The Sydney of Sarah

Finally, the day came when Amber arrived - a partner in crime! What would we get ourselves into over the next 4.5 weeks?? The weather in Sydney was supposed to be the nicest of all. Reminder – it was wet season in Queensland, but somehow I ended up with the most beautiful weather while I was there. Sydney was supposed to be warm, sunny, dry rather than humid; but when Amber and I arrived, it was chilly and gloomy – not exactly a great way to start our trip, as we quickly realized that both of us get a bit crabby when the sun isn’t shining. Thankfully we were staying in a swank little hotel the first couple of nights, so that in itself was something that put me in a good mood. After a few weeks in hostels and sailboats, I could finally get a great shower and a sleep in a nice comfy bed. I also loved the fact I could finally spread my stuff out, not have to dig through a suitcase, or lock up my valuables. Regardless of the weather, Amber and I quickly went out to explore. We visited Darling Harbour, tried to come up with a plan for the next week in Sydney, and had a few drinks. After that, we were both pretty beat.

Day 2 was still a bit gloomy. We woke up bright and early and took a nice run to/around the iconic Sydney Opera House. As we approached the Opera House, there was a camera crew filming a butt naked man sitting on the steps. What did we miss? Come to find out, Spencer Tunick (American photographer), had 5,200 volunteers pose in front of the Opera House for his nude art installation. We were 20 minutes late. Go figure. The story made news around the world. How much fun would it have been to get some of our first photos in Sydney of this exciting moment? Amber and I made our way inside the opera house to see if we could get tickets to a show later that week, and as we entered, all those naked people (who had gone inside to take more photos) came running down the stairs to gather their belongings and put their clothes back on. No tickets required for that one... Later that day we went to the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) and strolled around, followed by dinner at a cute little place in The Rocks area. We then made our way to a few pubs before heading out to Scubar (a backpacker bar which has Monday night crab racing). Unfortunately, my little guy didn’t win, but it only cost me $1 and it was so much fun! We finally made our way out of Scubar at the wee hours of the morning and found ourselves roaming the street for late night food – a habit we formed on night one. Not good!

Days 3-5 we moved to Bondi Beach in hopes of nicer weather. Our luck started to turn around and we finally got a few beautiful sunny days. We were all smiles. Amber experienced her first few nights in a hostel – which she described as like living in the dorms in college, but happy to say she quickly adjusted. I told her if I could do it, anyone could. :-D We had a great time relaxing at the beach (which was absolutely breathtaking – clear blue water, white sand, surfers catching waves), being silly taking pictures of our yoga poses, shopped a little (a great mall within walking distance), got a ton of exercise running along the ocean, and getting burnt to a crisp (oops). Bondi quickly became a place I told Amber I could definitely see myself living… On night 4 we saw a Cabaret show at the Opera House. Her name was Meow Meow and she was fabulous, sassy, crude, and hysterical. We couldn’t have been happier with the show we picked. On night 5 we were easily suckered into buying booze cruise tickets by a girl on the beach. We reluctantly went, and man was it a scene from Spring Break. We were definitely the oldest ones there by far. We ended up meeting a nice boy from France who kindly walked us to the bus after and offered to make us dinner at his hostel the next day. We were going to have to think about taking him up on his offer…

Day 6 we moved to The Rocks area, which is the oldest part of Sydney, filled with cobble street roads, old buildings and alleyways. Our hostel was brand new and even better than some hotels we’ve stayed at. It had a great rooftop with amazing views of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. There was even a live webcam that Amber was able to stand in front of and wave hi to her boyfriend back in Chicago where he could see the bridge and opera house right behind her. I did the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb and climbed to the summit where I could see views of the city and suburbs for miles. Spectacular! That night we went back and forth on where to eat and ended up at The Pony. We had a swank little candlelight table on the outside porch. We shared a few yummy dishes (again, something we quickly discovered we both love –sharing) and ordered a bottle of Rose, my favorite.

Day 7 was our last day in Sydney. We didn’t want to leave! The beginning of our stay started out a little gloomy, but by week’s end we realized 7 days just wasn’t enough. There were so many things to see and do in Sydney and we barely skimmed the surface. On our last day we took the ferry boat through the beautiful Sydney Harbour to Manly Beach. It was another gorgeous day in a cute little beach town. We found a great little Mexican restaurant along the beach – we couldn’t pass up fajitas & margaritas. That night we got all dolled up for our last night out on the town. After a couple of glasses of wine, we realized we were tired and would much rather be hanging out somewhere in flip flops. The laid back life of a traveler will do that to you…