When I was planning my trip to Australia, I knew it was going to be near the end of my travels, or even potentially the last country I visited. But frankly, Australia is just so far away that I figured it made sense to stop somewhere on the way home, which is what brought me to India. I mentioned it to my friends and two of them, Chloë and Peter, were interested in joining me.
I had my flights booked up until Sydney before they had all of their travel plans figured out, so I waited for them to decide when we would meet up in India. I flew into Sydney on April 15, and I ended up booking my flight to Delhi on April 25, so I had 10 days in Sydney—which, considering I only gave myself two days in Melbourne, was stupid on my part. But one reason I was extra excited about going to Sydney was because my friends, Kate and Alex, live there.
When I told Kate I was planning to come to Australia, she insisted that I stay with them while I was in Sydney. I reached back out to her when I realized I’d be there for 10 days to confirm, because I was more than happy to spend a few days in a hostel instead of being in their hair for more than a week, but Kate assured me it was fine.
When I landed at the Sydney airport on April 15, Alex was kind enough to pick me up, and we zipped over to their place in Alexandria, where Kate was waiting for us. It was so, so wonderful to have a reunion with them because we hadn’t seen each other in 3 years. We met on a trip through Africa and hit it off almost immediately, but Covid kept us apart for years afterward.
They got me set up in the guest room and then we headed out to the Opera Bar, so named for its proximity to the Sydney Opera House. Kate asked me a couple of times, “Don’t you want to take any photos?” but I was so excited to be reunited with her and Alex that I wasn’t in tourist mode; I was in friend mode. We walked over to the Glenmore Hotel, closer to the Harbour Bridge, for dinner, and on the way there I finally took a picture of the Opera House.
We had dinner on the rooftop at the Glenmore, which also has a great view of the Opera House, before calling it a night.
The next day was Sunday, so Kate and Alex decided to drive me down the coast to the Scarborough Hotel, a gorgeous seaside restaurant where we had lunch.
Lunch at the Scarborough Hotel
Kate and Alex did a little hike up to get a view of the beautiful Sea Cliff Bridge, but the path was terrifyingly steep and I was afraid I would tumble all the way down, so I stayed at the bottom (They were only gone for about 20 minutes).
But on the way back, we stopped at the Bald Hill Lookout, which was yet another beautiful view. I guess New South Wales is okay-looking.
Once we got back to their place in Sydney, we had a quiet night in because they both had to work in the morning. As for me, I had a walking tour booked.
Kate knows how much I love a tour, especially a historical one, so she recommended I do a walking tour of The Rocks, the oldest neighborhood in Sydney. Here, as opposed to the Melbourne Gaol, I finally got the information I wanted about Australia’s history as a penal colony. The Rocks, which is the neighborhood the Glenmore Hotel is in where we had dinner on Saturday night, is the oldest neighborhood in Sydney because it’s right next to the harbor, so the convicts basically got off the ships and started building right there.
According to an article from the BBC, the area that is now the state of New South Whales “was founded by the British as a penal colony in 1788. Over the next 80 years, more than 160,000 convicts were transported to Australia from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in lieu of the death penalty.” Our tour guide explained that the majority of the convicts were convicted of petty crimes, and some of them were even children. She told us a story about one specific convict, a 12-year-old girl, who stole some bread and got sent to Australia. I seriously can’t imagine.
Once they got there, the setup was that, prisoners performed hard labor for 7 years (which was the minimum; it would be higher for worse offenses), and then they were free to return home if they wished. However, due to the terrible journey by ship, most convicts stayed in Australia as free people. Today, about 20% of Australians are descendants of convicts. What shocked me that our tour guide told us was that free people in Australia could apply to have prisoners come work for them, to help them build or produce things, etc. Then, when those prisoners served their time and were freed, then the former prisoners were eligible to apply for new convicts to assist them, and many of them did! I was shocked they were content to continue the cycle of abuse but it was a different time, I suppose.
Cadmans Cottage, the oldest surviving residential building in Sydney, was built in 1816.
