Tuesday, 3 April 2018
We woke up to our 4:15am alarm to get up and head to the airport. Our flight Singapore to Sydney was departing at 7:05am. The flight was a little over 7 hours which was surprising to me because you can't find a flight that far in the continental United States.
We got through immigration (where they sadly did not stamp my passport since US citizens have to apply online beforehand for an electronic visa). I got a $10 sim card for my phone and then we took the train to Museum Station and walked to our Airbnb in Surry Hills. The Surry Hills neighborhood was awesome! We put down our stuff and went walking around and eventually to dinner. My friend Naomi, who I met in 2009 while living in England, now lives in Sydney. I asked her for restaurant recommendation a few weeks ago and she mentioned that Via Napoli Pizzeria was great! We went there and it was delicious! It reminded me a lot of a pizza place we loved in Greenpoint (where we lived in Brooklyn, NY) called Paulie Gee's. We ordered two pizzas, the first one we chose from the menu, and the second one we asked the waiter to surprise us. It was delicious and more like getting 4 pizzas in one!
We were pretty tired so we went back to the Airbnb after dinner, watched some of the Commonwealth games, and went to bed to get an early start the next morning.
Wednesday, 4 April 2018
We woke up this morning and FaceTimed with Ross and Anna who were driving down to St. Pete for their wedding weekend! We are so bummed to be missing their wedding, but thankful for their friendship and technology that let's us connect across the world. We headed out for the day with a plan to explore the downtown area including: the Queen Victoria Building, Darling Harbour, Sydney Harbour Bride, The Rocks, Sydney Opera House, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. We walked from Surry Hills through Hyde Park to the Queen Victoria Building which had some of the best tile I have ever seen.
Next we walked around Darling Harbour and got to see the bridge rotate a few times as well as explore the free displays and ships at the maritime museum.
After Darling Harbour we walked around The Rocks and got some food and beers at Wok On In Thai street noodle bar. All around Sydney we have seen what people call "bin chickens" but are actually Australian white ibis. People talk about them like they are dirty pigeons, and at restaurants, parks and picnic areas, ibis gather, scrounging in bins for scraps or even stealing food from tables. I thought they looked fascinating though and almost prehistoric. I got the 2nd photo from Google so you can see the beak better.
Next we walked down George St to the stairs leading up to Sydney Harbour Bridge. We walked over the bridge and got some awesome views of the Sydney Opera House, skyline and ferry harbour. Also, I had to take a picture with this gorgeous, huge, old tree.
We walked back off the bridge and towards the Sydney Opera House were we talk lots of pictures as the sun set. It truly is a majestic building and maybe a bit smaller than we thought it would be.
After walking around the Sydney Opera House we made our way over to the Museum of Contemporary Art and spent a couple of hours walking around here and checking out the rooftop cafe views of the harbor.
When I lived in England from fall 2009 - spring 2010, I was close friends with a girl named Naomi. After I lived in England, she came to visit me and which to the beach with my family in Savannah. She and her boyfriend have lived in Sydney for the past few years, and tonight Bren and I got to meet up with her for drinks on a fun rooftop bar in the Rocks. It was so fun seeing her after 8 years!
On the way back to our Airbnb it was drizzling, so Bren and I popped into a kebab shop and get a chicken shawarma before heading in for the night. It was a great first full day in Sydney!
