Sydney was great! It was such a modern city that reminded me a lot of the US! It's interesting to me because it's the first time I've traveled abroad to a country that is more modern, it seems, than the states. Australia reminded me a lot of San Francisco, which I'll talk a bit more about in this post. Sara and I had a jam packed first two days, have a look if you'd like to read more.
We left the U.S. on the 9th and after a 15 hour flight we somehow arrived in Sydney on the 11th!
We successfully retrieved our luggage and then unsuccessfully attempted to put our gigantic backpacks on.. Not because we overpacked, but rather because it contained over 15 pounds of Australian coins. You see, my father was so kind as so get us some australlian currency, unfortunately it was all in 20 cent coins. About $100 Australlian dollars (~$72 USD) in 20 cent coins-- HEAVY. I didn't really want to lug the coins on my journey, but my dad was insistent that once we arrived we would be able to take them to a bank and exchange them for bills. We went to two different places in the air port to try to exchange them and neither place would take the coins. We then waited in a 20 minute line for a taxi with our bags and coins weighing us down. I do have to say that it was extremely organized to have this winding line for people to wait in to get a taxi.
We arrived at our airbnb in an area of Sydney called Ultimo. Our driver was very nice, but when he pulled over to let us out and we have him a large bag of 20 cent coins that added up to $43 he wasn't too happy with us. He actually got quite angry and told us he wouldn't accept the coins.. I totally get where he's coming from, but he wasn't nice at all and money is money. He made Sara go to the bank and exchange the coins..so he took her in the taxi and I was sitting outside on the curb by myself with all of our luggage. Not an ideal situation as we promised to stay together this trip!
I was sitting outside waiting for the girl who was supposed to bring our key and she arrived around the same time as Sara got back with still a large heavy bag of change.. They went to two banks and neither would trade in the coins. After some more arguing with our driver we ended up giving him $20 US Dollars and $10 Australlian dollars all in coins. He wasn't thrilled but he accepted it and we were 50 coins lighter. We dropped our things off in our cozy loft, which is super nice for only $30 AUD a night! Then we got going because we had an itinerary to stick to!
We were doing well on time and we headed out for lunch at Strawberry Hills Hotel which was a recommendation we got from a friend, thanks Bailey!!, and it did not disappoint! It was super yummy and such a hidden gem. Looked a little grungy on the outside and on the first floor, but upstairs there was an adorable outdoor beer garden. We split a quinoa salad, bruchetta, and these potato wedges that you dip in a mix of sweet chili sauce and sour cream. Normally I would not try that sauce because i don't like chill sauce or sour cream, but it was recommended as a must have in Sydney, thanks Jake!! It was actually quite tasty!! It slightly reminded me of papas bravas that I ate in Spain, because it was a little bit of a spicy sauce mixed with a white sauce that mellowed out the spice. It was delicious.
Here comes the fun part of the meal, paying. We were lugging around pounds of coins and our backs were killing us. I talked to the waitress and asked if it would be possible to pay with coins.. She was very confused why we brought all of these coins all the way from the US here, but she was our second savior of the trip and accepted $60 in 20 cent coins, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SAVING OUR BACKS!!!
After lunch we walked over to the circular quay (pronounced "key") to catch a ferry to go over to Manly beach. We purchased Opal cards that would allow us to add money to them to take ferries. We got to manly, which is a really cute beach town with this one nice street that cars can't drive on with palm trees. We walked down the strip and then settled on the beach to relax for a little bit. Lots of surfers and others enjoying the beautiful weather, it's summer here, so around 80 degrees at this time of year!
After relaxing we took a little coastal beach walk and then stopped in a grocery stores on the way back to the ferry. We were told by numerous people that we had to buy and eat Tim Tams, they are little chocolate biscuits and they did not disappoint.
We hopped back on the ferry and returned to the circular quay, however since we were able to ride for free for the rest of the day with our opal card, we decided to hop back on another ferry that would take us to Darling harbour and give us a nice view of the bridge and the opera house.
