sydney!!!
our last australian stop on the mega tour of wonder while en route home.
ive flown in and out of the sydney international airport several times, but ive never actually left the airport. so you can imagine my elation when we walked out the airport doors and nabbed a cab to take us to our hotel. i was mega stoked to check out australias most popular city.
like i said in previous posts, we scrimped on some hotels and went big time on others. we decided to go big in sydney. our hotel was the sheraton on the park. the pics online looked amazing, and when we booked we were given two options for a room, a city view or a park view. obviously any normal person would want a park view. and i did too...that is until i saw how much $$ they wanted for it. sooo, city view it was. but i figured we're in the cbd, at least there will be cool buildings to look at right?
this is me, striking a sassy? sexy? who-the-hell-knows pose in the hotel elevator.
our room was the bee's knees. super big bed, bangin bathroom, and a fully stoked mini bar. oh yeah, wanna see our "city view"?
haha. worst. view. ever.
after laughing about the view from our room (and waving to the guy across the air shaft), we bundled up and set out to explore the city and find a cool place for dinner. even though it was cold, i loved being outside. the city was so alive! the buildings, the lights and the people. it had mega cool vibes.
ive heard before that melbourne is like new york and sydney is like LA. having now been to both i totally agree. i feel like most aussies prefer melbourne because of its artsy scene? and i really like melbourne, but something about sydney felt more like home to me. maybe it felt american? im not sure, but i totally felt at home and could definitely see myself living there. we wandered and wandered and found ourselves at the edge of sydney cove. shane and i just stood there at the waters edge, staring at the lights from the sydney harbour bridge and the world famous opera house. it was so surreal to see pictures of these things your entire life, and then to just be standing there, staring at them.
we ended up at a fantastic restaurant across from the opera house called the ocean room. it was a bit fancier than we had planned on, but they didnt turn us away or anything lol. shane and i had a great time at dinner, laughing and talking. turns out, after dinner, the fun and excitement that propelled us through the cold, sorta died. plus, the walk back to the hotel was entirely up hill. so we pulled the lazy person move and took a cab.
the next day we wanted to explore some more. we didnt have a particular route in mind, we just more or less wanted to end up at darling harbour. and i must have seen finding nemo waaay too many times because i kept getting excited and skipping and shouting, "P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney!" im fairly certain all the locals were like, stupid american lol.
the harbour was bustling! i dont know what i was expecting, but it was this giant, modern area with loads of people and trendy restaurants. we ate lunch and then just walked around the harbour, taking it all in.
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| look how handsome this guy is? im so damn lucky |
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| swirly fountain. it was trippy to stare at. i can only how imagine how cool it would be if you did drugs lol. |
we asked some official looking person what was going on. the gist was that microsoft holds a conference every year for the newest and brightest teams from around the country who can come up with new inventions that benefit mankind. translation: nerd convention. lol. nah, they all looked super stoked on what they were doing, and it was fun getting caught up in their excitement.
since we were already there, and it looked kinda cool, we wandered over to check out the chinese garden of friendship. im not usually one for gardens, but i guess the architecture and culture of the place make it one of the only traditional chinese gardens outside of asia. which is pretty cool, even for a non-garden person.
at the garden they have this dress up station where kids can dress up like a geisha (okay not a geisha because nobody wants their kids dressing like asian prostitutes, but you know what i mean, kimonos, shoes, the works). so we're wandering around looking at the scenery and this sassy little aussie girl who was like five, comes up to us in her little outfit and goes, "look how pretty i am. take my picture" and then proceeds to strike a model pose next to a flowery bush.
it was pretty funny, and no i didnt take a photo of someone elses child. seemed creepy. her parents came rushing over super embarrassed...which was also pretty funny. the rest of the time we spent checking out the garden i kept seeing snippets of the same kid doing random poses and making strangers feel uncomfortable while her parents chased her around.
turns out they had an opera going. there was a show that very night...and tickets were still available. now i have to say that i have never seen an opera, and dont particularly think its my cup of tea, but how many chances do you get to see an opera at the sydeny opera house? if you said hardly ever, that was my thought exactly.
i sorta winced as i asked shane if he wanted to go to an opera with me. no guys like opera. i dont care who you are. they dont. but, being the amazing boyfriend he is, he totally surprised me and was excited to go. okay wait, let me define excited. he was excited more or less for the same reasons i was, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, not that he'd been secretly dying to see an opera.
we got dressed up and decided to make a grand affair of the whole thing. we took a cab as close as we could get, and then had to walk a short way in the rain. the building is just plain beautiful. it took my breath away as i looked up at it while we were walking in. it was just magical, the architecture, and the nighttime lights, and the water from the cove...ah! i loved it!
