Scenic, spectacular, splendid, spellbinding Sydney

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Close your eyes and imagine the scene, standing next to the Sydney Opera House facing the Harbour Bridge. Let me tell you the image would not do it justice, being there is like a defining moment in time. Having been in Australia for two months and having seen all of the things we have seen, its not until I had a quiet few minutes sitting next to the bridge looking at the Opera House that it dawned on me that, we are in Australia!

So many people will tell you that Sydney is a picturesque city and I add to that group of people. Sydney is a bustling tourist city for a reason and once you get to see the magnificent views at the harbour, soak up the atmosphere around Darling Harbour, walk the quaint streets of The Rocks you begin to realise its pull.

We spent two weeks in Sydney and I believe we got to experience the real city. Staying in Balmain – a short 10 minute ferry ride or 20 minute bus journey from the central business district – we got to see an affluent suburban culture close to the city. Balmain was our home for two weeks with family friends. Our appreciation for them opening their home to us really cannot be expressed enough. They had a beautiful house and we were in a home away from home. Balmain is a regenerated area of Sydney and has become very affluent as you’ll notice from the many boutiques you’ll walk past on the high street.

During our time in Sydney, no matter how many times we passed the Harbour Bridge or the Opera House we would watch it in awe as it passed. I lost count of the number of photos we took and you guys will only get a few to see. It is a photographers heaven; you could quite easily spend hours taking photo after photo – in fact that’s what we did on one day! As a result Poonam captured some amazing memories in picture. In all honesty she was so fascinated by the scene that she almost forgot about me and began her love affair with Sydney!

We took a tour of the Opera House which is magnificent inside as much as it is outside. It is definitely worth doing to understand its history and how it came about; it’s journey to completion and the people behind it all. It also explained to us why when we first saw it our initial thought was – it’s not brilliant white, it has a slightly yellowish tint to it. In short, the surface is tiled with white and off white tiles, some of which are gloss finish and some matt.

There is no better way to get around Sydney than the ferries. It really does allow you to appreciate the skyline and more so it gives you the “wow” factor. Pulling up into Circular Quay – the main ferry stop – packs a punch; floating past the Opera House on one side, restaurants on the other and then getting of into the thick of tourists, city commuters and everyone else.

Just like London, Sydney is made up of so many areas that if I told you about all of them you would be here for a while. What is really funny though is that you will read the boards at the railway station and you see so many stops named after UK towns – even Lewisham and Croydon made it on there!!

A Sydney trip is not complete with out a trip to Bondi Beach and why not. On a crystal clear day it has a certain buzz about it that lifts any spirit. It is heaving with people but it still has a certain attraction. Besides sitting on the beach there is a scenic Bondi to Coogee 6km walk with some stunning cliff edge scenery and little beaches. A tiring three hour walk in the blistering heat was well worth it for the views.

All you Home & Away fans will be glad to know that Poonam got her photo taken under the Summer Bay beach house. In reality it is called Palm Beach and set in pleasant surroundings. Not as commercially overrun as I expected, we had a relaxed picnic on the beach and nice walk down the beach. Perhaps the weather had something to do with it; being a slightly cooler day than when we sat on Bondi.

We were taken back to our honeymoon when we entered Paddy’s Market. When you hear the name you expect something and when you get there you get something very different. I went with the expectation of cheap fruit and vegetables with strong Irish accents bidding for our custom. In stark contrast when we got there it was almost stepping into the markets of the Far East. You will find stalls of cheap goods from electronics, clothes, DVDs and even a small Asian fruit and veg section at the back. The difference is that it seems more organised and less cluttered and claustrophobic than its Far East siblings. Its not dirt cheap however we picked up a bargain on a flexible tripod stand for our digital camera.

Manly Beach is another area on the tourist trail and for us it was the spot for a catch up with our travel friends Tulip and Rashmi from Canada. The weather was cold and dull in Manly however it afforded us the opportunity to have a coffee and chips in a café on the beach front road while catching up with our friends from our travels.

During our final days in Sydney we took a trip just outside of Sydney to the Blue Mountains. It is a spectacular green mountainous day trip with walks through the mountain. We started of at the Three Sisters; myth has it that a wizard turned three beautiful sisters into stones to protect them from praying eye due to their beauty. However, the wizard died before turning them back and they stand here as tourist take photos of them in their stone form.

