Our time in Sydney has been jam packed, and well spent. We managed to cram in a number of experiences, and even made time to do a load of laundry. Not a terribly exciting way to spend part of a vacation, but a necessary evil unless you are willing to bring TONS of luggage or can afford to buy all new clothes (in case you were wondering, no, we haven’t won the lottery).
Day 1: Photos and ferries and beaches, Oh My!
Tara and I made the jet lag work in our favor. When we finally arrived in Sydney, we had an early dinner. Since we were both exhausted, we were in bed by 8pm. (Of course, this isn’t anything new for Tara. She turns into a pumpkin by 7pm most nights.) This meant that we were well rested for the short walk from our hotel to Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair. This is a fantastic viewpoint of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. I managed to convince her to rise early enough that we got to the viewpoint before the sunrise and had a few minutes to explore before the good light hit. (Of course, if you ask her, we came to this decision around 3am when she woke me up with the glowing light from her cell phone. And, then we took a leisurely nap until 5am when it was time to wake up.)
Once the sun had well and truly risen, we took a stroll along the water around the opera house and to Circular Quay. This afforded us a number of photo opportunities and different perspectives of the city, harbor, bridge, and the opera house itself. It really puts the Portland waterfront to shame and I highly recommend that the “Running in the Buff” shoggling club considers relocating to Sydney for our training runs. Perhaps when one of us wins the lottery, they can make this happen for the group. (I’m counting on you Glenn or Shannon!)
Not wanting to risk an appearance from the Hangry Tara Monster, the next logical step was to hunt down a meal in the wild lands of downtown Sydney. Avoiding the fried tourist food offered at Circular Quay (pronounced “Circular Key”), we meandered through the Royal Botanical Gardens back toward our hotel. To call the gardens beautiful is an understatement, similar to calling water wet. It certainly is, but the word alone doesn’t do it justice. Along with the plants, we saw some interesting birds and one heck of a spider. He definitely wasn’t as cute as the kookaburra birds we chased after with our cameras.
We eventually found a delightful café on the water and had breakfast (or “brekkie” as the natives call it). With full bellies and almost a full day ahead of us, we moseyed (ok, waddled) back to the hotel. After a short break and some research, we had he next stage of our adventure planned. We headed out the door to catch a cab back to Circular Quay.
Our plan was to catch a ferry out to one of the Sydney beaches. There wasn’t a direct water rout to Bondi Beach, so we jumped on a ferry to Manly Beach and that left 2 minutes after we strolled up to the ticket counter. A quick scamper down the dock and onto the gangplank had us safely aboard and excited about the beach fun to be had. The ferry started underway and the harbor was a complexly choreographed ballet of vessels large and small, motorized and wind borne, darting across the water. Each leaving behind a fading echo as the only proof of their ephemeral existence upon the water.
The hypnotizing and tranquil ferry ride didn’t last long, and we were deposited at Manly Beach where we opted to take the 3-4 block walk from the ferry terminal to the main beach. Being from a predominantly sunless climate, I didn’t want to stay out in the sun too long. Sure, the Aussie approved SPF 50 barrier was liberally applied, so we could have gawked at the other beach goers from the silky smooth sand. But, we limited ourselves to a short walk down to and along the beach. The sand was warm and much less course than the Oregon coast. The water was cool, but not cold. It was a spectacular day at the beach, if I might be so bold. A little encouragement was all it took to get Tara to join me at a table under the shade of a tree overlooking the beach to relax. There are few things in this world better than sitting on (or very near) a beach with the love of your life, listening to an audiobook, and not having a care or commitment in the world. In that moment, I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.
When it was time to head back to the ferry, we were both very surprised to see some folks playing volleyball in the sand. Ok, so that wasn’t terribly unexpected. One of the gals, however, was playing in a very small two piece bathing suit and rocking a 7-8 month baby bump (Fine, I didn’t ask, and I am no expert on the subject, but let’s just say that I am 95% confident that she was between 2 and 10 months. And, she looked much closer to the 10 month mark).
The return trip on the ferry provided us with some new angles of the opera house, and we took every advantage. After we disembarked from the ferry and caught a cab back to the hotel, we were just in time to take some sunset photos. One of the front desk clerks at the hotel had seen our camera gear, and let us know that we were welcome to head up to the roof if we wanted to take photos at sunset. Once we were up there, we had time to check out the views, setup tripods, and enjoy each other’s company for a few minutes. But, as soon as the colors in the sky got interesting, it was each photographer for him/her self. Kinda like Thunderdome, but with less gore and no midgets. (Tara was totally hoping for midgets….)
Being close to total exhaustion at this point, we had a quick dinner and hit the sack. We had a plan for the next day and needed our beauty sleep.
To see a gallery of Sydney photos, Click here