Sydney was incredible!
It was a great trip - though not without any snags. Fortunately we arrived at the airport early because we did not realize that we needed visas just to visit Australia! I think this probably happens to quite a few people and was easily remedied by logging into the computer they had near check in and applying for visas which came through in 20 minutes. We will definitely be more careful now when traveling to other countries.
Once we fixed that, we were on our way!
Once we arrived we ventured to our hotel via their subway system, which is actually pretty extensive. Our hotel was in Darling Harbour right on the water. Our room was really nice because it also had a refrigerator, dishes, utensils and a sink. It was nice to be able to have breakfast in the room so we could get an early start in Sydney each day. The first day we walked around Darling Harbour, picked up a few groceries for the room and stopped for some dinner at a restaurant called Nick's Seafood where we had a harbour view and tried some of the seafood of Australia. Jocelyn has red snapper and Trey tried what wound up being our favorite fish in Sydney - John Dory fillet. YUM! We ended the meal with some profiteroles.
The next day we woke up early to head over to Circular Quay (pronounced KEY) to see a show at the famous Sydney Opera House on Bennelong Point. We had purchased our tickets beforehand. Fortunately they were running a program called Tea and Symphony so after we got our tickets we made our way up to the concert hall and they were serving tea and biscuits in beautiful cups with matching saucers. Very civilized! :) Even Trey drank the tea and as we all know he does NOT drink hot liquids! LOL The show we saw was Prokofiev The Romantic: Piano Concerto No.3 in C, Op.26 and Symphony No. 6 in E flat minor, Op.111. It was not only breathtaking seeing the building up close from the outside but inside is even more magnificent. We really enjoyed the show and took photos even though we were pretty sure we weren't supposed to. We also toured the Opera House as well where we learned that in fact the design as we know it was tossed into the reject pile initially when designs were judged for the opera house!
After the tour we headed over to The Rocks for their Markets by Moonlight. They have live music, local restaurants selling food and local artisans selling their goods. Jocelyn bought a black and white feather headband which makes an appearance in quite a few photos from the trip! After exploring the markets we stumbled upon a restaurant/wine bar called Wine Odyssey. Initially we just figured we would try a few glasses of wine. It was a great concept actually. You could buy a card that looked like a credit card and go around to all the different wines that had buttons for a taste, a hlf glass or a full glass. Afterwards, they printed out a receipt of all the wines you had and you could buy them at their wine store next door! Clever. We wound up staying for dinner since the appetizer we got was so delicious - beet ravioli with goat cheese and a balsamic dressing. Trey tried another Australian fish for dinner called Barramundi and Jocelyn got her meat - beef fillet with an oxtail doughnut. Jocelyn has found from a few places now that she apparently loves oxtail. Strange but true.
The next day, Saturday, was the most adventurous day there! We woke up and headed out to the Sydney Bridge Climb. It was a perfect day - not too hot and not too cold. They suited us up in our suits and we out on our harnesses with the clip with would keep us connected to the bridge during the climb. The entire process of suiting up actually took an entire hour. They also gave us headphones to listen to our guide. We actually had a couple from NY and a couple from Boston on our climb! Small world. It was exhilarating but the safety measures they took were really impressive. It was very interesting to have our guide give us a tour of Sydney from way above it. Once we got to the summit it was magnificent and the guide gave us time to really take it in. It was great too because as you can see above, they took lots of photos of us on the climb since they obviously do not allow you to take your own camera. The climb took about 2 hours in total and it was one of the best things we have done.
Later that evening we went out for our splurge meal to a place that we had seen rated very highly on the Food and Wine Magazine website called Fouveaux. If you click on the link you will see the tasting menu that we had. They were happy to accommodate Trey's no meat policy and my no berry policy. It was a spectacular meal. We did decide to do it with wine pairings and both loved how they came out to explain each course and the wine to match. Jocelyn's favorite was the baked rainbow trout with victorian morel mushrooms, clams, mache, sugar snaps and sweet corn purée and Trey's favorite was the marinated ocean trout, smoked trout ice cream, cucumber, popped skin and neó gai. Apparently we are big trout people :)
Sunday we changed our plans a bit. Initially we were planning to do a harbour cruise. Some of these can be quite expensive and do not see the entire harbour. We had heard from a few people that the way to see the harbour best was to take a ferry to Manly Beach (just as wonderful as the famous Bondi Beach but a little less touristy. The ferry took about half an hour from Circular Quay to Manly and was about half the price of the harbour cruises. Sydney really utilizes their harbour to its potential and the people really take full advantage of the ferries and water taxis to get around. We brought our bathing suits and spent the day on the beach. It was perfect. There are some shops between the ferry stop and the beach. We thought about getting in the water but when we stuck our toes in it was too cold for that.
Before dinner that evening, we decided to go to see the Sydney Tower Observation deck. Since we had seen Sydney from way up atop the bridge during the day we figured it might be nice to see it at night too. It was great to see from above how complex the harbour really is but all in all it was a pretty big tourist trap. Afterwards we headed to another restaurant recommended by Jocelyn's co-worker called Longrain. It was an Asian fusion place where they actually gave us our fish dishes as whole fish with the eyes and teeth! We usually make it a habit not to eat food that can look back at us, but in this case it was well worth it. Jocelyn was also excited that they had some really yummy cocktails to order. She tried the Watermelon Rose martini which was so good she ordered two!
Monday was shopping day!! Jocelyn was very excited about this naturally. Though she loves Christchurch, it is not really known for shopping and after living in Boston, Sydney was a nice treat! She got the obligatory pair of Uggs (gray ones which she has never seen before!), a shirt from Sass & Bide, a swarovski cupcake necklace and a few other treats.
That evening we went for an Italian meal at a place called A Tavola which according to Food & Wine Magazine is the best Italian food in Australia! It was one long table where everyone sat. The pasta is prepared on site and was soooo yummy. We have not had Italian food since we left the US and were REALLY missing it.
On our final day we did not have a ton of time but planned well and figured we would explore Sydney Wildlife World for a few hours before heading to the airport since it was right near our hotel. We came at the right time because we were just in time for the Kangaroo feeding! We were able to pet the kangaroos while they were being fed! We also saw koalas and other indigenous Australian animals. It was pretty cool!
One more city conquered and boy are we tired! Enjoy the pictures and keep checking the blog to follow our adventures in this hemisphere.
CHEERS!