We began an almost two hour walk through the mountains awarding us views of the greens mountains that took our breath away. I think Poonam’s breath was literally on hold when we stood on a mountain edge to have our photo taken with nothing behind us but a VERY long drop down! As always it was worth it for an incredible photo that captures a great memory of out trip to the Blue Mountains.

So there is a small fraction of our adventures in Sydney; now however we move on to a whole adventure and experience within itself – Christmas and New Years!!

Christmas on Bondi Beach was a strangely weird yet entertaining experience we were fortunate to have. Sitting on a beach, sun bathing while a backpacker walks around the beach carrying a Christmas tree on his shoulder – something’s not right! But it is! That is how you have to celebrate Christmas Day in Sydney; join the rest of the non-Australian travellers on the beach. Meanwhile, the Australians will wake up and open their presents and have Christmas lunch then join you later in the evening. We were lucky enough to have experienced one of the hottest days in Australia while on Bondi. It reached a staggering 40 degree – according to Poonam’s thermometer!! Thankfully though, we were well prepared with food, drinks and lots of sun lotion. We had a lazy day of sun-bathing and just enjoying the atmosphere. I mentioned previously that Bondi has a certain buzz that’s was even livelier on Christmas Day.

The highlight of the day would have to be donning Christmas hats while singing “We wish you a Merry Christmas from Bondi Beach” as a Christmas message for all our dear ones back home. (Perhaps you were a lucky one to have received that message and thought “what geeks”!! lol)

No Christmas is complete without a trip to the sales on Boxing Day. Well, we attempted them and failed miserably; we are obviously amateurs at it. Who could blame us though? At 2pm there were still queues just to get into the stores. Everywhere you looked there was a never ending sea of shoppers. We did however pick up a few bargains! Woo hoo!

New Years in Sydney in front of the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and a fireworks display that I would say is unrivalled - the experience was breathtaking, amazing, stunning, awe inspiring, grand, epic – I don’t think there is one single word that can really sum it up for us. It was incredibly emotional as it was a fantastic climax to our Australian East Coast tour.

Our New Years Eve started at 10 o’clock in the morning by queuing at Mrs MacQuarie’s point. Situated next to the Botanical Gardens we were planning on the best vantage point to watch the New Year display. First of all though we had to queue for 3 hours to get through the barriers and bag check to make sure we had no alcohol. The next challenge was to find a spot to secure. Now let me explain that on a normal day this is a quiet-ish green park with walkers taking in the skyline and views of the Sydney Harbour. Today however, you could not see a single patch of grass! Instead it was a sea of people and towels or blankets marking individual territories where they would sit for the next ten to twelve hours to watch the greatest firework show on earth. Well, we squeezed ourselves into a spot and marked our territory for the next ten hours. Two of those hours I stood in the water fountain queue to fill our water bottles!!

It was another blistering hot day and along with our Canadian travelling friends, that we had arranged to meet at this point, we were again stocked with food, drinks, sun lotion, portable radio, camera and Kindle in hand.

Roll on 9pm and the first fireworks display. This is the family show for those with children and not looking to be in the throng at midnight; though it still does not spare any expense or forgo on the wow factor. For us – who were in it for the long haul- our appetites were truly wetted. It made us feel like the long day had been well worth it.

At the strike of midnight and the firework-extravaganza begins. The New Year is heralded in with a literally breath taking show that has had no expense spared. You stand wanting more and you get more. You want bigger and brighter and you get that. Every minute and second of the previous fourteen hours is forgotten about and you are taken back to being a child loving every bang and show of lights in the sky. To watch in on television is an up lifting feeling but to watch it live and in person is… speechless! Everyone has seen it in some way perhaps on television and we were lucky enough to have been part of it. The photos we took were fantastic however they do not capture the happiness both me and Poonam had of living this moment together and enjoying every single moment of it; something I don’t think either of us will forget ever!

Here marks the close to our Sydney adventure and the start of a new chapter in this year long adventure. We will keep you updated with our trip and our lives as Melburnians.

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