We got to Darling and walked along the harbour. I stopped in a coffee shop and got a Flat white. In the states, starbucks recently started selling flat whites, which is an Australian type of coffee drink, I loved it, so I felt it was fitting to get one here, plus I was exhausted from our time traveling and needed some energy.
We wandered back to our flat, showered, and went to grab a late night dinner around 10pm. The sunsets past 8pm, so this threw us off as to what time it was and when we were actually supposed to eat. We had a recommendation to try this place called Home Thai. It wasn't took far from our place, so we strolled over there.
We walked in a few minutes after ten and there were people eating inside but they were already cleaning up, even though the sign said they close at 11. They gave us a table and a few minutes later came by to take our order. I love Thai food, but being the difficult eater that I am, I of course asked for some alteration, such as "no fish sauce on the pad Thai." Also, just asked if they have any veggie spring rolls. The girl that took our order wasn't the best... After she went to check if they have veggie appetizers she never came back. We thought she put in our order but then another girl came by and asked if we were ordering, to which we responded, we thought we already did. We gave it to her, and shortly after we got our food and were pretty rushed out of there. Not the most pleasant dining experience, but the food was tasty.
We walked by darling harbour lit up at night and then walked home and passed out for our first real night of sleep. Also, on our walk we passed these biking stations that you can charge your phone at-- it requires you to pedal in order for your phone to charge!! Super cool.
Some initial thoughts about Sydney:
When we drove into the city I first saw a lot of big buildings, many of them had the names of American companies, the first one I saw was Ernst and Young, and then I saw the other big 4 firm buildings as well, it reminded me of all my wonderful accounting friends. I felt like I was in America, because signs were in English, it's a big city, and it's a very diverse population, with a strong asian presence because of the proximity to Asia. The only difference was that they drive on the opposite side of the road, which we would quickly have to get used to. Because of this, people also walk on the left side of the road, we got in many people's ways that day because we kept walking on the right side out of habit.
Sydney reminded me a lot of San Francisco. There are a lot of old fashioned houses and buildings, similar trees line the streets, the harbors, the bay, the bridge, when on the ferry it looked like rolling hills with lots of little houses, similar to SF. I like Sydney, so I'm excited to move to the Sydney of America.
Sara has a fit bit, so I have decided to add our (well assuming I have the same) step count per day in the blog: 33,062.
We got up on Tuesday and went to a breakfast spot called pancakes on the rocks, that a few people had recommended. I soon learned that the rocks were not actual rocks but just an area of Sydney. We of course had to get pancakes, and they all came with ice cream, which I wasn't opposed to but also not used to. It was the breakfast of champions indeed.
We then caught a ferry to Sydney's famous Toronga zoo. I've been to quite a few zoos, and this one was very unique! You get off the ferry and then take a cable car up to the zoo. From the zoo there are gorgeous views of the city, bridge and opera house, so behind the giraffes, you can see the ocean and city. We walked around and admired all the animals and we also learned A LOT! Some of my favorite things I learned were about Koalas and Kangaroos. I knew that koalas eat eucalyptus leaves, but I didn't realize that's the only thing they eat, and I also didn't realize that there is a poison in the leaves that would be poisonous to humans and other animals and only koalas have certain enzymes in their stomachs to break down the poison. Because of this, it takes a LONG time for koalas to digest the enzymes and it takes a lot of energy. So much energy that they really don't have energy to do anything else, except eat. We were at the koala exhibit for quite some time and I think I saw one move its hand for a leaf once. Another thing about Koalas is that they are illegal to hold in this area of Australia (New South Wales). The zookeeper said that it's for the wellbeing of the animals because when they are picked up, their digestion process is disrupted so it takes a longer time for them to digest the leaves. They are adorable animals, but as volunteer zookeeper Frank said, they are boring.
Kangaroos on the other hand are full of energy and fascinating. We saw wallabys and kangaroos and we even got to pet a kangaroo, they are very soft!
We talked to a zookeeper to learn more about the kangaroo pouch and how kangaroos are born and let me tell you, it is incredible.
