This February has a very big birthday in it. So a friend and I decided to spend a week in Sydney celebrating it.
I booked an Uber to get me to town then we caught the Sky Drive bus to the airport, which was a lovely feeling because from that moment on everything would happen without needing to organise it or stress about it – our holiday had begun.
According to the weather forecast and concerned friends the weather in Sydney was stormy with massive downpours affecting all travel, but about 30 minutes before landing all that cleared up and we arrived in sunshine.
Passport control and immigration was incredibly easy and fast and bag collection was amazing – our bags turned the corner the second we arrived at the carousel. The airport train turned up two minutes after arriving on the platform and the hotel was only a 5-minute walk from Wynyard Station.
After checking in and discovering our rooms we headed out in search of a liquor store so I could buy beer. Strange thing about the Sydney CBD – none of the supermarkets are licensed to sell alcohol, but luckily there was a liquor store not too far from the hotel – turns out everything was not far from the hotel – this hotel is in an awesome location.
Day two – Tuesday 11th of February
Big huge day of shopping. We started out with breakfast in a Martin Place cafe, then straight to the Lego Store. From there we went up to a fancy shoe store and then a wander round David Jones.
Lunch in a cafe up from the Myers food court, clothes shopping in Uniqlo (where they even do fast free alterations), then over to the Apple Store. Lastly Dymocks then back to the hotel to relax.
No idea why WordPress decided the Apple logo should be that huge, and I can’t adjust it.
Day three – Wednesday 12th of February
Today we had a couple of tours booked so we were very excited and up early, but first – breakfast on the landing in the hotel lobby – most fabulous indeed.
First was a backstage tour of the Opera House and this time I even got to sit inside the main concert hall, the tour was awesome, and we learnt so much. After this we wandered around Circular Quay and filled in time till our 12:30 Long Lunch Harbour cruise this was on a large multi storied Captain Cook boat, the food was great and the staff were lovely.
After the cruise we caught a ferry across the harbour to check out Luna Park, but when we got there, we found out it closed at 2:00 so we missed out by about 20 minutes. Instead, we wandered around the waterfront and caught a train across the bridge back to the hotel.
Day four – Thursday 13th of February
The big birthday – this required a special breakfast in the hotel lobby restaurant before setting off for the Rocks area and the Art Gallery.
After enjoying the air-conditioning in the art gallery we headed for the bridge, walked under and around it getting some great shots of the Opera House and harbour.
From there we headed for the QVB building to have lunch and buy a new Penhaligon’s fragrance.
For dinner we had reservations in the O Bar & Dining revolving restaurant, on the 47th floor of Australia Square. Because it was my birthday we received a free glass of bubbles each when we arrived plus they gave me a really lovely birthday card and exquisite dessert.
The views were amazing, the staff we awesome and the food was sensational. We were also incredibly lucky with the weather – it was a beautiful sunny day and after our two-hour time limit they found us a table in the bar so we could watch the sunset and enjoy a cocktail.
Day five – Friday 14th of February
Our last day was all about getting home. My hotel tv had a cool alarm feature, you could pick a time to wake up and what channel you wanted to wake up to, so I chose Channel 7 for the breakfast tv. I woke to the stressful news that the Sydney train staff were on strike and there were hour long queues to get on an airport train and traffic in the city would be gridlocked. So, we decided to check out early and get an Uber around 9:30 – this was a great plan and we got to the airport without incident and in plenty of time.
About 30 minutes after we got inside the terminal it started to rain – the first time since we arrived on Monday and the rain was so heavy there was flooding, however it didn’t affect take off and apart from the screaming babies in rows near us the whole trip home was great.
After lasting 15 years working for the same company, I deserved a treat, plus we get long service leave after 15 years so I needed to use it and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate this milestone, than a trip to Sydney for a holiday and some shopping in the brand-new biggest Lego store in the world. Turned out this was a great way to celebrate and everything was awesome with many highlights, there were no disappointments and everything went as planned or even better than I hoped for.
