Day 3: Sydney
After 22 hours in the plane and going to bed close to midnight, we decided to take some rest and sleep late, getting up at 9:00am. It was time to explore Sydney. We took a shower and got dressed, seeing it was gonna be 18 degrees that day and sunny, which was really nice for a winters day. Our winter days are much colder, so a long sleeve shirt and a t-shirt would do just fine. And luckily, my arm was pain free and I could move it in all directions again without discomfort!
At the reception we booked a tour to visit the Blue Mountains the next day, as it looked interesting in the travel brochures and travel book of Australia. Then we headed out onto the streets at around 10:00am, walking towards the Sydney Tower. Our hotel was close to Hyde Park, across from there I bought breakfast at Pasta Pantry, 2 ham & cheese sandwiches and an orange juice.
At the Sydney Tower, we bought a pass to visit 3 attractions: the Sydney Tpwer, the Sydney Aquarium and the Sydney Wildlife World. The first attraction was the Sydney Tower. Passing through security, the female security guard commented Martin on his aftershave, saying someone smelled really good. We took the elevator up and when we arrived we had a great 360 view of the city, since it was sunny and partly cloudy weather. Almost ideal for viewing and photography. So, we started taking pictures of the city.
On top, I bought the first postcards, as I noticed the highest working post box in the southern hemisphere on the tower. But the cards I bought were a bit too big for the box. But with a little more effort and some cursing, they went in.
After the visit to the Sydney Tower, we went to the Sydney Aquarium, which was just a short walk away in Darling Harbour. The aquarium hosts a big variety of australian ocean and river life, ranging from the southern and northern rivers to the southern and northern oceans. Some of the fish and other aquatic animals I saw were the platypus, crocodiles, sharks, turtles, rays as well as the beautiful coloured tropical fish and sea horses that actually live around the various spots in Sydney Harbour. We spent about 2 hours walking around and of course snapping a lot of pictures.
After visiting the aquarium, we had lunch, eating some sandwiches and drinking some juice. It already was close to 2pm and we lost track of time at the aquarium. When we finished our lunch, we went to the Wildlife Park, hoping to hug a koala or at least see one up close.
Scailes & Tails. home of the reptiles and snakes were the next animals we saw, before we walked through the Flight Canyon to level one and then straight to level two, the Rooftop Encounters, for the koalas. Unfortuantely the koalas were asleep and there was no chance of holding or touching one. But we did got to make some pictures of them, little did we know there were more of them around. From the top, we also took some pictures of the kangaroos down below, before we headed back down to level one to see more animals.
On level one we continued the normal route entering the After Dark, home of the nocturnal animals like bats, then it was back on the outside again, seeing the kangraroos more closely now. It was feeding time, as some were enjoying their dinner or late lunch. Then we walked through the Bid Walkthrough, where some beautiful coloured birds live. Some were flying on to people, thinking they had food.
The Dreamtime Cave was next, with the Red Heart across from it, home to more kangaroos. The Lush Canopy, the rainforest was followed by the Wallaby Cliffs, home to the wallabies and wombats. And then we went outside again to see more koalas at the Gum Tree Gully. After taking many pictures there, we went down through the Flutterbys and headed towards the exit.
Then we walked from Darling Harbour towards George Street, where we looked for a camera shop. Martin needed a spare battery for his camera, and I wanted to buy a small tripod for my camera. Then we headed towards Circular Quay, it was dark already, to see the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. We hang around for a while, before we walked back to our hotel, where we passed the Subway for our dinner. I was surprised the lack of restaurants we saw along the way to our hotel. But the foot long sandwich at Subway was delicious.
Back at the hotel, we headed straight to bed, since we had to get up very early the next day for our trip to the Blue Mountains and we had a tiring day in Sydney.
- Distance travelled: many miles by foot, giving me 1 blister
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Hyde Park is about 2 minutes away and Darling Harbour about 7 minutes.
The staff is very friendly and helpful and the rooms are very clean. The overal decoration of the hotel is modern. The neighbourhood of the hotel is safe and there is a conveniece store nearby, across from Hyde Park, as well as a pub across the street.
The location of the hotel is about 15 minutes drive from the airport.
There are a few restaurants nearby, but they do require about 10 minutes walk.
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