in the merry old land of aus: sydney

Steve and I arrived from Adelaide, South Australia to Syndey, New South Wales at around noon on Sunday, May 15h. On the first day of our time in Sydney we found our hostel, The Strand, and got settled. The Strand was in a very good spot and was relatively inexpensive, and was kind of what we had expected. We wanted to leave as soon as possible and spend more time in the city and a lot less in the rooms. The basement floor though, was home to a tasty bar and grill where we had our dinner. Steve found out about a free bus loop that goes very close to the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge so we took that and spent some time along the water. We also, very roughly, planned out the next few days.

I knew about Mrs. MacQuaries’s Chair in the Sydney Botanical Gardens from travel books, so we decided to walk to the El Alamein Fountain and through the Finger Wharf on the way to see the Opera House from across the water on this famous chair. This view was incredible and definitely worth the walk! It would have been great at sun rise with the sun on the opera house and the bridge, but we saw it when the sun was peaking from behind it to give the view more of a silhouette feel. Steve and I spent the rest of the day walking .. for about eight whole hours .. and had a nice day in Sydney, Australia.

Our next day was spent in the Chinese Gardens of Friendship, the 2000 Olympic plaza and area, the Sydney Aquarium, and on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We saw a lot of cool things the Aquarium definitely being the main highlight. We learned a lot about the different fish that are found in and around Aus, and of course saw some pretty fierce looking sharks! We saw sting rays, turtles, and jellyfish too! The next morning was our flight to Cairns, so we had some dinner and said our good byes to the Harbour City.