Day One – Tuesday 27th of February
Up super early to drive myself to the airport and check in to the Park & Ride car park, it was raining and there were many holdups on the way so when I got there and found a spot I was very relieved. So relieved I didn’t really take much notice of where I had parked till I saw a huge reminder notice asking everyone if they had taken note of where they parked, so I took a photo of the area where my car was focussing mainly on the big black building in the background (more on this at the end of this blog). Luckily it had stopped raining so I didn’t get wet while dragging my bag to the bus stop. The bus turned up after a minute of waiting, I got on and the very kind bus driver even grabbed my suitcase so I didn’t have to try and lift it. And so my holiday officially begun where I can start to sit back and relax, everything going forward is out of my hands and I had plenty of time to relax and grab breakfast after dropping off my bag and clearing security.
Great flight over and as luck would have it, the lady seated next to me was very skinny and took up no room at all. After clearing customs etc I went in search of the pick up point for Uber cars, however that was harder than I thought and not that cheap so I ended up catching the train to Central Station and an $11 Uber to Darling Harbour where the Park Royal hotel was excited to see me (even at 2:00 rather than 3:00) and a fabulous upgrade to the Club Floor awaited. The upgrade was on a standby if available basis for only $60 extra and you had to accept the offer a few days in advance. The upgrade gave me access to the Club Lounge with stunning views, fully cooked breakfasts, snacks and refreshments throughout the day and 2 hours of free drinks from 5:00 – 7:00 every night. My suite had TWO toilets!
After falling in love with my room I had a whole afternoon ahead of me and I wanted to suss out how long it would take me to get to the Opera House in time for tomorrow morning’s tour, so I set off up the hill from Darling Harbour to George St, jumped on the light rail train and went all the way to Circular Quay. When I turned a corner and saw the Opera House I was filled with joy, even though I have seen it several times before I still get goosebumps when I see it in real life. I took a walk around it, took some photos and headed along the wharf to find somewhere to eat. I ended up in Wahlburgers, had never been before even though we have one in Auckland now. It had a really cool concept where you sat at the table, downloaded the app, ordered food and paid for it all within the app. However the app didn’t like my card so I had to use ApplePay which was mega easy and cool, but that meant I was paying in NZ dollars and there would be an exchange rate difference & comission – oh well I’m on holiday, so never mind. The food was great and the beer very refreshing.
After that I wandered around Circular Quay then headed for the train to take me to Town Hall Station (nearest stop to the hotel) & Woolworths to buy beer and snacks. Shockingly that Woolworths wasn’t licensed to sell alcohol, but luckily right next door was a small liquor store attached to a pub so I bought beer from there and I’m pretty sure I bought beer from there back in 2015.
Day Two – Wednesday 28th of February
Wide awake very early I think because of the time difference & the excitement of trying out the free cooked breakfast in the Club Lounge and then the Sydney Opera House Tour. The breakfast was amazing and the view was great.
After that I had a nice leisurely stroll up to the train which took me all the way to the Opera House. This was the second time I have done the Opera House tour and it was really different from the first time which was cool and this time I finally got to see inside the main Concert Hall, which has been a bucket list item since 1981 (not that I had a bucket list back then). Loved the tour and I’d definitely do it again if I ever go back to Sydney.
After the tour I headed back to the hotel to collect my bag then set off for a wander around the shops mainly to check out the Apple Store and the brand new Lego Store. This was my third attempt at checking out this particular Apple Store, in 2015 we were too early and didn’t have enough time to wait for it to open before we needed to check out of the hotel and in 2020 it was being renovated, so this time it was open and I could buy stuff!
The Lego store (biggest in the world) was everything I hoped it would be, but I left my Lego passport back in the hotel so decided to just wander around but come back tomorrow with my passport and buy something then.
Day Three – Thursday 29th of February
Today a heatwave was scheduled for Sydney, so just as well my plan for the day revolved around shopping in airconditioned stores. The heatwave was even on the news last night warning everyone to take care and stay hydrated and the high was going to be 39 degrees. It only got to 35 but that was way hotter than anything I’m used to, but it sure did look like a stunning day outside.
After an amazing complimentary breakfast, I headed out to Darling Harbour and the Chinese Friendship Garden which I figured would be a nice cool and shaded spot to start off while waiting for the shops to open. However that plan was very short lived coz there was a long walk to the garden and none of it was undercover and it was already 25 degrees and way too hot for me. I found out what the cool shaped building next to my hotel was (above left pic) – it’s simply called the W and they use words starting with W to name their rooms, such as the Wow suite and the Wonderful room. After seeing that the walk to the gardens without cover was too much, I headed for the nearest bridge which was the Pyrmont Bridge (a heritage-listed swing bridge) to get me to the heart of the shops.
