Sydney in Three Days... Part 1

After four days running around Wellington, we caught an early flight out of New Zealand for our next venture: four days running around Sydney. We (wisely) used our first day to recuperate and rest, but that left three days to see everything we could for our short stint in Australia.

So how did we spend that time?

Mostly by running around like chickens with our heads cut off (did I mention we did not rent a vehicle this time?).

But in the process, we got to see a surprising amount (so much so that this is a 2-parter!) and, despite our exhaustion and poor feet, it was all worth it in the end. :)

So get ready... here is the cliff notes version:

Day 1

We started our day at the Royal Botanic Gardens where we enjoyed our packed lunch and took pictures with Mrs. Macquarie's Chair:

The story behind the chair is that the Governor had it carved out of rock for his wife's recreation. She used to sit at this spot to admire the view of the harbor, which is known as one of the best in Sydney. In fact, it was near this spot where we got our first glimpse (from the ground) of the famous Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge!

From the Gardens, we continued on along the waterfront, admiring the great views of the city skyline:

When we reached the Opera House and Harbor Bridge, you can bet we took a TON of pictures. Here are just a couple of our favorites:

After walking through Circular Quay and the Rocks area, it was on to Darling Harbor where we had a groupon deal for some great seafood! We stopped by the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) as well as the famous IMAX on the way...

 One of the coolest malls I've been to (left) and the largest IMAX in the world (right).

The harbor itself was beautiful, especially at this time of night:

We enjoyed some of the best seafood we've ever eaten at a restaurant called Blue Fish. A highlight for me was their seafood chowder (yum!):

Then, it was back to the hostel.

A park we passed on the way home

Day 2

This day was all about Bondi Beach. Considering we had to walk 1.5 hours to get there, it was the only thing on our itinerary for the day. But once we got there, we were able to relax and enjoy watching the 50+ surfers pulling all kinds of tricks in the water:

Day 3

We were ready to see some native wildlife! Featherdale Wildlife Park was quite a ways out of the city so we had to get there by public transport (about a half hour ride by rail and by bus). Since this was such a highlight of our trip (and since we took massive amounts of photos), we saved this entire section for Part 2 (stay tuned)!

We had so much fun there that we put everything else in our day behind schedule... which means it was pitch black by the time we took the ferry out to Manly Beach. As a result, we didn't get any good pictures of the beach, but we did enjoy an evening ferry ride and still had fun walking around Manly and eating ice cream.

So that was how we spent three days in Sydney. If you've seen us since we've gotten home and wondered why we seemed a bit off... this is why. Well, that and an 18-hour flight home...

We were lucky that, despite being there in the middle of winter, we had very good weather for the duration of our stay. Check back to see kangaroos, wallabies, and wombats in Part 2!!