And We’re Off Part 2 – Sydney, Australia!

On the road again…I just can’t wait to get on the road again…thanks Willie, we’ll take it from here.

After spending a great week catching up with family and friends, we carefully repacked our backpacks and took a long 15-hour direct flight to Sydney.

Packing was a bit more difficult for this part of the trip as we’d be facing a much wider range of temperatures.  It’s now the dead of winter in the southern hemisphere.  But Australia is a massive country and that means wide temperature ranges.  Sydney can range from the low 60s during the days to the high 40s at night.  Up through the Gold Coast, temperatures will be similar if not a touch warmer.  Darwin will see temperatures in the 90s during the day and the 50s at night.  During our adventure in the Outback, temperatures will plummet into the 30s at night.  This is far from the daily humdrum of 95 and humid like Southeast Asia.

Day 1…

After landing at 630am, we grabbed an Uber into the city (thanks Sydney Airport Holdings for making it so easy!!!) and checked into our Airbnb.  (Did we mention that we accept corporate sponsorships?)  We opted to book a room in someone’s apartment, and she was kind enough to let us drop our bags and shower much earlier than “check in time.”

As you read with our experience in Inle Lake/Taunggyi Myanmar, we love to hit the ground running after flights.  Sydney was no different.  We started off with a power walk to Circular Quay.  This harbor area (between the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge) is the transportation hub of the city, the terminal for city trains, buses and ferries.  We noticed a large festival being setup for Bastille Day and learned that there is a large French population living in Sydney.  Little did we know at the time that the ex-pat French would get to celebrate Bastille Day and winning the World Cup soon after.

We grabbed a light breakfast at a café in the ground floor of the AMP building (an asset management firm that provides life insurance, superannuation and brokerage services).  It was humbling watching all the power meetings taking place, as we slummed in our water-wicking t-shirts and travel pants.  We ordered what seemed to be the brekky staple in Australia – a flat white and avocado smash. A flat white is an espresso with foamed milk.  It’s a better latte with more espresso and less foamed milk.  Avocado smash is toasted sourdough bread with smashed avocado and is usually topped off with cherry tomatoes, feta cheese crumbles, sautéed onions and a balsamic reduction drizzle.

After powering up, we walked to the nearby Sydney Opera House.  It’s especially beautiful in person on a day when the sun was playing hide and seek behind the clouds.  The color changed and evolved with every passing moment.  Modern, elegant and totally unique.  Check out these 2 photos taken only moments apart.

Up close, we realized that the roof is not made of smooth concrete but completed with two types of tile.  From far away, it appears monolithic and up close it is delicate and nuanced.  We were also reminded that the Sydney Opera House complex is made up of multiple buildings – not just one as it appears from a distance.

Next, we walked over to the epic Harbor Bridge and decided to walk across it to North Sydney and back.  It offered a beautiful view of the Harbor and The Opera House.  As if the Opera House could get more stunning, the views from high up above and from the water side of the complex continued to amaze us.  While walking across the east side of the bridge, we saw the folks lining up to start their Bridge Climb. A voyage up the bridge’s metal framework with a bird’s eye view of the Sydney area as a reward.  Um, no, thanks.  Feet firmly planted on the ground, thanks.

It was now about 130pm.  Having been on the go since 630am with only a small brekky, we had worked up a thirst and grabbed a beer at The Endeavor Tap Room in The Rocks.  Ironically, the Rocks is now home to the usual bourgeoisie mix of fancy restaurants, bars and shopping while it began as home (read: slum) for the city’s earliest undesirable inhabitants (the poor, aboriginals and arriving convicts).

But what to do now?  A beautiful sunny day and it’s starting to warm up.  We got ambitious and decided to catch the local bus to Bondi Beach.  The bus system is very easy to navigate and only requires going to a convenience store and purchasing an Opal Card – which for $10.00AUD comes with that amount preloaded for use.  The system is very user friendly.  Use an app to re-load your card and the more you use the card the cheaper the rides become.  Plus other usage based perks.

