After a long, 14h flight, we arrived at Sydney International Airport, which is conveniently located right next to the city center. Thanks to my dedication to United, we had exit row seats and actually a pretty pleasant flight if you disregard the distance.
Landing in Sydney is pretty spectacular as you get a full view of the entire city, including the harbor with the Opera House.
December 13
We landed a bit early, which didn't help us much as we had to wait in the incredibly long immigration line due to my EU passport. I had assumed that because my travel authorization was free while Matt's wasn't, that I would breeze through with my EU passport due to Australia's Commonwealth status. Nope. Together with the lengthy customs quarantine process, it took us a good 2h from touchdown to leave the airport.
Sydney has a pretty well functioning train system, which we gladly took to Kings Cross Station where our hotel was. Once settled in and fed, we started walking towards downtown and the Botanical Gardens to get a view of the Opera House.
While having breakfast, the woman next to us recognized the Georgia hat I was wearing because her daughter had graduated from UGA. The world is really small. We would meet several "dawgs" in Australia while there.
From there we made our way through Circular Quay all the way over to The Rocks, the historic district. On the way, we did a quick stop at the free modern art exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art. After a round underneath the Harbour Bridge, we were finally too tired to continue but still walked all the way back to our hotel.
December 14
Up bright and early from the jetlag and going to bed at 9pm the night before, we made our way down to Darling Harbour, where we first took a stroll through the Chinese Tea Garden - it was the only thing open that early in the morning.
Further down the harbor, we first noticed that despite the hot weather, Australians take Christmas VERY seriously.
December 15
On our third day in Sydney, we decided to explore what's north of downtown and put the Taronga Zoo and Manly Beach on the plan. Taronga Zoo is probably the zoo with the best view in all the world. You have to take a ferry there or a bus across the Harbour Bridge. Overall, great zoo with extensive information on native Australian wildlife.
From the zoo, we caught an hour-long bus out to Manly Beach. Apparently that day was THE day for Santa parties, so we saw plenty of drunk Santas along the beach.
After a nice wings lunch by the beach, we finished our day with a 1h hike along the coast and back into Manly harbor, from where we took a ferry home.
December 16
Our last day in Sydney arrived and was filled with more beach adventures. This time we decided to take the train and bus out to the famous Bondi Beach and went on a 2h hike down to Coogee alongside the waterfront.
Back in the city, we wandered around downtown by the Botanical Gardens and then decided to visit the Australia Museum, which had a fantastic Tyrannosaurus exhibition (among others) going on.
And thus concluded our four days in Sydney and off we were to the red hot center of Australia.
Landing in Sydney is pretty spectacular as you get a full view of the entire city, including the harbor with the Opera House.
We landed a bit early, which didn't help us much as we had to wait in the incredibly long immigration line due to my EU passport. I had assumed that because my travel authorization was free while Matt's wasn't, that I would breeze through with my EU passport due to Australia's Commonwealth status. Nope. Together with the lengthy customs quarantine process, it took us a good 2h from touchdown to leave the airport.
Sydney has a pretty well functioning train system, which we gladly took to Kings Cross Station where our hotel was. Once settled in and fed, we started walking towards downtown and the Botanical Gardens to get a view of the Opera House.
From there we made our way through Circular Quay all the way over to The Rocks, the historic district. On the way, we did a quick stop at the free modern art exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art. After a round underneath the Harbour Bridge, we were finally too tired to continue but still walked all the way back to our hotel.
December 14
Up bright and early from the jetlag and going to bed at 9pm the night before, we made our way down to Darling Harbour, where we first took a stroll through the Chinese Tea Garden - it was the only thing open that early in the morning.
Further down the harbor, we first noticed that despite the hot weather, Australians take Christmas VERY seriously.
At the harbor, we then decided to spend some time at the Aquarium before a random stroll through the area brought us to the Powerhouse museum.
We probably wouldn't even have noticed the building hadn't it been for the giant Sonic the Hedgehog poster outside, advertising a gaming exhibition, which we naturally were both interested in.
December 15
On our third day in Sydney, we decided to explore what's north of downtown and put the Taronga Zoo and Manly Beach on the plan. Taronga Zoo is probably the zoo with the best view in all the world. You have to take a ferry there or a bus across the Harbour Bridge. Overall, great zoo with extensive information on native Australian wildlife.
Our last day in Sydney arrived and was filled with more beach adventures. This time we decided to take the train and bus out to the famous Bondi Beach and went on a 2h hike down to Coogee alongside the waterfront.
Back in the city, we wandered around downtown by the Botanical Gardens and then decided to visit the Australia Museum, which had a fantastic Tyrannosaurus exhibition (among others) going on.
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