we ate dinner at guillaume at bennelong, which is an uber fancy restaurant in the actual opera house. the whole side of the restaurant is glass windows that overlook the water. its gorgeous. they took our coats, escorted us to our table. we had like four waiters. it was amazing, and i was so grateful to be sharing such an romantic experience with my shaner.
the drink waiter comes over and in his fancy accent, asks us if we want to start off with some champagne. when in rome right? i say yes and he scurries away to fetch it. im totally fine and soaking up the atmosphere, when i catch sight of him coming to our table with a tray and a giant bottle of very expensive looking champagne on it. i almost had a heart attack because i thought i mightve just bought us an entire bottle of champagne. and in my panic i assume its a very expensive bottle. right before i actually had an aneurysm, he finished pouring my glass and left. all i could think was "thank god." so little note from me to you, when ordering champagne at a fancy restaurant, always tell them you want a glass, not the bottle. or if you like living on the edge, do whatever.
what always gets me is the fancier the restaurant, the smaller the food portions. why is that? look at my very tiny entree. small. but very tasty.
after dinner, we picked up our tickets from will call. we were seeing die tote stadt. if you didnt guess from the name of the opera, it was german. i had no idea what we were in for, but i was excited to see what all the fuss was about.
oh.my.god. the first act was pretty painful, and at intermission, shane and i look at each other and were like, uh? what should we do? but we paid the money, were all dressed up, so we were like, meh, lets sit through act two and see how we feel. after act two during intermission, shane looked at me and said, "well, we could sit through act three, or we could go chew on glass bottles?" i laughed and we picked up our coats and headed out.
what can i say about opera?...well, it was pretty much watching two fat guys yell elegantly at each other in german. there was no dancing, no elaborate sets. it was just singing. in a foreign angry language. so, while i can safely say that i will never see another opera again as long as i live...i am pretty stoked that i got to see my first and only opera at the world famous sydney opera house. how many people can say they've done that?
the next day we wanted to check out the sydney tower. it is sorta like the seattle space needle, where you can go up inside and check out an amazing view of the city. so here is an example of some of the tallest buildings in the world, and their heights to give you an idea:
so they sydney tower is 1,014 ft tall. which means, that its slightly shorter than the empire state building. our tickets to the top included a sweet 3D show. look how sexy we look in our 3D glasses!
the view was amazing. you could see for miles.
after our tower festivus, i consulted trip advisor on what to do next. it told me that aside from the opera house, the next most popular thing was to do the bridge climb at the sydney harbour bridge. according to all the reviews, the best time to do the bridge climb is at twilight, because then you still get to see the city during the day, but then you also get to see sunset and the city lights at night. we decided to kill time by going to an area of sydney called the rocks, and grabbing lunch. the rocks is a historic area with old original buildings from when sydney was first colonized. i like old timey stuff like that so i was excited to go check it out.
the day was absolutely gorgeous, and we were enjoying walking and basking in the sunshine.
my sweetie and i posted up at the mercantile, which was a very old irish pub/hotel. we sat at a small table outside in the sun, and drank a couple pints of fat yak. i love the cafe/outdoor culture of australia. i wish the states, or more specifically, salt lake had more of that.
as we were walking to the bridge, i saw this sign. and yes, i busted out some dance moves and started singing like fergie, "my humps, my humps, my humps, my humps..." haha australia, you have some fantastic road signs.
we checked in for the bridge climb and got these nifty souvenir hats. i think the white thing was to go in the top part of the hat to keep it, uh, erect. but it looked way funnier pulled down as an eye guard lol.
bridge climb!!! holy amazing. this might have been the most awesome thing we did in sydney. totally worth every penny and i highly recommend that anyone who visits sydney do this climb. its a must.
we got suited up in these blue jumpsuits, and were put into a harness. we had to practice using our harnesses before going out on the bridge, so we were climbing up and down these metal racks like ratards. then they gave us headsets and we set out.
we had to walk on these planks underneath the bridge to get to where we needed to be to start the climb. it felt like i was a bandit or something, taking the sneaky way. our guide was super cool, telling us the history of the bridge and all that junk.
there were a series of ladders we had to climb to get up to the level where the cars were. i'm a pretty strong girl and not afraid of heights, but man, i got a little woozy on the climb. you know how they say dont look down? well they say that for a reason! i looked down and started to panic, but there were people ahead and behind me so i didnt really have a choice but to suck it up and keep moving.
