Sunny Sydney - Blogabond

A nine hour flight from Hong-Kong to Australia landed us in the early morning in Sydney. The flight was quite long but the time difference from Hong-Kong ‘only’ three hours. However, since we left Hong-Kong late in the evening and flew over night without much sleep, it really felt like we were severely jetlagged when we finally had cleared customs and immigration and staggered out in the sunshine.

Sydney greeted us with nice weather and the contrast was very pleasant as the air was less humid. The hotel let us check in early so at 10am we went to bed for a few hours sleep.

In fact, the first day was spent pretty much recovering and it wasn’t until later in the afternoon/early evening that we found the energy to venture out to and get something to eat. We walked through the Botanical Gardens and stared at the thousands of fruit bats that were hanging in the trees. They are quite large and they looked scary even though they are harmless…. We also saw the biggest spider web with a VERY LARGE spider on guard in the middle…..

We also walked past the famous Opera house and down to Circular Quay from which we took a taxi back to the hotel.

The next morning was also off to a slow start, but eventually we dragged ourselves out of bed and went for a swim in the pool in the Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, today was much greyer and quite cold with a slight drizzle. The swim was nice though and we also had some breakfast at the pool café overlooking the pool area and part of the harbor.

The last full day in Sydney, we met up with Victoria’s friend Malin who has lived in Sydney for four years. She took us on a nice tour with started with a ferry ride to Watson’s Bay and a delicious serving of fish and chips before going for a walk along the coastline. The views were spectacular but when we passed the Lady Bay beach where ‘clothing is optional’ we involuntarily saw some less spectacular naked men strolling down the beach….

The trip continued with a bus ride to Bondi Beach; another walk and a stop for a coffee at a little side café before we decided to head back to the hotel for an hour rest. The plan was to meet up with Malin and her boyfriend Marc for dinner later on, so we took the opportunity to rest our feet and eyes before heading out again for really yummy Indian meal in Rose Bay.

In all we had a very nice day and thanks Malin for being our guide. The only thing was that both of us forgot sunscreen so even just a walk left both of us red like two tomatoes in our faces!!! Ouch!!!!

The following morning we were once again packing our bags and heading to the airport to catch our flight to Kiwi country, aka New Zealand. Since we will be spending about seven weeks there with only vague plans so far, we had only bought the ticket there, not a return. Well, that proved to cause some issues as we weren’t allowed to check to our flight unless we could show a return ticket out of New Zealand. Apparently, they were afraid we were going to stay forever….. So with an hour to spare before check-in closed, we bought return tickets so that we could show that we intended to leave the country. A little stressful at first, but we made it with more than half an hour to spare before the desk would close!
Finally we boarded our flight that would take us to New Zealand and Christchurch!

written by

Victoria & Robert on March 11, 2010 from Sydney, Australia

from the travel blog: The rest of the world

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