I've always thought that Sydney was 12000 miles from where I live in the middle of England but depending on what you read it's anywhere between 10599 miles and 11000 miles. Whatever the mileage, the time it takes to fly there consists of at least 22-24 hours in a plane and several hours in airports plus losing a whole day to time zones and date lines.
But it's all worth it when you get to see this little cutie.
We left Birmingham on Sunday night and arrived in Sydney very early on Tuesday morning. This was our 3rd visit. We went there in 2006 and 2008 when our son Andy was at Hillsong College. The purpose of this visit was to spend time with Andy, Naomi (our gorgeous daughter-in-law) and their new baby.
We arrived far too early to check into our hotel so Andy suggested we went for a walk. It was so much warmer than we were expecting. It's Spring in Australia and we were thinking of UK temperatures so not expecting anything much over 22 degrees. In the 3 weeks we were there temperatures reached the upper thirties on some days! It was also quite cold on occasions so fortunately we did have the right clothes with us!
This was our first view of the Sydney skyline on our walk.
On Wednesday we got a closer look as we took the ferry from Circular Quay to Darling Harbour.
The ferry takes you under the famous bridge. We did the bridge climb in 2006.
And a closeup of the iconic Sydney Opera House.
We went to Darling Harbour because I wanted to get a photo of this water feature. I had tried before but it's really difficult not to get either people or buildings in the background. This was the best I could get and I rather like that the large bird looks as though it's watching the gull.
On Thursday afternoon we went to Chowder Bay which we hadn't been to before and Andy walked with us to Bradley's Head. Naomi met us with the car at the other end. That brought back memories of Roger and Andy walking - mostly in Pembrokeshire - with me driving to meet them at the end of the walk.
Along the path we spotted this Kookaburra.
Andy was looking to buy a new car so on Friday we all went to look at a Ford Focus. It is so much easier to buy a car in Australia than in the UK because the car is insured not the person. So since there was still 2 months insurance left on the car Andy was able to buy it and drive it home in the space of a couple of hours. It actually took longer than that but only because we went out to lunch before he collected the cheque from the bank and went back to collect the car.
Roger and I were dropped off at the beginning of a coastal walk and we walked back to Manly.
We had an ice cream each in Manly which you can read about here. Then we took the ferry back to Circular Quay.
Back at our hotel if you peered round the corner from the hotel roof garden - and used a zoom lens you could see this.
I took 1400 photos whilst we were away but I have whittled it down to just a few to share with you. This was just the first week. I will bring you news of week two, which we spent in Tasmania, in another post.
Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice
Oh, how I love traveling with you, Bernice, through your blog! Beautiful pictures. That bird is incredible as are your shots of the city and the bridge. Looking forward to more!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos! I hope I have the opportunity to travel more some day.
ReplyDeleteSidney looks stunning.I love reading blogs on travel and experiences.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mary, it is good to go travelling from my armchair (or wherever I am sitting while at home!)
ReplyDeleteThis looks a wonderful trip and insuring the car does make life more simple, though I wonder if it is standard cover and what happens if you want business use or it is a newly qualified or young driver - these things impact on the cost of car insurance in UK.
Great photos and view from your hotel window. I look forward to reading more about your trip