Sydney - Australia

We arrived at Sydney airport quite late on Thursday 10th December. The public transport system is great so we jumped onto a train to Circular Quay where we needed to catch our ferry to Manly. After a half an hour trip on the ferry we arrived and took a short walk to find our motel right on the beach front. Once we dropped our bags off we took a short stroll of the area to find some dinner. The “Corso” was filled with people in crowded bars out on their Thursday night party, so there was plenty humorous drunken walking to enjoy!

We woke up nice and early on Friday morning to what was a stunning day. After a quick shop in the numerous surf shops in the area we hit Manly beach. What a stunning beach it is, and the water is crystal clear so we had a great time lapping up the sun and cooling down in the water. The sun is pretty strong in Aus so after just a couple of hours we headed to the shade for a tasty lunch and then back to the hotel to get showered and ready for the Green Day concert.
We met up with Lara and Leise and a few of their friends at the Opera bar which sits just outside of the Sydney Opera House, and we enjoyed the spectacular views of the harbour and the bridge over a quick drink before we headed off to the concert. Jo and Jean joined us for the concert and we all had such a great time at the show and Green Day were nothing short of incredible. We had to race back to make the last ferry home; otherwise it would be a very expensive cab ride to Manly. Luckily we got there just in time for the last one and got to enjoy more drunken revellers on the boat making their way home after a big Friday night.

On Saturday morning we got up nice and early to meet Michel and Claire for breakfast after their regular morning swim (these two are fabulously fit). Claire kindly lent us her car for the day so after dropping Michel at work we headed for Avalon beach to meet up with Lara, Leise, Jo and Jean for a little road trip of the Northern beaches of Sydney. Once we met up with the gang we cruised through Dee Why, Curl Curl, and Freshwater beaches amongst others. We stopped for lunch and a quick drink along the way and it was a great to see all the beaches in this part of Sydney. We also stopped to see the statue of Duke Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian man who introduced surfing to Australia, which looks over Freshwater beach. From there we said cheers to our friends and made our way back to Manly.

That evening we were having Christmas dinner at Jo and Jean’s, so once we were spruced up in our best Christmas gear we headed to Neutral Bay via Circular Quay. We missed our connecting ferry at Circular Quay by less than 30 seconds which was gutting as we had to wait 45 minutes for the next one! Anyway Leise met us at the ferry stop and we walked to the apartment where Jo did an incredible job and catered an amazing Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for 19 people!! After a round of secret Santa and a few more glasses of wine we headed off to the nearest bus stop for our bus ride home. Unfortunately my husband who is usually very good at directions got us slightly lost, but we were lucky enough that Claire and Michel were passing through after their stint at the Green Day concert so picked us up on their way and dropped us safely at our hotel. What stars!!

On Sunday morning we were up nice and early (it’s hard to sleep in when the warm sun is streaming through the window begging you to come out and play) and we borrowed Claire’s car once again to go and scope out Bondi and Coogee beaches where we had a light lunch and did a bit of shopping. We then made our way to Claire and Michel’s place to drop off our bags as we were due to stay with them that evening. Once our bags were safe we took a short walk to Manly Pier to the Bavarian Beer House for some farewell drinks with Lara, Leise, Claire, Yvette, Jo, Jean, and Willem. Crad, you’d have loved it......a few Sunday afternoon drinks with friends in the sunshine overlooking the sea!

After drinks Michel and Claire took us for a little drive up the coast to the North Head in Manly. The views were spectacular as you can see from the pictures. As darkness fell we headed to a local Italian restaurant where Michel and Claire treated us to a great dinner before heading home to pack for our next day’s departure.

On Monday morning we popped into the town centre to do a little admin (post office etc.) before collecting out bags and making our way to the airport. This was a very short trip to Sydney but what we managed to see was impressive.

Here are some highlights and lowlights:
- The city is stunning, with long stretches of beautiful beaches and the picturesque harbour
- Great cosmopolitan feel to this city with people from anywhere and everywhere
- Great nightlife and the weather was perfect while we were there
- The only negative is the cost of living, yep Sydney is expensive!