Our first few days in Australia have been spent in the beautifully busy city of Sydney. Our days are very long and full. They are long because Arra has decided that she wakes up at 5AM everyday in Australia. They are full because there is so much to see and do in Sydney and we cram as much as possible into a day.
We have absolutely loved our little place in Bondi and make a point to walk down to the beach everyday. The area has such a fun, vibrant, yet laid back feel to it that you only find in beach towns. There was a market set up across from the beach on the weekend, so we stocked up on yummy fresh fruit and veggies one day and browsed all of the clothes and crafty things the next. The girls made their way out to Bondi one afternoon and we did the coastal cliff walk with the intention of making it all the way to Coogee beach. This walk along the ocean is absolutely beautiful and has been my favourite part of our trip to date. We ended up making the executive decision to stop just past Bronte Beach at the Waverley Cemetery, in favour of food and not walking in the dark. We are not usually known to make such good decisions when out hiking, so I was proud of us. The added bonus was that I got some time to wander through the cemetery, toted as the most scenic burial ground in the world. Anyone who knows me knows that a cemetery by the ocean is pretty much my dream come true.
True to form, a majority of our trip has been focused on food. On our first day we ventured on to public transit and made our way down to the harbour where we checked out the awesomeness of the Sydney Opera House, then took a walk through the stunning botanical garden where we paused to have a picnic lunch (complete with wine). Later that day we wandered through The Rocks until we found ourselves at Home where we ate our weight in the best Thai food I have ever had outside of Thailand. Since we have full cooking facilities at our place we've spent a bit of time cooking and eating in too. I love all the specialty shops for meats, cheeses, seafood, baked goods, etc. that can be found everywhere, including right in the mall! We took advantage of Clara's cooking skills a couple of times, having her cook us a beautiful lamb dinner one night at our place and then having us over to her place for Barramundi, a quintessential Australian dish.
Interspersed with all of the eating, we've managed to get some sight seeing in. Cody has become an excellent backwards driver and successfully gets us from place to place even while we navigate the roads that have no signs and seem to begin and end at random as we continually lose our GPS signal, all the while testing the strength of our marriage. We spent one whole day in the Blue Mountains taking in the views, waterfalls and literally breathtaking hikes. Arra caught up on her sleep riding around in her Ergo on Cody's back as we hiked. There seemed to be an infinite number of trails and places to hike and I'm sure we didn't even scratch the surface.
We spent our last day with just our little family while the girls went on a day trip to visit some wineries (we will have a chance to do this later in Melbourne). We made our way down to Darling Harbour where we found a great place to park. We then realized that we had accidentally (don't get me started) ended up parking in a lot that cost $89!? so we decided to really make the most of our day there! We visited both the aquarium and the zoo and we all loved them both. I especially loved seeing how much Arra enjoyed them though. I really wanted to do something that would be for her and this didn't disappoint. She's so easy going and such a good sport that she just kind of goes along with whatever we're doing. It was really nice to see how much she loved the animals. Totally worth an $89 park job.
Today is our last half day in Sydney. We'll spend it at Bondi Beach and packing up, then we'll head to the airport for our flight to Cairns. This isn't the last we'll see of Sydney though, we'll be back at the end of our trip!
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