First stop was Myers – I figured they would have a nice air conditioned cafe for me to sit and enjoy an iced coffee. But on the way to the cafe I discovered they had Penhaligon’s fragrances which you can’t buy in NZ so I checked them out and discovered they now have their very own shop in the QVB mall, so I decided to go there on the way back to the hotel. The cafe was great, their Lego store was cool and the Westfield mall was all decked out in rainbow colours for Sydney Mardi Gras.
From there I headed out the back door and ended up on Castlereagh Street, this was symbolic because yesterday while I was wandering around the Apple Store a friend in Australia messaged me asking me if I was anywhere near Castlereagh St coz there had been a shooting there and I should avoid the area. But I had no idea where it was and everyone around me was carrying on like nothing was wrong so I figured it was quite far from where I was – turns out it was just one block away! I saw straight ahead there was a beautiful park and a massive cathedral so I headed for that and stood in the shade for a bit.
From there I had a wander around the stunning David Jones department store. It was like stepping back in time to the fifties glamour era. It had a wonderful Lego shop, a massive bank of about 10 lifts all in a row and the most visually stunning shoe store like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I only ended up on the shoes floor coz I was looking for the men’s loo.
After that I headed to the Lego store and found something to buy – this time I had my Lego passport and when I told the salesperson she said, “Oh I hope it’s not your real passport”. Apparently a lot of adults see the sign and think they can get a Lego stamp in their real passport. I bought the Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit set, (a) because it wasn’t that heavy and (b) because it wasn’t that big and would easily fit in my suitcase, plus I’d never seen it before and didn’t know it existed. Next I went to Uniqlo for clothes that a couple of friends recommended big time, but by then I was hungry and so hot and the crowds were beginning to annoy me, so I found a pair of shorts to buy and escaped. On the way to the QVB building I stopped into Dymocks and enquired if they had a book I’ve been trying to find in NZ for years and they actually had one copy left yay.
To finish off my fantastic shopping experience I found the Penhaligon’s shop in the QVB building and it was stunning and they had exactly what I was looking for in several sizes (Myers only had the big size) and when I told the salesperson I was from NZ so going on her mailing list probably was not a good idea she loaded up my bag with many free samples!
Once back in the hotel I had several beers and enjoyed the view while I contemplated what to do next. Then I realised I hadn’t been to the Club Lounge yet to try out the free snacks and all day beveridges, I was the only person in there so that was nice.
After checking the time and cooling off I headed out for one last walkabout to Darling Harbour and the Madame Tussauds exhibition.
The ticket guy thought I was a bit strange trying to get in that late in the day – it was about 4:30 and they closed at 5:00, but I knew that would be plenty of time for me and there wouldn’t be any crowds. It was cool but often felt eerie because I constantly felt like someone was watching me and I’d turn around and it would just be a wax figure. The pic above right where someone is taking a photo of something had me fooled for ages – I waited very patiently for them to take the pic so I could get past them.
From there I thought it would be cool for old times sake to catch a ferry from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay – check out my 2015 & 2020 blogs. As soon as I turned up to the ferry peer and got on, it took off and the breeze was lovely. Once at Circular Quay I got some frozen yoghurt something that’s hard to find now in Auckland, then took a really long walk all the way around the quay and under the bridge. After that I headed back to the hotel.
Day Four – Friday 1st of March
My last day in Sydney – I thought about going for a walk around Darling Harbour one last time but in the heat without shade and not a whole lot of time left before I headed to the airport, I figured it was best to have a very leisurley luxurious breakfast in the Club Lounge and then take my time doing coffee while packing my bag.
Air NZ sent me an email saying my OneUp bid had been sucessful so I had been upgraded to Premium Economy OMG – I’ve only ever flown Economy Class, so this would be my first time experiencing something a bit better than Economy Class.
It was sad leaving my fabulous hotel suite behind (how will I cope with just the one loo when I get home LOL). The Uber came quickly and there was only a little wait for the train from Central to the airport. Check in was easy and so was passport control and security. The flight was delayed about 30 minutes but as I was flying Premium I got to board early so it really didn’t matter and for the first time ever I got to turn left after boarding!