When we arrived at Bondi, we stopped at Icebergs for a light bite and a glass of wine.  OK.  Imagine in your mind, two words.  Beach and Australia.  You may or may not know it, but Bondi is what will come to your mind.  A massively wide and white sand beach.  The water is a wondrous rainbow of blues and greens.  And clear with large and recurring waves.  The views of Bondi Beach from the restaurant were incredible and we took special note of the numerous surfers midweek during business hours.  After satisfying our appetite, we headed for the coastal trail departing from Bondi Beach.  We were told that the walk from Bondi to Bronte is a must do.

Time Out!  In the 4.5 years that we’ve known each other, we’ve completed some seriously amazing hikes.  Cinque Terre in Italy.  The aptly named Dragon’s Back trail in Hong Kong.  Upper Yosemite Falls in Yosemite.  The rice paddies in Sapa, Vietnam.  Those are world class and unique.  Bondi to Bronte fits right in.  Soaring cliffs, pounding waves, crescent shaped coves.  We live in California and this is every bit as beautiful as Big Sur.

On the trail with a view of Bondi…

On the trail with a view towards Bronte…

At 300pm with two hours til sunset and just arriving in Bronte, we decided to press onto Coogee.  Bronte to Coogee isn’t as epic as Bondi to Bronte but it’s pretty darned sweet.  The defining portion was walking through Waverly Cemetery, which sits on picturesque bluffs above the ocean.  Dating back to the late 19^th Century, the Cemetery is home to some of the most famous Australians of the late 19^th Century.  Business people, poets, statesmen and (sadly) more than a few children.

Finishing our hike, we hopped back onto the bus and returned to our Airbnb in Surry Hills, which is considered a hip and up-and-coming neighborhood of Sydney.  A little bit industrial and a little bit grimy, but definitely on the rise.  The neighborhood is home to a burgeoning restaurant and bar scene.   This made it tough to decide on where to go on a nightly basis.  We settled on Izakaya Fujiyama for dinner – an eclectic Japanese restaurant with a fun sake menu.

We covered a total of 11 glorious miles on day 1.  Not bad considering we’d just hopped off a15 hour flight earlier in the day.

Day 2…

In the morning, we found a cute café down the street called Point Blank and had (you guessed it) flat whites and shared an avocado smash.  We took some time to catch up on some reading.  S also opted for a Long Black which is a heavier espresso version of an Americano.

So don’t screw with Aussies over coffee.  Their game is strong.  Ask for a drip coffee and you’ll get a pour over.  And the coffee is expensive.  Order your drink but don’t go looking for a counter with cream and sugar.  LOL.  You order what you want, silly koala, you don’t adjust after the order.

The barista asked where we were from.  San Francisco, we replied.  He said that he’d visited Los Angeles for a conference.  Nice city, bad coffee.  See what we mean?  They take coffee seriously.

After our coffee lesson, we met Ashlee and her boyfriend (Peter) at The Horse Pub in Surry Hills.  Ashlee was on E’s Antarctica trip almost four years ago and they’ve remained close via Facebook over the years.  S had heard the stories about Antarctica (and Ashlee) over the years but it was fun to listen to the ladies tell their stories again.  Peter and S dutifully watched their two ladies reminisce and carry-on like we were watching them on the MV Plancius years ago.  Truly time well spent.

After lunch, we went to the Sydney Wild Life Zoo – located in Darling Harbor. Since we would be spending five weeks in Australia, it seemed mandatory to become more acquainted with the animals of this great land.  We had the opportunity to observe salt water crocodiles, kangaroos, koala bears, wallabies, cassowaries, echidna, platypuses and many deadly snakes and insects to name a few.  We stood nose to nose with a cassowary.  Thankfully there was a thick glass divider between us.  A cassowary is a famously grumpy bird with a middle toe meant to do grievous harm.  Find one in the wild and you’ll quickly wish you were elsewhere.

Hello Mr. Bearded Dragon…

Look kids…cassowary…check out the middle toe!  The two inside toes are nothing but a long nail!

Aww, hello, baby koala!

