How can five days do justice to this spectacular, huge, and diverse city? There is so much to see here! How can we squeeze in visits to the famous landmarks, historic sites, sandy beaches, and beautiful parks and gardens? Let’s see how and what we did.
Day 15, Friday, September 20: Sydney
After a leisurely morning and early lunch, we returned the rental car at the Launceston airport and said our goodbyes to Tasmania. Steve has driven over a thousand kilometers on this beautiful island under a variety of weather conditions.
After an hour and 40-minute flight on Qantas Airways, we arrived at Sydney’s airport at 4 pm. Our driver met us and drove us to the Park Royal hotel at Darling Harbour. We will be “living” here, in room 313, for five days.
The good thing about the hotel is that it’s conveniently located: close to a train and tram stations, and relatively close to major landmarks on foot.
An early dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, Australian rugby matches on tv, and the day was over.
Day 16, Saturday, September 21: Sydney
The sightseeing started today. We were driven to The Rocks Walking Tours office on Clocktower Square, checked in, and before the walking tour started at 10:30 am, we had a quick half hour to get the first glimpse of the iconic Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
The Rocks is the site of the first colonial settlement in Australia in 1788. From our guide we learned about the historic events and the colorful characters of the past, discovered restored sandstone buildings, and wandered down hidden alleyways to courtyards.
After the 90-minute long interesting walking tour (that was attended by 20 people), we strolled through the famous Rocks Market, home of many art, jewelry, clothing, and food stands.
We had a leisurely walk by the harbour admiring the incredible architecture of the Opera House, which is considered one of the most famous buildings in the world. Since it was the weekend and the weather was really enjoyable (25 degrees Celsius), there were many tourists everywhere.
It took us about 45 minutes to walk back to our hotel. It was a good way to see the different streets and buildings.
In the end of the day, as a surprise, for no other reason than that it was Saturday and a rugby match day, we observed fireworks from our room’s window over Darling Harbour.
Day 17, Sunday, September 22: Sydney
Today was packed with events. We started at 7 am with the Panoramic Sydney bus tour. By the time we picked up the other 7 tourists, it was 8 am. The bus drove us through the historic Rocks area, by the harbour, through the shopping center, and various districts of the city.
Since Sydney is so big (twice as big as London or New York, but with less population), the bus tour made sense. The downside was that once we got off the bus, we got only limited time to check out the different places. Like when we arrived at the famous Bondi Beach (one of Sydney’s more than 100 sandy beaches), I wished we could have had more then 20 minutes to enjoy the beachfront promenade and the water in the beautiful warm and sunny weather. But we managed to walk on the beach a little and soak our feet in the ocean.
After noon, we went on a Sydney Harbour Cruise that included lunch. We enjoyed the stunning views of the city from the upper deck. Before the tour started, we briefly checked out the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Back to our hotel on the train, which turned out was free for everyone in the city this weekend. How convenient!
And the day wasn’t over yet. We had a ticket to a performance at 6:30 pm – great opera hits – at the Opera House! We bought our tickets online in Seattle months ago, and picked them up at the box office yesterday. It was a great feeling to attend this lovely opera performance in the Joan Sutherland Theatre, which is the second largest venue in the Opera House.
We had an amazing day today!
Day 18, Monday, September 23: Sydney
This day was dedicated to a full day visit to the Blue Mountains with a small group of 12 people, on a tour bus operated by the same company we went with yesterday. This time it took the driver longer (who was also the tourist guide) to pick up the fellow attendees, so by the time we left the city behind, it was already almost 9.
Our first stop was Calmsley Hill, a working farm, where we had an hour to wander around, learn from the local farm-guide about the animals there: kangaroos, emus, wombats, and koalas. We were allowed to get into the enclosure with the koala and even pet him.
From the farm, we continued on the highway to the Blue Mountains, where we visited outlooks of the Jamison Valley and enjoyed the beautiful vistas.
From the Eaglehawk Lookout, we admired the famous rock formation, the Three Sisters.
In the afternoon, we visited more lookouts and the really beautiful Mt Tomah Botanic Garden. To our surprise, here we found plants very familiar to us – some of them we even have in our own garden in Seattle – but also amazing native plants and flowers from Africa and other parts of the world. Again, more time would have been needed to enjoy this garden to its fullest.
We got back in Sydney at 5 pm, drove through the Harbour Bridge, and after being dropped off at our hotel, we spent some time exploring Darling Harbour.
Day 19, Tuesday, September 24: Sydney
On this last day in Sydney, we were on our own to leisurely explore the city a little more. At 10 am, we met one of Steve’s old friends, Norma, at the Queen Victoria Building – just a 10-minute walk from our hotel. We had tea and a delicious pastry at Vienna Coffee Co. Steve and Norma met 44 years ago on a bus tour of the Outback of Australia, and kept in touch since then. It was a lovely reunion for them!
Back to the hotel for a quick change, then headed to the Royal Botanic Garden, which is adjacent to the Opera House (at the eastern headland of Sydney Harbour). Train was the easiest form of transportation again, but this time it wasn’t free. However, it was very simple to ride. No need to purchase a ticket ahead or on the train. Just tap your credit card at the beginning to get in, then tap it again when you get out for the system to register how much they charge for your ride. Pretty genius!
Sydney ranks as the fourth greenest city in the world. There are many public parks and gardens. The Royal Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in Australia. They encourage people to walk and picnic on the grass, smell the flowers – and we did just that – but there are some restrictions (they ask you nicely): don’t walk on garden beds, collect plants, climb the trees, feed the birds. No pets, skateboarding, scooter riding, cycling, roller skating, frisbees, drones, or ball games.
We enjoyed our stroll through the Botanic Garden very much, and from the 15 themed gardens we were able to visit a few.
One last quick visit to the Opera House, then on our final walk in Sydney while going back to our hotel, we tried to take in as much as we could from the life of the city. And it was time to pack our luggage again, to get ready for the next leg of our journey.
