5 days in Sydney

For the first day, we had chosen a city walk to visit the famous sights of Sydney and to get familiar with the city. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy that day, so we didn't get to see the city as beautifully as we had hoped. However, we were impressed by the city lights in the evening, and in the following days, Sydney showed itself again in full sunshine.

On our second day, we went to the famous Bondi Beach to walk along the coastal path. When we arrived at our starting point, Bondi Beach, by bus, we were amazed by the huge white sandy beach. Despite the many people visiting Bondi Beach that day, there was still plenty of space. There was a lot of surfing and beach volleyball being played, with several courts set up.

The path along the coast provided beautiful views of various beaches and the ocean. When we reached our destination, Coogee Beach, we took the bus back to the hostel and tried to plan our Saturday evening. Originally, we had planned to go to a club with a friend from New Zealand who was also in Sydney at the same time. However, since he was flying to Thailand early the next day, we didn't have any plans. To avoid just hanging around on a Saturday evening, we hoped that something would come up. So, late in the evening, a few New Zealanders dragged us into the city and we ended up paying for the most expensive club in Sydney, for some reason. We had no idea why, but since we had already gone into the city, we didn't want to simply go back to the hostel. Well, we're only in Sydney once. Unfortunately, this club was not what we had hoped for. It was mostly attended by the "upper class" of Sydney, aged 25-30, all dressed up in fancy outfits, and we felt a bit out of place (and of course, underdressed). After only 2 hours, the others decided to move on, so we returned to the hostel after this short and expensive excursion.

As a birthday present for Meret, we had booked a tour to the Blue Mountains on Monday. So, early in the morning, we were picked up by our guide, Bibiana.

The first stop was the Featherdale Wildlife Park. There, we got to see the unique animals of Australia up close for the first time. It was wonderful to have kangaroos, koalas, wombats, etc. right in front of us, we couldn't get enough of them. Unfortunately, the one-hour visit was very short, but we still had a lot more on our program. Next, we went to the Blue Mountains National Park. Bibiana showed us not only the main attractions, such as the Three Sisters, but also some more remote places, and we were particularly lucky that day. In the morning, the weather didn't look so good, which probably scared off many visitors. That's why we were able to explore the huge national park with very few other visitors. At the end of the day, we took the ferry back to Sydney and had a perfect view of the city skyline at night.

On our last day, we went back to the city. There, we visited the Botanic Gardens, did some shopping, and in the evening, we went to a free pool from which we had a wonderful view of Sydney. The Botanic Gardens were perfect for relaxing from the hustle and bustle of the city. Despite being right next to the CBD, it was surprisingly quiet there, and we could enjoy the skyline and the harbor with the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It was similar at McCallum Pool, where despite the pleasant 22°C (71.6°F), there seemed to be no one around, so we had it to ourselves for almost an hour. From there, we watched the sunset, which illuminated the skyscrapers in an evening glow.