Australia: Sydney

G’day mates. It’s time to tell you about our adventures in Sydney.

We did not have an internet connection, so I couldn’t blog while we were there. I know I could have sought out wifi somewhere else, but I shrugged my shoulders and instead admired the Sydney skyline from the balcony of our apartment.

We landed on Tuesday afternoon after a relatively uneventful day of travel and checked into our apartment, which was in the Glebe neighborhood – one of oldest “suburbs” in the city. Our apartment had great views of the neighborhood on one side and glimpses of the harbor and Anzac Bridge on the other.

On Wednesday, we were leisurely, but then were out and pounding pavement by mid-morning. We walked toward Circular Quay, which was one of the earliest harbors in use by the first settlers. We took a slightly roundabout route so that we could pass through Hyde Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens, which are just south of the famous Opera House.

We ended up at the water, where we hopped onto a ferry to take us across the harbor. At that point, we still had not gotten a good look at the Opera House, other than tiny glimpses of the top. But then, it revealed itself to us.

Of course, we also saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Across the water, we got off the ferry and started the day’s main outing: Toronga Zoo. Yes, I know, yet another animal adventure, but this one included something totally new for us, which I’ll tell you about shortly.

We saw an echidna, which was the first time any of us had ever seen that particular monotreme. I had thought that they were about the size of a hedgehog, but they were more on par with a groundhog.

You’re not going to believe this, but we saw koalas again. However, this time, we didn’t hold any. We did, however, get to do something that was just as exciting.

Hellz yeah, we fed some giraffes. With our bare hands. Unlike when we held koalas, I wasn’t at all nervous or overwhelmed; rather, I started laughing because the giraffes were so eager to get their long 20 inch long tongues on the carrots in our hands. It was so funny and so much fun.

At the end of the afternoon, we took the ferry back across the water.

Then we hopped on a subway and headed back to our apartment.

The next day, Thursday, I got up and went for a run, then we all went out for another urban walkabout. We were headed back to the harbor, where we planned to explore the bridge, the Opera House, and other places along the water.

The bridge, I must say, while quite striking from afar, is actually rather unattractive up close, as the pedestrian walkway has been retrofitted with bars, fencing, and barbed wire in order to keep people from throwing anything or themselves over the sides.  The additional materials completely mar the bridge’s appearance. Walking along it felt a bit prison-like (not that I have any experience in that sort of venue).

But, the trek across was worth it, if only for the views, both on the bridge and on the other side, where we picnicked and had terrific views.

After that, we walked back across the bridge and worked our way through the Rocks neighborhood, which is the oldest part of Sydney and the place where the first settlers lived and worked.

Then we moved around the water and found ourselves really and truly close to the Opera House. One thing that I did not know until this trip is that the different parts of the roofline are made of tiles. For some reason, I just thought each individual section was smooth, like plastic or something, so I was very surprised to learn about the tile and then delighted to get to study it up close.

After that, since it was a warm day (low 80s) and we were rather foot-sore, we decided to start making our way back to our apartment since the next day we’d be leaving Sydney and we had to pack.

Until later…