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Published: June 17th 2013
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This year we were unable to get travel insurance for Ash, so rather than staying home we decide to hop over the ditch and visit Sydney for a long weekend and also celebrate Steve's 50th birthday at the same time.
We left Auckland on Friday morning at 8:00am flying Virgin Australia with only carry on luggage (the ONLY way to travel) and were sitting in our room at the Hyde Park Inn by 10:30am having a cuppa. Brilliant!
It was an absolutely stunning day weather wise so we make the most of it and walked thru Hyde Park, down thru the Botanical gardens and along the beautiful waterfront as far as "Mrs Macquaries chair". Got some brilliant photos! Then it was more walking back to Circular Quay via the Opera House and up to the Harbour Bridge Pylon lookout for more photos. We were all getting a bit jaded by now so we caught a ferry around to Darling Harbour and checked out Chinatown before sitting down to watch the Vivid light show over the water.
We woke Saturday morning to another perfect day so we decided to hop on the bus and head up to Palm Beach,
about 2 hours north of Sydney and where the tv show Home and Away is filmed. We sussed out the surf club and cafe used as settings in the show, had lunch with all the hob nobs before catching the bus back to Manly.
Manly was having a food and wine festival so it was buzzing with people and had the weather had turned and it had started to drizzle. We checked out a couple of shops before heading back into the CBD on the ferry in time to catch the Vivid displays downtown. They were simply AMAZING! We were so lucky to have timed our visit to coincide with this event. It was so cool. Unfortunately the rain has got heavier by now and we were thankful to have an umbrella and coats. It hadnt stopped thousands of Sydneysiders from coming out of the woodwork - the waterfront was just jam packed with people.
Sunday, and the rain was pretty persistent and heavy - a great day to go shopping at the mall. Unfortunately the Westfield mall comprised mainly of top end stores and it wasn't until we got to the 6th floor food hall that it
got interesting. Wow, what a foodie heaven. Lunch, then we were off again walking in the rain to Darling Harbour and the Sydney Aquarium. Now, in the scheme of things, this is a great aquarium and we were lucky enough to see some platypus and the dugongs, but I think we are now all aquariumed out and that will be the last one we visit. More walking in the rain (and cold) over the pedestrian bridge to have dinner.
Monday, our last full day and Jordan wanted to go to the zoo. Great! The Taronga zoo is on the other side of the harbour, so you have to take a ferry (what a beautiful harbour!), then a gondola ride up the hillside to the entrance of the zoo. This means it's all downhill as you wind your way thru the zoo and back to the ferry - whew. I'm glad it wasn't the other way around. I think we must be zooed out too as all of us agreed that it was a little disappointing. There were a lot of animals off display and more were tucked up in their enclosures out of view. We did however enjoy our
day, got to see the gorillas, the tigers, elephants & a good number of snakes, but that was the last zoo for a few years.
It was still only mid afternoon, so we jumped on a bus and headed out to Bondi beach, arriving just as the sun was going down. We had time enough for a quick stroll along the esplanade before heading back into the city for dinner. Steve chose to have his birthday dinner at the restaurant/bar under the Opera House. The view was to die for. Early up the next morning as we had to check in for our flight home by 8:30am.
All in all we had a FABULOUS long weekend and plan to do it again every year - but a different destination of course.
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