Premium Economy was indeed quite classy, with proper cutlery, glasses and plates, bigger meals, lots of drinks, big comfy seats, flash headsets and only 21 seats in the cabin.
Passport control and security was fast and easy, and the Park and Ride bus turned up as soon as I got to the stop. But the bus actually stops to let everybody off at a different stop from the one you board after parking your car, but I thought I was at the same stop and headed for my car in completely the wrong direction. Once I got to the spot where my car was supposed to be I realsied I was definitely not in the same area I had dropped my car off at. Luckily I had taken a photo of where I parked but it focused on the large black building in the background – and in the dark that couldn’t be seen and I had no idea where my car was. The car park was massive and dark and I was the only person wandering around dragging a big suitcase behind them – thank goodness it wasn’t raining! I took a closer look at the photo I took of where my car was parked and noticed a tiny sign saying I was in the Blue Zone C – but I was in the Z zone – the other end of the car park, that’s when I realised there are two bus stops!
On my last trip to Sydney I paid for a few of the fun pics they take and then superimpose you on different backgrounds. I bought them from the Opera House tour, Sea Life and the Tower. So here they are…
My last day in Sydney, and one of the many kind things the guy at reception did for me when he upgraded my room was ask me what time I was headed for the airport and extended my check out time till 12:00 for me. So that meant I had half a day to enjoy the amazing room and do some last minute shopping.
I figured I had enough time to race to the Westfield Mall to check out Myers Lego department and then go up the Sydney Tower, the sun was shining so it was a great day for going up the tower. The salesperson in Myers said the same thing about the Sydney Skyline set – it has been retired.
My trip up the tower was probably the fastest “been there done that” sightseeing I’ve ever done. I even asked the girl selling tickets how long it would take. Crazy question I know but I needed to know if there was a long wait to get up there – there wasn’t.
I made it back to the hotel in time for one last look at the spectacular view, grab my bag and check out.
Because it was so hot I contemplated getting a taxi to the airport, but then I had noticed a lot of taxis driving around with their windows open, so I didn’t like my chances of getting a taxi with air conditioning. Plus if there was traffic I’d be quite stressed, so I caught the train which was fast and easy and nowhere near as hot as the one I caught from the airport.
I made it to the airport with plenty of time for several beers and shopping, but I think that should have been the other way round, because it was hot and I was thirsty so I drunk many beers quite quickly and then went shopping. This of course made the purchase of the really expensive new Apple earpods with noise cancellation very very easy. But I love them, and thank you to everyone who gave me birthday money – this is what you bought me.
Oh and as I passed through bag search, guess what I found… the Lego Sydney Skyline Architecture set, for about $20 cheaper (duty free) than what it would’ve been if they’d had it in any of the stores I went in to.
The flight home was fun and I managed to finish off the movie I started watching on the way over – Judy, starring Renée Zellweger. The flight even had wifi so I needed to take a picture of something so I could post it on Facebook (seemed like a good idea at the time), so this is the pic I posted.
Getting my bag and going through customs etc was easy and a very kind friend was waiting outside to pick me up and take me home.
My Birthday and my whole reason for going to Sydney. I woke up earlier than normal because all these wonderful birthday wishes started happening at about 6:00 am because that’s 8:00 in New Zealand. So I was wide awake and enjoying the rainy overcast view (cooling everything down for me) when my magnificent room service breakfast arrived.
Eventually at about 9:00 I set out for the Apple Store to buy myself a birthday present. The weather gods even decided to stop the rain as an added bonus for my birthday, so I set out in glorious sunshine. However the glory didn’t last long – the Apple Store was CLOSED FOR RENOVATION!!! Seems I’m doomed to never get inside that particular Apple Store, it wasn’t open back in 2015 when I was last in Sydney either, click here to read about that day.
That completely threw me and I completely forgot it was my birthday and didn’t really know what to do after that, so I stayed on the flash new air conditioned tram till I got to a stop near Paddy’s Markets. When I was 16 my parents took the whole family to Sydney for the August school holidays and one of the places we went to was Paddy’s Market – it was cool. There was so much amazing stuff you couldn’t get back in New Zealand and the coolest thing I bought was a Nintendo Octopus game.