View of the Opera House from The Rocks
Can you believe that this gorgeous building was originally built to be a warehouse for storing goods coming off of ships in the harbor?
The Sydney Harbour Bridge
After the excellent tour of The Rocks ended, I walked over to the Royal Botanic Gardens, which are free and located right behind the Opera House.
The Government House, the residence of the Governor of New South Wales, is right at the edge of the botanical gardens
Exploring the rose garden
Floral displays in the Calyx, an indoor area of the garden
An echidna made out of plants!
The cactus section of the garden
The garden with the skyscrapers of Sydney in the distance
View of the harbor from Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair
I left the garden and found my way over to St. Mary’s Cathedral
Archibald Memorial Fountain
Sydney Town Hall
The Queen Victoria Building, completed in 1898, is now a mall
I clocked 8 miles that day so I made my way back to Kate and Alex’s after that.
The following day, I took the ferry to Watsons Bay, a lovely suburb of Sydney that has a nice little beach and a weather-beaten old lighthouse.
Ferry to Watsons Bay
View of Sydney in the distance from Watsons Bay
Love to have breakfast on the beach!
Hornby Lighthouse, built in 1858
Lady Bay Beach
The Gap Lookout National Park
Anchor from The Dunbar, a shipwreck with only one survivor
Instead of taking the ferry back, I continued my beach day and took a bus over to Bondi Beach.
The Bondi Beach Graffiti Wall
When in Australia!
Bondi Beach
That evening, Kate, Alex, and I did trivia at a pub near their house. We didn’t do super well but Alex did win a pitcher for getting a special question right about John Steinbeck, and it was a lot of fun.
The following day, I had a day trip booked to the Blue Mountains, but our first stop was at Featherdale Wildlife Park, an animal sanctuary where you can feed wallabies and kangaroos and even touch a koala. I was on cloud nine.
Feeding wallabies
This koala’s expression is such a mood
Feeding a kangaroo
A fairy penguin
Quokka
A cassowary, the most dinosaur-looking bird I’ve ever seen
Wombat
Sleepy dingo
I paid to take this photo with a koala
Echidna
There are Tasmanian devils at Featherdale as well, but they were sleeping when I was there and I didn’t get to see them.
Next stop was Blue Mountains National Park (so named because the mountains in the distance, brilliantly, look blue)
Selfie with the Three Sisters
Selfie at Echo Point
Part of my tour included a visit to Scenic World, a tourist attraction with three different “rides” you can take (a cable car, a Skyway, and a train). It was a little silly but the views really were very nice. This is the Scenic Railway, “the world’s steepest train,” which took us down onto the forest floor, and then I took the cable car back up.
Cahill’s Lookout
The next day was supposed to rain, so I had a relaxed morning before heading to see the Sydney Symphony perform at the Opera House. It was so cool to be inside.
I then visited the Art Gallery of New South Wales
I loved this tiny Sydney Harbour Bridge made out of seashells!
Exhibits in the museum
I treated myself to Spanish tapas for dinner that night and they were seriously some of the best I’ve ever had outside of Spain.
I took the ferry over and spent the following day at Manly Beach. This is the Corso, a promenade leading to the beach.
On Saturday, Kate and Alex took me to The Grounds of Alexandria, a former pie factory that’s now a specialty restaurant and event space. They were decorated with a Disney theme, which Kate knew I would appreciate.
After lunch, we went bowling. Then on Sunday, they let me crash their friends’ barbecue in the afternoon and then we had dinner with Kate’s family. So much of my trip was absolutely running myself ragged, so it was so nice to have some time to relax while I was in Sydney, and Kate and Alex went above and beyond both in hosting me for 10 days and also in showing me around and making me feel welcome.
Monday was my last day in Sydney, and I didn’t do anything for the first half of the day until I met up with another friend, Jason, who I also met in Africa and who happens to live in Sydney. I also hadn’t seen him in 3 years either so it was wonderful to catch up.
On Tuesday, April 25, my relaxing time in Sydney was over. I got up at 4:30am to head to the airport catch my flight to Delhi, which was going via Hong Kong.
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