Introduction to Sydney

Travel to Sydney

We spend a last  sunny morning at the Banana Bay Beach Club before heading to the airport at Port Vila.

The Vanuatu International Airport is the smallest international airport that I have ever been to. Our 4 hour JetStar flight to Sydney is uneventful except for the lady sitting behind me who keeps loudly snapping her gum. The guy ahead of me turns around to see who the culprit is. The guy beside me says, “This is going to be a very long flight”. I am so tempted to whack her a few times with my neck pillow. I show restraint.

Sydney Airport is very efficient and we are through quickly and grab an Uber to our Airbnb in Bondi Beach.

Our host, Ross and his dog Effie are super friendly. We arrive about 9:00pm, chat for awhile over tea and then sleep well in a very comfortable bed.

Bondi Beach

Next morning we are up and out by 8:00am. It is a bit overcast and cool, 20°C., perfect walking weather. We first head to Bondi Beach for breakfast. I find a great cafe that serves amazing health food, delicious coffee and great views for people watching.

Bondi Beach seems to be the land of beautiful people. All the women are  mostly wearing yoga shorts, leggings or form fitting dresses. The men are equally gorgeous. A lot of people are walking dogs of every shape and size. There is an obvious health culture here with an abundance of great eating options. 

Australians also enjoy their coffee. Most cafes are independent and take pride in making a perfect cup of coffee. We learn to order flat whites and long blacks. 

The beach is beautiful with fine, white sand. There is good grafitti mural art along the edge of the beach boardwalk.

Ferry Rides to Circular Quay and Manly

From Bondi we walk 40 minutes to take the Rose Bay ferry to downtown Sydney. We pass cockatoos on a golf course and numerous beautiful joggers.

We  get our first glimpse of the iconic Sydney Bridge and Opera House from the ferry. It’s about a 15 minute ride. I can see people doing the Sydney Bridge walk, walking up the arch. Looks scary. You couldn’t pay me enough.

Our ferry arrives at Circular Quay, the main wharf in Sydney, and we catch another ferry to the town of Manly. We pass closer to the bridge and we can see the slightly intimidating large face entrance to the Luna amusement park. A Carnival cruise ship is anchored beside the ferry terminal.

Manly Beach

It’s about a 20 minute ride to Manly Wharf. The sun is now out in all it’s glory. There is a smallish beach on the harbour side where we dock.

We walk ten minutes down a pedestrian shopping street. I stop off at a Decathlon that sells mostly surfing and swimming gear. John gives me the credit card and heads to the beach.

After doing some medicinal shopping, I join John on the beach. Our host Ross suggested we come to Manly Beach today because it gets packed on the weekends. There are still a fair number of people. There are lots of people playing and watching beach volleyball and beach tennis. Large groups of kids on the beach are at the different surfing schools. It is a Friday. Are these school trips for gym class? If so, how cool. We walk down and back along the long stretch before heading to the pedestrian street.

The street is decorated for Christmas including a big Christmas Tree made of balls, shining in the sun.

John and I have different ideas about what we want to eat . I discover a place called Fishbowl and order a salmon sashimi  bowl with edamame, tobiko, seaweed salad, kale, beets, red onion, crispy shallots with a roasted sesame dressing. OMG. Sooooo good. I need to try and recreate this when I get home. John has frozen yogurt and berries. I am loving all the health conscious food options in Sydney.

I notice a War Monument with floral tributes from Remembrance Day.

Opera House and Royal Botanical Gardens

We catch the ferry back to Circular Quay. The water is dotted with sailboats, passenger boats and ferries.

At Circular Quay we walk around taking in all angles of the Opera House and Sydney Bridge before heading into the expansive Botanical Gardens. We see a number of weddings. There are also tons of different birds and of course more views of the awesome Opera House and Bridge.

Eels in the Pond

The Central Pond in the gardens is gorgeous and filled with eels. Apparently they drain it for time to time and then refill it. Every time the eels come back. Young eels are seen coming out of the harbour, squelching across the grass and repopulating the pond. The larger eels will often feast on the baby ducks but then the older ducks feast on baby eels. You can easily see the eels in the pond.

Rose Garden and Government House

We check out the Palace Rose Garden by the Conservatory of Music.

Government House is nearby. Another beautiful building.

We have walked over 15km today and I am feeling a hotspot on my little toe. I hope we get home before a blister forms.

Back to Bondi

Back at Circular Quay, we admire the beautiful sandstone customs house (which is now a library) and the Christmas Tree in front of it. Christmas seems so far away in this warm weather.

There is a subway/train system stop at Circular Quay. We take the train to Bondi Junction and walk back to our Airbnb.

In the evening I take my blistered feet for a walk into Bondi for supper. It is packed with other people doing the same (eating, not walking their blistered feet).

Today we walked over 20km and almost 32,000 steps