Sadly the Paddy’s Market of 2020 was nothing like the 1981 version. Or maybe it is still cool I just didn’t like any of the stuff they were selling now that I’m not 16, it seemed like a never ending $2.00 shop with row after row of identical stalls, so crammed with cheap stuff that you couldn’t move around each stall to have a proper look. But I did find some Stubby Holders which was on my list, so it was worth it just for that.
After the markets I headed for the Chinese Garden of Friendship which I really enjoyed and it only cost $8 to get in. The garden is set amongst some really tall buildings so at times when I looked up it felt like I had been magically transported to Hong Kong. There were the biggest frangipani trees I’ve ever seen in full bloom and these gigantic lizard things that just lay around everywhere (I nearly stood on one, not sure which one of us got the biggest fright).
After that beautiful relaxing experience I headed for the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium with a quick stop at McDonalds along the way. The aquarium cost $45 to get in and definitely was not worth it. The best part (and probably the reason I went) was the lovely cold air conditioning keeping all the fish & penguins cold. I got to see a Dugong but the whole place seemed run down and creepy. The penguin expedition was over in about 30 seconds! So glad I didn’t need to queue up for it. Check out this sad penguin in dry kinda ugly conditions.
Last time I was in Sydney I caught a ferry back to Circular Quay from Darling Harbour and it took about 10 minutes, so I thought I’d do the same thing this time. I asked the ticket man which peer for the ferry to Circular Quay and he pointed me in the direction of a ferry that looked more like a hydrofoil than a ferry, so I thought things have really got flash in the last 5 years. 45 minutes and about 20 stops later, me and several other tourists realised we were miles away from the Quay and certainly not headed in the direction we should be in. One lady asked a crew member if this ferry was going to Circular Quay and he said no – so they hurriedly got off, but it took me too long to work out what they had asked the dude and what just happened. So I got off at the next stop and luckily the ferry returning to Sydney was just pulling in. It took another 45 minutes to get to where I was supposed to be going, so all up a 10 minute ferry ride took me an hour and half. At least it was a pleasant trip around the very expensive North Sydney harbour suburbs. I guess a 90 minute harbour cruise for $6 is a bargain.
Here we are heading in the wrong direction getting further and further away from the city.
According to my iPhone this is Drummoyne.
90 minutes later this was a very welcome sight.
So… after all that I wasn’t really sure what to do for my birthday dinner. I really didn’t feel like getting all dressed up to sit somewhere flash all by myself, so I bought a box of beers, a lot of junk food and thoroughly enjoyed my wonderful hotel room with the stunning view.
Very exciting morning, I went on a tour of the Sydney Opera House. The tour was fun, educational and well worth taking the time to do – I loved it.
At the start of the tour you have to put on these headsets and receiving devices which was not a good look or a good feel and I said to the guide “do I really have to“. He explained the device was so I could hear him talking no matter which way he was facing or how far away from him I got, which is perfect for someone like me who always straggles behind the pack, taking photos and looking at things just that little bit longer than everyone else. After only a couple of minutes I was loving the headphones.
We got to see inside several of the different theatres and learnt how all the different stages work and watched a video on the history of the Opera House.
From there I went back to the hotel to enjoy my incredible room and view and then headed out to Bondi Junction on a bus. The bus departed from a stop right across the road from the hotel so it was easy, with no wait time and I got to see a lot more of the real Sydney than if I’d caught the subway.
My reason for going out to Bondi was not for surfing (ha ha) but to find the Lego Shop and some hard to find Australian TV show DVDs in JB-Hifi.
Interestingly the Sydney Lego Shop wasn’t any better than the one we have in Auckland and I was disappointed they no longer sold the Sydney Skyline architecture set, apparently it’s a retired set and I’d missed out. I never really wanted it before now, because the Opera House in the set looks weird and there is a building I didn’t recognise.
While there I found a great place for a very late lunch called Lobster Tail Seafood with a great view of the Sydney skyline from an outdoor deck.
I did manage to find a couple of the DVDs on my list in JB-Hifi but I didn’t manage to find my way out of the 5 floor Westfield mall. I had to consult a directory map touch screen several times. Exit is not a search option, but Bus or Train is!
I made it!!! There have been several times recently that I was afraid I might not make it to Sydney because of bushfires, smoky skies, corona virus and debris on the runway closing Auckland Airport twice. Ok that wasn’t all in one day but for the past few months there have been events that made me think I might not get to go.
