Considering we went to bed so early we did well staying asleep until 4:30/5am. The sun was yet to rise so we lay in bed listening to Harry saying “Toby get over your side of the bed” and Toby saying “Harry get over your side of the bed”. It is surprising how long this relatively simple conversation can last. Indeed it kept going until both Tracy and I told them to get over their respective sides of the bed, and even that didn’t stop them for long.
Overnight, as we slept, the flight route into Sydney airport had obviously changed because we woke to the sound of planes coming in overhead. Tracy was very happy – she’d love to live under a flight path (or near a ferry route). At 6:30am, after a nice cup of coffee, made by a kettle – how novel – we ventured out onto the balcony. It’s clearly a different lifestyle in Australia as 6:30am is obviously rush hour at the beach for joggers! Inspired by the exercise of all the joggers and swimmers we had breakfast of fresh bread and fruit which we’d purchased the day before.
As we prepared to go into Sydney we watched Australian TV and reminisced once more as we enjoyed Lunar Jim and Pingu. It’s so English over here, although it may just feel a lot more English because we have been in American for a couple of years.
With hats on, sun cream sprayed and cameras packed we jumped in a taxi and set off to the Royal Botanical gardens. Walked slowly around the gardens towards the Opera house, stopping to take pictures of the Opera house and harbour bridge, dodge Japanese tourists who appeared out of nowhere, to see the oldest bridge in Australia and see if we could spot any giant spiders (we couldn’t).
I’d seen giant bats hanging from the trees last time I had visited these gardens but this time they weren’t there. They had probably been driven away by the very noisy sulphur winged cockatoo’s which seemed to have taken over the place. Man they are noisy. Stupidly noisy. Noisy to the point that they annoyed Toby and he spent many days moaning about how noisy they were and he wished they weren’t about!
We continued round, past the Opera house towards the ferry terminal, stopping into a couple of souvenir shops on the way. What a mistake that was! At the first shop we went into Toby found a cuddly koala which he wanted. He had $20 to spend on the holiday and in the first shop, on the first full day he wanted to blow it all on the koala. We tried to reason with him and say that he should look in more shops, that we could always come back again if there was nothing else he wanted but this stubborn little boy was not for turning! He left the shop in tears.
Some ice-cream, a few minutes later managed to soothe him a little – in fact it turned out to be 1) the best ice-cream Toby has ever had, and 2) the first of many visits to the Gelatissimo ice-cream shops across the next two weeks.
After devouring the ice-cream we went back round to the Opera house as we had an 11am tour. The timing was perfect because just as we started the tour the heavens opened and it absolutely hammered it down with rain. Fortunately by the time the tour ended an hour later it had stopped and the sun was coming out again.
It was interesting to hear all about the construction of the Opera house and I hadn’t realised that the architect had been sacked part way through the build and had never been to see the finished building. They had planned to take 3 years and $7m to construct it but it actually took 16 years and cost $102m – i think it is the project manager who should have been sacked! In the end they had to start the Sydney/Australian lottery to help pay for it! Very sneakily I took a recording in the main concert hall, so here you go, a very special recording of someone tuning the piano ahead of the evenings performance:
httpv://youtu.be/5D1CsTh-HaI
After leaving the Opera house we walked back past the koala bear shop and Toby spent all his holiday money. He’d regret this impulsive behaviour just a few hours later when we found 1) the very same koala half the price in another shop, and 2) a much bigger koala and kangaroo cuddly toy which he could have bought for the same price. Still Toby knows best, although we will see if any lessons are learnt!
Next stop was The Rocks – a famous old part of Sydney. We walked around the market area and then continued on down to an area called Walsh’s Bay. This, as we found out later is a highly desirably part of Sydney where people like Nicole Kidman have apartments. We were oblivious to all this though as we were focused on finding somewhere for lunch!
Eventually we located a nice looking Lebanese restaurant and picked a nice table just inside the patio doors. Minutes later the heavens opened again and all those who had been eating outside in the sunshine just moments earlier got soaked! Clearly the devil was looking after his own today!
With our bellies pleasantly stuffed we walked up the main street in Sydney – George Street. From there it was down to Darling Harbour which is the area that has the aquarium, wildlife park and lots of shops and restaurants. By now it was late afternoon and the boys were getting tired from all the walking (and surprisingly little moaning!). There was just time for the next instalment of ice-cream and then it was into a cab and back to the hotel.
Exhausted from all the walking we Relaxed in the room for a while before heading out for dinner! Even on our first full day in Sydney it was clear that eating was going to play a significant part in this holiday! Tonight’s choice was fish and chips which we ate on the beach. We successfully ate it all before the seagulls got too confident and then it was time for the boys to play in the sea. Toby had forgotten about blue bottles for the time being!
httpv://youtu.be/Dsjc4IVslb0
As darkness fell it was time to head back to the room for wine, bath and a Shrek movie on the TV! A relaxing end to a busy day.
Here’s the pictures…