Our fellow travelers tell the same joke in Oz.  Nothing tried to kill me today.  But seriously, this zoo is a great place to visit if you want to spend just an hour or two within the city and feel like a kid lurching from exhibit to exhibit and from pen to pen.  If you have more time, the Taronga Zoo is world class with spectacular views of the city from North Sydney.  The giraffe pen apparently has the best views of the city at night especially during a light festival called Vivid Sydney.  But the Sydney Wild Life zoo specializes in local animals and that’s what we wanted.

Day 3…

We woke up early and took a brisk walk back over to Darling Harbor.  From the outset of our walk, we noticed a lot of grown ups walking around in very strange costumes.  It took asking a few people to figure out there was an Anime Convention in town.

We grabbed a light breakfast at the Tokio Hotel in Cockle Harbor.  You’d think that Cockle Harbor and Darling Harbor are different harbors.  Technically perhaps, but we’d all recognize it as one harbor.  The Pyrmont Bridge splits the harbor horizontally.  On the north side of the bridge is Darling Harbor.  The south side is Cockle Harbor.  It took us a moment to figure it out.

On a side note – when you see the word “Hotel” in Australia, it doesn’t always mean place to stay the night.  It might mean pub or restaurant.  Our breakfast spot – the Tokio Hotel – had no rooms.  We know cuz we looked (we still needed a place to stay when we return to Sydney in a few weeks).

Afterwards, we headed to The Sydney Aquarium to finish our “Australian life” orientation.  We wanted to see what we would be swimming with a couple of weeks later at The Great Barrier Reef.  We saw seahorses, jellyfish, starfish, dragon fish and lion fish to name a few.  We walked through a few undersea tunnels and observed various kinds of sharks, sting rays, lung fish and turtles to name a few.  It felt like a role reversal except this time we were the ones being observed.

Because it’s Australia, there are lots of peculiar animals.  Like the dugong, which has the front half of a manatee and the backhalf of a dolphin.  Or the ray shark.  Which has the front half of a sting ray and the back half of a shark.  We’re not sure if they’re relics from an earlier time or specialized hybrids for local waters.  Either way, we’ve never seen anything like them.

Oh and penguins!

From the aquarium, we headed to Blackbird, back in Cockle Bay to meet our friends Jay and Lauren for lunch.  They were a part of our tour group in Vietnam and it was great to catch up with them.  They’re the perfect Australian archetype…passionate, outdoorsy, athletic and always up for a good time. Jay moved to Oz at an early age and joined the military.  He served in Afghanistan (respect!) and is currently a fireman and gym owner.  Lauren is a physio and a wonderful compliment to Jay.  They’re both competitive Cross-Fitters.  They compete nationally and will soon dominate globally we’re sure.  Better people you won’t meet.  That we know for sure.  Jay spotted Lauren in a restaurant where she was employed.  Love at first sight, well at least for Jay.  So glad that he was right!

As we noted earlier, Sydney had been chilly at night and we knew that it would soon be a lot colder in the Outback – so we decided to walk over to the Westfield mall (Westfield is a shrewd global mall operator and based in Australia) and find some gloves.  We tore through a Zara, an H&M and a Uniqlo but found nothing useful.  We were beginning to think Australians didn’t wear gloves, but got lucky and found some in a convenience store on the way home.

In summary…

We walked 23 scenic miles in three days, ate many great meals, reconnected with wonderful friends, consumed many flat whites with avocado smashes and feel confident that we spent our time wisely. We will be back in Sydney at the end of our Australian Adventure and will have 1.5 days more to uncover more great things about this city.

Two last post scripts from our time in Sydney…

One, we flew from Sydney to Brisbane and left from the domestic terminal.  To receive our boarding passes, proceed through security and to board our flight we were never required to show our identification.  Not even once.  In fact, non-travelers can go through security and bid farewell to their friends and family at the gate.  And to think, we were worried about bringing water through security.  Don’t worry you can.

Two, sports betting is legal in Australia.  Some bars have betting stations that take bets or you can use one of the many apps to place bets (although not for us Americans as ID/passport checks are required).  More notoriously, there are flashing lights and neon signs everywhere in the city for VIP Sports Lounges.  They’re like mini-versions of a sportsbook at your favorite casino.  Loads of televisions, alcohol service and basic pub food.  To our eyes, it’s a bit unusual but it’s part of landscape in Sydney.