At last all the stars aligned and an awesome friend who also lives on the North Shore got up extra early and gave me a lift to the airport. Because of the corona virus I needed to be at the airport an hour earlier than normal, so I was there three hours ahead of departure and I had the place to myself, there was no queues anywhere and no holdups, so I managed to get through check in/bag drop, passport control and security really fast. This meant I had loads of time to wander around Auckland airport checking out all the fab new areas and flash shops that weren’t there two years ago when I was last there. If you take a walk beyond the food court towards the really far away departure gates and look up you will see this amazing art installation.
At last it was time to board and take my seat, luckily I was the first in my row so I could wipe down the window, touch screen and everything else I’d be touching with wet wipes. As the name implies they were “wet” wipes and I ended up soaking the window, so I had to hurriedly dry it with something before the people seated next to me wondered what happened. The airplane was one of the new Boeing 787s, was very comfortable, had really big windows and a clever window tinting instead of a blind.
For many days before departing I had my eye on the weather forecast and sadly it was all doom and gloom with nothing but thunderstorms forecast for the whole week I was going to be there, however 1/2 an hour before landing the Captain announced the great news that all the horrible weather they’d been having had cleared up!
A friend recommended I catch the train from the airport to Circular Quay as it is cheap and easy, so I did and it was. But it wasn’t air conditioned and the heat was unlike anything I’d experienced in a very long time, maybe not since living in Japan. Once I stepped off the train I was hit with a wave of heat and sunshine that was both a happy surprise and unbearable. I was dressed for rain, cold and thunderstorms, I didn’t even have a cap. So here’s my first pics of sunny Sydney.
Luckily the Hotel Intercontinental was only 5 minutes walk away from the train station and it was stunning. As this trip was for my 55th birthday I splashed out and treated myself to three nights of luxury in a 5 star hotel in a great location very close to the Opera House.
While checking in at the very flash & luxurious reception desk the friendly and welcoming guy at the counter went through my booking and noticed the reason I gave for this trip was for my birthday. He asked how old I was then refused to believe it, so then he went to the office to see if there was anything they could do and came back with an amazing free upgrade to a room with a view on one of the top floors. But the room wouldn’t be ready for a while, so he gave me some free drink vouchers to enjoy a nice cool beer (or 2 or 3) in the lobby bar while I wait. I was quite early, it was only 11:30am, but 1:30 New Zealand time, so I headed to the bar and had lunch plus several free beers.
After several beers and lunch I decided to go for a walk to fill in time before my room would be ready at 3:00, at the rate I was going I’d be too drunk to make it in to my room. But it was very very hot and humid outside so I didn’t last very long, but I did manage to cross the road and have a quick look at the Royal Botanic Gardens.
The hotel from across the road.
The Royal Botanic Gardens (Sydney Conservatorium of Music in the background)
After what felt like an eternity I headed back to the hotel and waited in the beautiful air conditioned lobby for my room to be ready. Just after 3:00 my fantastic room was ready, everything was awesome; spectacular view, a bath, fully stocked minibar, a Nespresso machine, a flash desk with executive swivel chair, an electric blind that was controlled from the bed, a sofa and a very handy window bench seat to lie back on and enjoy the view and a few more beers.
And just when I thought I couldn’t get any luckier there was a knock on the door from Room Service – they gave me a special birthday treat of a cake with an Opera House type decoration. Wow!!!
Eventually I felt brave enough to go backoutside in the heat and take a stroll around the Opera House. Actually it was early evening so I figured it should be cool enough. While I was wandering around the Opera House a very rusty looking cruise ship (the Ruby Princess) departed which was a very impressive sight from where I was standing.
Once it got dark I headed back to the hotel for dinner and drinks in the lobby bar.
Today was our last day in Sydney and we really only had a morning there before we needed to get out to the airport and fly home.
We gathered at a cafe near the hotel for breakfast, somewhere that had mushrooms as part of their breakfast menu.
After breakfast a couple of us headed off for some last minute shopping/sightseeing. The last thing I needed to check off my to do list was visit the Apple Store, so we headed off down George St past some beautiful old buildings.
Strangely everything was closed and Sydney seemed like a ghost town at 9:00 on a Sunday morning!
