Sydney

Days: 34-40
Miles Traveled: 17,985

After coming off a great few days in Queenstown, New Zealand, it was time to cross the ocean to Sydney. Great city, great people, great food...and FANTASTIC wine! If it weren't for the Australian accents everywhere, you could easily think you were in Newport Beach or somewhere in the SF Bay Area.

As I said in my previous posts, the touristy type spots are starting to wear me down so just enjoying the city for what it is, walking around the harbours and neighborhoods, grabbing a glass of Australian red and relaxing by the harbour were on the top of my list of "things to do" while in Sydney.

Here's a video of just that...relaxing:

(taken on the Sydney Harbour at a café called Sugaroc with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background)

Originally I had considered spending a few days in Melbourne and possibly a few days up the East Coast to Brisbane and Cairns, but after the whirlwind tour of New Zealand and not really getting to thoroughly enjoy any one spot due to plane flights every other day (literally), I decided to spend 6 days in Sydney rather than bouncing around Australia before my RTW ticket takes me to Thailand.

I haven't completely sworn off touristy spots - I still had to check out the best of the best, like the Sydney Opera House (which really is cool architecture although the interior was a disappointment)...


...the Sydney Harbour Bridge (the walk across the top of the bridge tethered to a railing is overrated)...





...and Manly Beach (about 40 minutes from Sydney via ferry)...


Manly was a cool beach town but remember I'm still in the Southern Hemisphere and it's winter down here so the beach was empty with the exception of a few surfers in full wetsuits. The strip of bars, restaurants, and shops just off the beach are a pretty cool place to hang out for an afternoon.

A question for any surfers out there: is there some sort of unwritten code that when a surfer goes from the water to his house/car/bar/or wherever he/she is going that they have to jog? Same was true for those going towards the water. It was odd...everyone wearing a wetsuit was jogging with their board tucked under their arm. I'm not a surfer so I do not know if there is an actual logical reason behind it but it struck me as interesting.




I've been to several zoos and aquariums on my trip already, but one afternoon I got caught in the rain on Darling Harbour so I decided to check out the Sydney Aquarium there, at least until it stopped raining...fairly decent place.


Not sure it's worth the admission price if you're not into that kind of stuff, but I thought the underwater glass tunnels with stingrays and sharks swimming all around you - and to within a few inches of your head - were pretty cool!

Sydney was a great "break" for me between the touristy spots of Asia and my next stop of Bangkok, Thailand. I enjoyed the city and look forward to the next time I'm back in this neck of the "planet" so that I can spend more time exploring both NZ and the rest of Oz!

A quick side note that Julie Bowlen was in town for a few days and we enjoyed several bottles of wine and a couple of great dinners...thanks for keeping me company Julie!

I'll also note that a fantastic restaurant, albeit a bit pricey, was the Café Sydney on the 5th floor of the Customs House located directly across the street from the Sydney Harbour Ferry Terminal. If you ever make it to Sydney, give it a try. Thanks for the recommendation Randy Scheffel!

PS - I forgot to take a picture of my hotel but I stayed at the Swissōtel downtown Sydney. Nice hotel, great location, but nothing special.

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Location:Sydney, NSW, Australia