangaroo meat.

Location: Hunter Valley, Australia

Sydney // Beginnings

I departed Perth at 10:55 AM Thursday Morning on Jetstar Airlines. The ride there was smooth and I arrived in Sydney at 5:10 PM, a 4 hour flight, there’s a 2 hour time change between Perth and Sydney. From there I was able to board a train into the center of Sydney. We stayed with a friend who lived on the northern harbor in Sydney. We arrived at the apartment, and looked at the view, from the front window we were able to see the harbor bridge and opera bridge. The apartment is so close to the city it is only about a 30 minute walk over the harbor bridge to city. We were very lucky, Sydney had a light show in the evening, called VIVID. This light show, lit up different places throughout Sydney, including the famous Opera House.

Location: Sydney, Australia

Sydney

We flew from Melbourne to Sydney with Tiger Airways which was extremely sketchy. They didn’t check any ID and had such strict weight restrictions on carry-ons that everyone was basically wearing everything they owned as they went through security. Morgan had her jeans wrapped around her waist under her sweater and I saw a girl pulling straighteners and all sorts of electronics out of her pockets when we’d gone through. Our flight was rough, and it was pouring when we got to Sydney but luckily only a short subway ride and walk to our hostel. We managed to do a turnaround from soaked and with plane hair, to ready to go out in about an hour which is a record. The hostel had a van that picked everyone up and took us to a bar called the Gaff. We weren’t really sure where we were even going but apparently there were coups to be had and we like free stuff. They gave us free fish and chips and 3 free drinks if we bought one drink! Love it. We texted our friend Alex, who we met in Tongariro National Park back in New Zealand and he told us to meet him and his friends out in Bondi Beach. We grabbed a cab and were out there by midnight. Great decision as it turned into one of the best nights of the trips. We started at a bar called Beach Road Hotel and then had a run in with the “fun police”. It’s ok, that’s what they called themselves and tried to get all of us into one cab when clearly that is illegal. We eventually ended up at a bar called the Sugar Mill in The Cross and danced until 4:30am.

Morgan, Me, Alex and Meg^

Putting on our “serious police faces” for the fun police ^

On leaving, Morgan kept insisting that we walk home and “explore the city” which was hilarious in the morning seeing as we had no idea where we were. We eventually took a cab back and were so excited to sleep. However, when we got back to out 36(!) person room in the hostel, it was deserted. Something wasn’t right. After talking to reception, we found out that someone had fire extiquished the entire room, leaving a thick layer of disgusting foamy, powdery stuff. They told us to “find the beds with the least crap on them” which wasn’t want we wanted to hear at 5:30am. They moved Meg eventually but I was so tired I didn’t want to move all my stuff so I just slept in a fire extinguishy bed. I haven’t died yet so it probably wasn’t too toxic.

Outside our hostel, wish we’d actually been able to experience the Church dorm ^

The next day we got up and went to explore SYDNEY!! We got amazing smoothies and walked to the harbor to see the bridge and the opera house before getting on the ferry to Manley.

Manley was so pretty with tons of little shops and a really beautiful surf beach at the end of town. We stayed on the beach for a while with our feet in the water before heading back to the city.

Manley ^

We decided not to really go out that night and instead went for a delicious Malaysian meal in Darling harbor. Sydney felt surprisingly American and I kept forgetting I was in Australia and thought it could have been San Francisco or maybe a (much nicer) Baltimore inner harbor. Meg and Morgan went back to the hostel after dinner but I really wanted to see the opera house lit up so I trekked back to the harbor. An opera was just letting out and it was nice to just stroll around the steps and look at city lights.

Out to dinner ^

We didn’t have much time the next morning since our overnight train to Byron Bay left at 4pm, but we really wanted to get out to Bondi again and actually see the beach. After a bus ride and a super long walk we made it with a picnic with us, and headed down to the cliffs overlooking the beach to eat. It was so warm and everyone was out surfing and sunbathing and generally living up to the Aussie stereotype.

Bondi beach ^

The rest of the day consisted of getting on our train and beginning the 13 or so hour overnight trip up the coast to Byron Bay, again we didn’t realize how big Australia is… Once I fell asleep the train ride wasn’t too bad, except for when we switched to a coach at 4am for the last two hours. We arrived, exhausted, in a pretty empty Byron Bay around 6am and found a coffee shop to sit in for a while. I was super tired and drained my coffee in about 60 second and proceeded to eat the sugar packets. I think that woke me up a bit.

Sugar is goooood ^

Summary: Sydney is baller.

Location: Sydney, Australia

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Tag Archives: Sydney

Back to Bondi (Sydney Day 4)

Centennial Park

Bondi Beach

Bondi to Bronte

Exploring Sydney (Days 2 & 3)

The Rocks

The Opera House

The Botanical Gardens

Pitt Street

Bei Amichi

Blue Haze (Sydney Day 1)

Blue Haze

Leura

Scenic World

Darling Harbor

Pride Mardi Gras (Sydney Day 2)

The Blue Mountains

Govetts Leap

The Three Sisters

Wentworth Falls

Pride Mardi Gras

Beaches on Beaches (Sydney Day 3)

Manly Beach

Bronte to Bondi Coastal Walk

Sydney Sites (Sydney Day 1)

Downtown Walking Tour

Darling Harbour Sunset Cruise

Hunter Valley (March 17, 2012)

Sydney // Beginnings

Sydney