To Sydney we go!

So after 3 great days exploring Melbourne, it was time to bid our farewells, head to the airport and take a short flight north to our next stop - Sydney. We arrived at our hotel around 3pm and headed across the street to the grocery store to stock up on a few provisions - yoghurt and bagels for breakfast, some fruit, water and snacks, and maybe a bottle or two of Australian wine! We then set off on foot to walk through the beautiful botanical gardens with a goal of reaching the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. We headed to a place called Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair, which is out on a point in the harbour and gives a spectacular view across to the bridge and opera house. Along the way we saw some interesting birds - cockatiels roaming free, and a very bold long beaked one which I’m going to have to ask Mr. Google about! Also some lovely trees and plants along the way. From the point, we saw there was a sea wall around the harbour that would take us right to the opera house, so off we went. What a spectacular sight to see these beautiful landmarks up close! The weather was very warm, but overcast, so not the best for photos, but we have lots of time to take more.

The opera house is a lovely structure, and I didn’t realize till I got up close that thousands of tiles make up the white “sails” of the building. We also watched “bridge walkers” as they slowly traversed the Sydney Harbour Bridge - not for the faint of heart!! We continued walking around the harbour to find there are many outside restaurants and cafes along the waterfront, so we decided to have our dinner there before heading back to our hotel. Now, I’m getting a complex about storms following us, cos as we were sitting at our outdoor table, a big black cloud came overhead, then we felt a couple of raindrops, and then - yes, another torrential downpour! We couldn’t even see the bridge for the heavy cloud cover and rain, and I couldn’t help feeling really sorry for those poor bridge walkers! People sitting at the outside restaurants ran for cover - including us - and then within 10 minutes, it was all over and the sun started to shine - there was even a rainbow over the opera house when we walked back.

After our lovely “dinner and a storm”, we decided to head back to the hotel - busy day exploring tomorrow and we both have sore feet and legs from all this walking! So far, I’m very impressed with this beautiful city and cant wait to see more!Read more