Sydney

Our first day in Sydney was spent walking around Circular Quay, where the Opera House and Sydney Bridge are located and the Rocks area where we were staying.  The area around the opera house was full of street performers, we stopped to watch many but the favorite was the "girl in the box". Dillon and I both loved watching the birds, not sure what the long beak bird was we kept seeing but we got a pic. We then headed to Darling Harbor, by ferry, to walk around and visit the Sydney Aquarium.  It seems our family has subconsciously decided to visit a zoo or aquarium, or both on every vacation we take.  The aquarium was quite large and so was the crowd, I think JD's mom loved the 3 stories of ramps to get to and from the shark tunnels (by the way, that is a joke!).

Girl in Box street performer.

For dinner we decided to go to The Hard Rock Cafe, JD had heard good things from other people visiting Sydney.  Disappointment does not begin to describe this meal, I first ordered a margarita and actually had to send it back - those who know me know I can drink almost anything - then my burger came out raw and that went back also - while the second margarita was OK the second burger, not so much - my vision of a margarita and a burger in an American chain had vanished.  After dinner it was a beautiful evening so we walked around the harbor - there we saw the "World's Largest Rubber Duck" that was on display for the summer.

Darling Harbor and the Rubber Duck

Zorbing

Day 2 started with a visit to the Rock's markets, a little light shopping was in order and we even ran into some friends from Alice Springs there.  Later, we took the ferry over to Manly Beach.  Once we got off the ferry and exited the terminal the boys spotted the zorbing area and the bungee swing, so we delayed our short walk to the beach just a little longer.  The boys, who are pros at the bungee swings, thought that was fun, but they loved the zorbing!  How funny it was to see the boys stand in a ball and watch it inflate around them.  The beach was beautiful and packed, we walked to the water's edge and put our feet in to find the water incredibly chilly, this did not stop the boys at all though - they swam for a good hour and a half. I was excited to see a small Mexican cafe  on the boardwalk, it has been sooo long since we have had Mexican food - well the excitement did not last long, I think it was too much expectation placed on a Mexican restaurant in Australia.  I will say though, that sitting in an outdoor cafe, facing the ocean, palm trees swaying, listening to music while drinking a Corona was as close to perfect as I could get.  Walking back to the ferry we came across another outdoor market with street performers - one of the dance crews picked Jake up and carried him out to dance, he lasted a minute or two before he decided he was done!

Manly Beach

Jake and the street performers

Our view from the Mexican cafe

The dino that sprays.

Day 3   We took the ferry ride over to the Tarunga Zoo, once you arrive you take a gondola ride to the top of the zoo to then begin your descent down.  The zoo animals get some of the best views anywhere in Sydney, you could see the opera house and Sydney bridge from many locations.  It was a beautiful zoo, I swear we walked 5 miles at least - it was huge.  They had animated dinosaurs everywhere with one that sprayed water on the kids - boys loved this one!  The seal exhibit was the best I had ever seen, they had indoor and outdoor viewing areas - Jake and Dillon spent most of their time taking pictures of the animals with their new Christmas presents for Nannie and Papa - Ipad minis.

The Seal Theater

Bondi Beach

Day 4 began with a hop on hop off bus ride through Sydney.  We made it three stops before we hopped off for some shopping, I was hoping to find a fascinator for the upcoming races back in Alice - but even an experienced shopper like myself was overwhelmed with the 9 story department stores so we hopped back on our bus.  We were able to visit many of the famous landmarks, including St. Mary's Cathedral - very impressive! We drove through many of the ocean front suburbs and then arrived at Bondi Beach, another hop off point.  We headed to Hurricanes for lunch and it was perfect, a cold beer and sharing a delicious burger with JD while listening to the surf!  We walked over to the beach, there were not many people swimming due to the high winds and rough surf - I can honestly say I have never seen an ocean with so many waves and white foam - very hard to capture in my pictures..  After our walk we hopped back on to head to the Sydney opera House for a tour there - even the boys enjoyed the tour  - the architecture and history behind it was impressive.

Inside the opera house

St. Mary's Cathedral

Inside the Opera House.

We spent our last night enjoying dinner with Carolyn and Bob before they would be heading back to the U.S.A. and us back to Alice.  Then JD and I hit up the Fortune of War bar, the oldest pub in Sydney, established in 1828 while Carol and Bob watched the boys.  Soon we would be at the airport headed home but not before picking up a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts  - you see there are no doughnut shops here in the Alice!