So much to see and do!

After spending quite some time living in rural France, the sights, sounds and sheer size of the City of Sydney has had quite a dramatic effect on us both. In a positive way. We are so excited to see and explore as much of this vibrant City as we can - we are almost overwhelmed with choices of things to do, places to visit, various cuisines to sample, different cultures to experience, the list is endless!
We have spent our first week familiarising ourselves with the neighbourhood which is easy given that we take the dogs we are caring for on 3 walks a day - we have met a number of other dog owners and their pooches - all seem very friendly. One lady in particular who is from Canberra but currently house sitting in Sydney has taken our details as she would like us to sit for her at some point during our stay! Canberra has now been added to our list of places to visit!

The views from our local park(s) of the harbour, harbour bridge and surrounds are quite spectacular as our photos prove.
We have spent a considerable amount of time walking (what feels like the length and breadth!) of the City over the past week or so, and we have only scratched the surface.
We wasted no time in heading for the Opera House and Harbour bridge and thanks to some fantastic winter sunshine and clear blue skies we have got some great pics! We both agree that it wasn't until we saw both of these landmarks that we felt that we were actually here in Australia! The Opera House is awesome, truly, and the bridge has to be seen to be believed.
We have wandered through the Botanical Gardens and only glimpsed a fraction of what is on offer, we have walked through the Central Business District and the shopping areas of Downtown Sydney but have yet to explore (and shop!) seriously!

Our friends we met in Italy last summer and who live on the Sunshine Coast here in Australia flew into Sydney during the week and we spent a few days catching up with them - we visited Chinatown and spent one afternoon in and around Oxford Street - they joined us for dinner at "our" place where we had a meal of pan fried Barramundi - a local fish, and one which we will be definately having again. On our last day together we had a super lunch at a very special Italian restaurant at Circular Quay with the Opera House as the backdrop....truly magical.

After our lunch and having said goodbye to our friends we decided to wander around the outside of the Opera House - we took yet more photos and admired both the architecture and the surrounding fabulous harbour views. We made our way back via the Botanical Gardens where we glimpsed a cockatiel!

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