At last we found the Apple Store after walking what seemed like a really long way, but it didn’t open till 10:00. Sadly I worked out that if we waited for the store to open, had a very quick look round, NOT buy anything, walk back to the hotel, pack my suitcase and meet everybody in the hotel lobby at the arranged time, I would be really pushing it. So we gave up that idea, found the one coffee outlet that was open, found a nice place to sit and enjoy our coffee and headed back to the hotel.
The flight home was not as fun and exciting as the flight to Sydney, but at least there were no hold ups and things like check in and airport security was really easy at both ends. Strangely however there was a sad lack of shops open at the Sydney airport. Not sure if that was due to renovations, but most stores were empty and looked abandoned.
The view from the plane while we waited for take off was awesome – the city looked really close and hot!
This morning we set off for Bondi Junction by train to do a spot more shopping at another huge Westfield mall and a great super discounted chemist with amazing bargains. On the way to the train station we saw some unusual looking birds which apparently are called Ibis.
After shopping we headed back to the hotel to dump our shopping and head out for lunch.
We caught a taxi from the hotel out to Darling Harbour for lunch where we found a groovy bar and grill called Bungalow 8 right on the waterfront with a great menu. We ordered a delicious jug of Sangria to go with our lunch.
After lunch we took a leisurely stroll along the waterfront for about one minute – suddenly the sun was too much and I had to head for the nearest bit of shade. Shortly we ended up at some wildlife place and I bought a cap which allowed us to go back out into the sun. From there we caught a ferry to Circular Quay which gave us great views of Darling Harbour and even stopped at Lunar Park.
A surprise bonus of this little excursion was we got to go under the Harbour Bridge and photograph the Opera House again.
Once at Circular Quay we caught a different ferry out to Manly. We wanted to do this for two reasons:
I knew there were great opportunities to photograph the front of the Opera House from that particular ferry and…
There is a song called Reckless by Australian Crawl that has the lyrics: “as the Manly Ferry cuts its way to Circular Quay.”
The ferry was jam packed with people (mainly young surfer type dudes) which seemed really strange coz I don’t remember there being anything interesting at Manly for cool people to do. I went to Manly when I was 16 and all I remember was an old run down aquarium and a very small almost abandoned fun park. There was so many people I started to feel a bit like Rose on the Titanic – “there weren’t enough life jackets”. But we survived and because of all the people it took ages to get off the boat.
Once on dry land we headed for the information centre so I could find out what was going on. Turned out it was the Australian Open of Surfing.
The surf beach was only five minutes walk away so we joined the fun.
Here’s me lovin every minute of it. We even went for a refreshing paddle in the surf.
Sadly we had to drag ourselves away from Manly and head back to the hotel in time to meet up with everyone for our last dinner in Sydney.
Near our hotel there were a lot of Chinese new year celebrations going on, so we ended up in a Thai restaurant and got to enjoy all the fruit carving, food stalls and dancing on the street.
Up early to check out the view from the roof top swimming pool before the champagne breakfast with my friends who had flown to Sydney to help me celebrate my 50th birthday in style.
After breakfast and many glasses of fabulous champagne we set off for the Harbour bridge so I could take photos of the Opera House. Along the way we walked past the Sydney Tower and many beautiful buildings and stopped at a Starbucks to give us the strength required for the big walk across the bridge.
As we approached the bridge even the weather god wanted to help us celebrate my birthday by presenting us with clear blue skies. The view of the city and the Opera House was stunning and I just couldn’t get enough of photographing everything.
One of my friends and I even walked up hundreds of stairs to check out the view from the Pylon Lookout. Up the lookout was a movie, spectacular views and even a shop.
Next we walked around Circular Quay all the way to the Opera House itself so I could touch it.
Once inside we headed to the shop where I found the Lego version of the Opera House. That was so cool coz it was the Opera House inside the Opera House.
Check out my Lego blog to see the one I built back in April:
After exploring the Opera House we had a pre-dinner cocktail in one of the harbour-side bars. I think the drink was called a Sydney Sling which seemed appropriate.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the incredible QV shopping mall where I found an amazing toy shop and bought an Air New Zealand jumbo jet model. I wanted to buy this particular model because Air NZ don’t fly Boeing 747s anymore.
The last part of my birthday was spent up the Sydney Tower in the revolving restaurant “Orbit”. The evening was fabulous, great company, great food and spectacular views. The staff even suprised us with a Happy Birthday plate decorated in chocolate words.
New Horizons 