When a baby kangaroo is "born" it comes out of the womb the size of a jelly bean, yes JELLY BEAN. It doesn't even have back legs. The mother licks a trail up it's stomach/ pouch and the little jelly bean crawls up as it follows the scent trail into the pouch. Once in the pouch it attaches to the mother's nipple and continues to grow inside the pouch. The pouch is similar to a womb as that is where the baby is able to develop. Sometimes the baby kangaroo, also known as a joey, sticks out a leg or head, but it usually spends 5-6 months in the pouch until it is ready to come out and be self sufficient. HOW COOL!
We also spent a good amount of time at the penguin exhibit, which was great. We went to an awesome bird show where all different types of birds were trained extremely well to fly around the audience and respond to certain cues or noises. I was so impressed that the birds didn't fly away because we were outside and the birds would be free to go!
Overall, the zoo was time well spent and we learned a lot.
Fun at the zoo!
We took the ferry back to town, grabbed lunch and then headed to "the world's most famous beach" called, Bondin Beach. We didn't spend much time there, what we did was a 4 mile coastal walk from bondi beach to cogee beach. It was gorgeous with amazing views around every corner. On our walk, we saw a couple of sand volleyball courts with people playing so I suggested we hop down there and go check it out! We sat on a bench and watched people play 2 v 2, and there was also a court with guys playing a different sport. It was like volleyball but without using your hands. I talked to a few of the guys and they were all from Brazil and the game they were played was called "football." It was the most impressive thing I have ever seen. The would kick the ball over, or head it over, pass with their chest, jump in the air and kick it. I was in awe. All the Brazilian guys now live in Sydney it was cool to learn more about their culture and how they ended up in Australia.
Bondi Beach
Then a lady from another court asked if we wanted to play, but they only needed one of us. We really can't say no to sports, so I hopped on the court and played the first game and then Sara jumped on another court that needed a player for the next game. In the first game I played with, I was teamed up with a guy who is from Slovakia, Peter,?and now lives in Sydney. After our games separately, we were able to play together against a team of a woman from Germany, susana, and a guy from France, Jeremy, that both live in Sydney now. We played 3 games of 21 and ended up losing the match with the last game going to 26. It was so fun to hang out with locals, take a break and play. After talking to quite a few of the people, I realized how common it is for people to move here. Everyone had come for a holiday (holiday is what they call vacation) and then decided to stay... Forever. Well, I am already in the air port headed to Melbourne as I write this, so I won't be one who traveled to Sydney and never came back. After volleyball, we continued on our walk to cogee beach. It was around 8pm and the sun was just starting to set. Lots of people run along the coastal path, and we saw one guy struggling up the stairs so I cheered him on to keep going, and then he stopped and ended up walking with us for about 30 minutes. He was from Sydney and loved American sports to he was happy to talk to us about the NFL & NBA. After chatting about sports and Australia, he recommended a place for us to stop in cogee beach and then continued his jog. Aussie's are SO NICE.
We got to cogee and saw the place he recommended, it was called the Pavillion. It was such a cool restaurant/ bar! It was HUGE! It was beach town themed. Lots of table and a big bar on the first floor with a kids area in the back with a big scrabble board, ping pong tables and more. On the upper level there was an awesome beer garden--such good vibes up there. We had a yummy pizza and chatted there for a while until we decided to head back to the city. We stopped and got gelato, at gelato Messina, recommended by a few people, it was quite tasty! Then we went by the Sydney harbour to see the opera house lit up at night. It was beautiful and there was a really neat "opera bar" right on the water next to the opera house with great views of the Sydney bridge. It was around midnight and we were exhausted. We had a 6am flight to catch to Melbourne, so we headed back, packed our things, took a 3 hour nap and then took and Uber to the air port. Final step count of the day: 28,597.
Super breezy on the coastal walk! Almost got knocked over a couple of times!
We are about to take off, so I'll see you later Sydney!
Sending smiles from Sydney,
Rebecca
