Sydney Harbor.
We arrived in Sydney the afternoon of November 1st and checked into our hostel in central Sydney - only about 200 feet from the bus station. Best news ever for this back of mine! (I weighed my backpack before I left and it was 29 lbs, although it feels a lot heavier than that). We walked down to Darling Harbor at sunset and there was a lot going on. November 1st was the Melbourne Cup (horse racing) and they say it is the race that stops a nation. There were tons of parties going on with men dressed in suits and women in dresses and large fancy hats. Unfortunately, Allie and I didn't get the 'fancy' memo, and were wearing our scrubbiest clothes with baseball hats. Luckily, a restaurant near the water let us in so we could get a bite to eat.
The next day we set our goals high to see most of the Sydney tourist sites - we saw the Sydney Harbor Bridge, Opera House, historic Rocks district, the Circular Quay, and the Royal Botanical Gardens, which are all in one area of Sydney about a two mile walk from our place. My favorite part of seeing those areas was the Opera House. It is such a unique piece of architecture and we later found out that the architect was Dutch and due to a disagreement with the city regarding a piece of the interior design, he walked off the job and never saw the final product! After seeing those spots we walked back through town to see Hyde Park, the Art Gallery of New South Wales (had some great displays, including my favorite bike sculpture) and the Anzac Memorial.
The next morning we woke up early and met our tour guide, Mark, who bused us to the Blue Mountains for a two day, one night experience. A large part of the Blue Mountains is incorporated into the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Site which was appointed in 2000. First, on our way to the mountains we stopped at Featherdale Wildlife Refuge and got to see/feed kangaroos, koalas, wallabies and Tasmanian devils (ugly little guys). It was fun to see all the different animals! From there, we headed to the heart of the Blue Mountains and stopped at Scenic World which has a skyway, scenic cableway and the steepest passenger railway in the world. We were able to ride all three attractions, see waterfalls, walk through the jungle, and have some great views of the Jameson Valley as well as the Three Sisters rock formation. Although I've never been to the Grand Canyon (its on my list) the Blue Mountains and Jameson Valley was like the Australian Grand Canyon. It was such a fun day! That night we stayed in the mountain town of Katoomba - a very cute town and a great hostel!
The next morning we were picked up for our tour of the Jenolan Caves. We didn't know a ton about the caves prior to going, and all our guide told us was it would be a bit of a driving to get there and it was a little bit of a winding road at the end. We thought okay, we can handle that. IT WAS THE SCARIEST DRIVE EVER! 'A little winding' meant a one lane, super narrow, very winding road in a HUGE tour bus which felt like the front half of the bus was going off of with every turn. It was terrifying! But luckily, once we arrived at the caves we knew it was worth it. The Jenolan Caves are the oldest known caves in the world, at 340 million years old. I couldn't believe how big they were! We went into the Lucas Cave, which has an area called "The Cathedral" which stands at 54 meters high. They even host weddings in there! There are stairs, handrails and trails throughout the caves and they also have special lighting and even sound systems inside. It was incredible!
After safely making it down from the caves we made our way to Randwick, a suburb on the southeast side of the city. We stayed at an airbnb with a really nice Kiwi and Aussie couple in their apartment near the ocean. We loved the Randwick area as it had tons of cute shops and restaurants (and some of the best thai food ever!). While we were there, we walked down to the beach and did a sea walk from Coogee beach to Bondi Beach (Bondi is one of the more well known beaches in the area). It was Saturday and really nice weather so there was a ton of great people watching and also a Sculpture by the Sea event going on. The walk took a couple hours and once we made it to Bondi Beach it was like MTV Spring Break. It was a HUGE beach with lots of pretty people running around, all of whom were pretty well tanned. I was glad I wore the one piece to cover up this white bod. After checking out the beach we headed back to Randwick and went to bed early. The next morning we woke up at 4:30am to catch our flight to Cairns to see more beaches and the Great Barrier Reef!
Lessons Learned:
1. Most Australian people are tan. It's just a fact.
2. If you are not a tan Australian, wear lots of sunscreen (don't worry, I have been).
3. People's interpretations of "a little winding" can be vastly different.
4. Sometimes its nice to do an organized tour - we were both thankful we didn't have to drive on that road and we got to learn a lot from both of our tour guides on the way!
Highlights:
1. Sydney Opera House - such an iconic landmark and really amazing architecture.
2. Blue Mountains - if you are in Sydney it is definitely worth the 2ish hour drive to get here! Amazing views!
3. Randwick - we loved the charm and slower pace of Randwick - it also had some very unique places!
Thanks for reading!
The Three Sisters.
The Jenolan Caves.