Sydney

Back to the sunshine! We arrived in Sydney Friday morning after getting up really really early to return the hire car. After checking into our hostel we went for a wonder round the city, getting our first glimpse of the opera house, the harbour bridge and the Sydney skyline.

We started our time in the city with Ryan’s bridge climb. Whilst Ryan was scaling silly steel arches, I walked across the bridge (much more sensible!), and then climbed the lookout tower. From the tower I could see Ryan as he came up onto the bridge, and we were able to wave at each other, which was pretty cool. I then went for a wonder around the Rocks, which is the oldest part of Sydney. It is now a quaint village like area of the city with lots of craft shops, art galleries and cafes. Once Ryan had descended from the bridge we caught one of the cities many ferries, which took us round to Darling Harbour. The ferry gave us really good views of the opera house and the harbour bridge.

On Sunday morning we had a tour of the Sydney Opera House. The tour allowed us to see both of the main concert halls, one of which is acoustically set up for orchestral performances, whilst the other is for the human voice. We also were able to see the tiles that make up the white roof up close and some of the entertainment areas. After a morning of culture and history, we headed out to the beach as we were missing the sand! The beach we chose was Bondi beach, which lived up to its stereotype on a Sunday afternoon perfectly. There were surfers everywhere, as well as tacky tourist shops and cafes, and girls in bikins! Despite warnings that this wasn’t exactly the most relaxing or quietest beach in the world, it was really good, especially for people watching!   

On Monday we headed out of Sydney to the Blue Mountains, about 2 hours West of the city. The train from Sydney took us to a mountain village called Katoomba. From Katoomba we were able to see the surrounding mountains which are covered in eucalyptus trees. The mountains are called ‘blue’ mountains as the sun causes oil to evaporate from the trees, which turn the air above the trees blue, thus giving the mountains a blue colour. There is also a number of rock formations that you can see from Katoomba, including the famous ‘Three Sisters’ and ‘Giant Stairway’. We also visited a number of waterfalls and cascades in the mountains.

In Sydney we also visited the Parliament House, where the New South Wales laws and legislations are decided on. We also explored some of the inner suburbs of the city, including Paddington, which has its very own Oxford Street, home to numerous shops, which runs alongside Hyde Park! Who would have thought the British colonised Australia!

Sydney has also been home to a little bit of stress for us, with Qantas grounding all of their flights on Saturday evening due to industrial action. As we are flying Qantas to Johannesburg, and as Qantas are the only carrier to fly this route we were a little worried to say the least! Luckily Fair Work Australia saved us and got Qantas flying again, so fingers crossed everything is ok tomorrow for our flight.