once we were on top of the actual bridge part, i was fine. it was kinda windy, but the jumpsuits kept us warm. the view was amazing! and it was so neat to see it all from that perspective. here are some shots of us and our group from the top:
it was so cool. while we were at the top of the bridge, a cruise ship passed underneath. the ship was blasting that men at work song, "land down under", and everyone was on deck waving at us. the guide then let us ask any questions we wanted. i of course, being a celeb news junkie, wanted him to point out where all the aussie celebs lived. i got to see john travolta, nicole kidman and keith urban, and russel crowe's houses. uber creeper, but pretty exciting nonetheless.
the climb back was pretty neat too because the city lights were coming on and it was well, twilighty. i was stressing out about climbing back down, but it was way easier climbing down than up. who knew? excellent experience. our guide was like, "you can purchase your blue jumpsuit as a souvenir." for a nominal fee of course. honestly who wants a giant blue jumpsuit? someone or else they wouldnt be selling them i guess. and no, we didnt purchase any. lol.
we found the most swanky apple store on the way home. check out this glass stair case? at an apple store. raking in the $$
i am totally aware this post is dragging on for miles. im sorry. you can stop reading. but if youre a super stalker, or i've somehow managed to keep your attention, then by all means, keep reading.
so by this time we've been gone from home (perth) for like a month, and the last time we did a small load of laundry was clear back in darwin. most of our clothes are in need of a good wash, so when we get back to the hotel we look at the dry cleaning prices. HOLY HELL! i could have bought an entire new wardrobe for the amount of money they wanted to wash clothes. seriously like $4 a sock, like $30 for a pair of jeans.
so we did what any hillbilly americans would do, went down to the corner store and bought a box of detergent and did an old fashioned bathtub foot-stomp clothes wash.
it was hilarious. and really a lot of effort. by the time we washed the clothes and got them rung out, finding places to let them dry was a challenge. our room looked like a shanty town. it was funny and sort of pathetic. we didnt want the maids to come in and see how ridiculous we were so we put up the "do not disturb" sign haha.
our last and final day in sydney we hopped a ferry and went to check out a suburb called manly. all of the guide books say to go, plus, my good friend tina lived there. you might remember tina from my wine excursion to margaret river? (if not, click here).
it was cold and sorta rainy, but we sat outside on the deck of the ferry. why you ask? if you recall my previous post about my horrible boat experience in cairns, i get motion sick like a mother f%^&#r, and being outside makes the nausea a little better. so we froze. shane is a saint, bless his heart, for sitting outside on the deck with me. love you mister! but hey, at least we got a good view?
manly was different from the sydney cbd. it was much more relaxed and had a beachy/surfer vibe. oh yeah, and they had trees growing out of the pavement in the middle of their streets. haha. hippies.
we had an amazingly tasty lunch at this fantastic place right on the beach. it was called the pantry. the food was delicious, and we were sitting at a bar that had a giant glass window in front of it all looking out over the tasman sea. it was gorgeous. we sat their for a few hours, just having drinks, talking about life, and watching the waves and surfers. it was perfect.
later that night we went to tina's apartment for dinner. we always have a great time together and it was so fantastic that we had the opportunity to hang out with each other. she made us her famous seafood risotto. shane and i arent big fans of anything seafood-y, but this was an exception. it was so fresh and delicious i think both of us went back for seconds. nice work tina :)
tina and her roommate ryan invited us to go with them down to the local pub and participate in the pong tournament that was going on. so much fun! the pub had like four pong tables, people bought in and signed up in teams and played doubles. i am the worlds worst pong player so i sat it out and just watched everyone else play. shane had so much fun, but his and tina's skills just werent up to par and they were eliminated about halfway through. kudos to ryan though, him and his teammate won the entire thing. even better? they bought us all drinks with their winnings. which is, well, winning.
we were having so much fun and didnt want to leave, but the last ferry was leaving manly and if we didnt get it on it, we'd be stranded. so we said our goodbyes and ran like dickens (yes, dickens) to the ferry terminal. we made it just in time. since it was almost midnight the ferry was pretty empty, which was weird being on a big empty boat. i think the drinking worked in my favor because somehow i didnt get sick on the boat. which is weird since you'd expect the opposite effect. but im not complaining.
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| we saw this car outside our hotel and shane made me take a picture. so here it is. |
we sat in these big comfy arm chairs opposite each other in this fancy dining area and our waitress brought us a newspaper to peruse before the tea. i took a photo of this because the headlines are funny, and very australian. "sleeping with bub a natural practice" (we dont say bub in the states) and "maccas fast fries batter the brit chip" (honestly i dont know what that means other than its about mcdonalds and fries, but i still thought it was cool).
this is shane and his classy champagne face
this is my classy champagne face
and this is our tea! how cute is it! i think i squealed and clapped when it arrived lol
cheers to my shaner to an amazing trip around australia. i loved this entire experience and love you more.
next stop? hawaii
