Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Days 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 and 99
It was only a short drive before we arrived at our apartment in Sydney. The location was really good and from our balcony we had awesome views of the city, especially when it was lit up at night. After settling in we headed into the city to walk around the harbour and get up close to the 'other thing' (Opera house). We sat in the warm sunshine watching all the boats come in and out before going back to get ready for a night with the boys (aka dad's work friends who all live in Sydney). They were all really nice and the restaurant we went to was great and had brilliant views of the harbour bridge all lit up.
We woke up early on mum, dad and helenas last day in Australia to make the most of the glorious sunny weather. We decided to catch the ferry over to Manly beach, and spend the day relaxing. The ferry journey offered great views of the opera house and bridge together (cue more photo opportunities) and the whole harbour looked beautiful. The waves at the beach in Manly once we arrived were huge, and once again Jamie enjoyed most of the day spent in the sea (although he was sick that night after swallowing too much seawater!)
After our sunshine filled first two days, we were disappointed to wake up to torrential rain the next morning. We said our heartfelt goodbyes to the family as they left for the airport and we arrived in the red light district of Sydney for our final 6 days in Australia. Jackaroo hostel was quite nice, however it was very large and busy. We headed for a walk to Darling harbour, and saw some circus performers, but the rain closed in again so we decided to go back to the hostel to chill out.
Easter sunday we woke up to no Easter egg hunt, and had to make do with a creme egg...sad times for Michelle. Despite the forecast it was not raining outside so we decided to head to Bondi beach to do the famous coastal walk to Coogee beach. Despite some black clouds overhead it stayed sunny for the rest of the day, and we enjoyed a picnic lunch at Bronte (midway point on walk). It took us 2 and a half hours to get to Coogee and rather than get the bus back we thought we would get some more exercise and walk instead. It was a nice boardwalk along the coast and we got to watch many surfers, and we even saw a lifeguard rescue! We were disappointed that we listened to the weatherman and didn't take our swimwear because the day was so warm and after all the walking we did it would have been nice to cool off in the sea.
Monday was Anzac day in Australia (their Rememberance day) so everywhere was closed as it was a bank holiday. The weather was also pretty dismal again, but we managed to catch the end of the Anzac parade before heading to what seemed like the best option remaining for us...the cinema. To catch a film in England is definitely cheap in comparison although 'Just go with it' was a good film with plenty of Adam Sandler moments.
We had a long lie in the next day but got up in the afternoon to catch the free walking tour of Sydney at 2:30pm. Our tour guide was also called Michelle and she was really friendly and knew alot about the city. We got to see all the famous sights including the Rocks and Hyde park, and learnt about Sydney's history in the process. The tour ended at the Sydney opera house where we watched the sunset before heading back.
We had an early start on Wednesday for our tour bus to the Hunter Valley Wine region. As it was a 2 hour drive we made the customary stop at a wildlife park on the way, although on this occasion we got something which we weren't expecting....we were able to hold Monty the tree python. Our first stop was not at a winery but at a chocolate shop, where we got to try homemade chocolate and fudge of different varieties (the Mars flavour was the best), but it was too expensive to buy anything. We then stopped at Molly's winery, whrere we met Serg, the French manager. We got to try about 18 different types of wine (reds, whites and dessert), and we both liked the dessert wine, which had a toffee like flavour to it, the most. We were both feeling tipsy as a result, and we were glad that our next stop involved food. At the Smelly cheese shop we got to try different soft cheeses, and some nice creamy blue cheese. We then went to another winery where we were again given samples of wine to try, but didn't find any that we liked more than the one from Mollys. Our last stop of the day was at a small brewery where there was a selection of beers to sample. We tried one that had hints of chocolate in but I wasn't keen as I'm not a big beer fan, however Jamie thought it was very nice.
On our final day in Sydney the weather was again miserable in the morning so we chilled out in the hostel and booked our accommodation for Fiji. In the afternoon the weather cleared up so we went for a walk down to the Botanical gardens where we got one last view of the harbour, and sat in Mrs Macquarie's chair (basically a carved stone seat). We went for our final hot chocolate (the best ever...tasted like melted milk chocolate) at the cafe down the road, before going back to pack ready for New Zealand!!
- comments