Short trip to Sydney

On Monday evening, August 20th, we flew from Brisbane to Sydney at 6:20 pm. We wanted to meet Julia, who is spending a week in Australia to participate in the Känguru Lobbet, a skiing competition in the southeast of Australia.

(By the way, taking selfies before boarding the plane is not allowed... :D)

We took an Uber taxi from the airport to our Airbnb apartment in Glebe, about half an hour's walk from the center of Sydney. After unpacking, we met up with Julia. Unfortunately, it was already quite late, so the numerous restaurants in our area were already closed. So we went to Dominos after a short stop at the Bottleshop. After spending a few minutes in the common room of Julia's hostel, we were kicked out at exactly 11pm, so we spent the rest of the evening with wine in our living room in the Airbnb apartment, which was much more comfortable. Here we also got to know some of our roommates for the next few days, as well as Socks - the little dog of the flatshare.

The next morning, we had a delicious breakfast in a cafe next door, with coffee, omelette and waffles.

At 10:00 am, we started our walk towards the city, because at 10:30 am we wanted to join the Free Walking Tour to get an overview of the city. We were lucky and caught the group led by the founder of the company. After about 2.5 hours, we knew most parts of the city, the opera house, and of course the Harbour Bridge. After the tour, we went on our own to the Harbour Bridge, but the strong wind and only about 13 degrees made us turn back after halfway. After having lunch at an Indian restaurant in a shopping center, we went to 'Messina' for what sources say is the best ice cream in the world. The ice cream flavors here are named after Game of Thrones characters.

From another bridge, we enjoyed the view of the harbor with the opera house and the Harbour Bridge. Then we went to the opera house. After a walk around and unsuccessful geocaching, we went inside to warm up. Unfortunately, we only made it to the ticket area, which was rather unspectacular. Then, at 5:45 pm (sunset), we watched the light show about Aboriginal culture. Part of the opera house is illuminated with colorful lights. But please don't ask what story was being told.. :D

In the morning during the Free Walking Tour, we were told that you can get a great panoramic view of the city from the O Bar while enjoying a few drinks. We took the elevator to the 47th floor - here we had cocktails for $21 and the view was truly breathtaking. The restaurant in the building rotates 360 degrees within an hour, so we could look in every direction. After two drinks, we took the elevator back down and went out into the cold.

Afterwards, we walked through the city again to have dinner at an Italian restaurant - "Pasta Emilia". This restaurant belongs to the son (Paul) of a friend (Wyndham) of our landlady (Punam). :D Unfortunately, our "acquaintances" were not there that evening, so we only had expensive and somewhat mediocre food. We then took an Uber back to our accommodation, where we opened the next bottle of wine. Our driver was a quite fast-driving Slovakian who almost ran a red light with us in the car.

Wednesday was a bit more relaxed. We went to the city center for breakfast. "The Grounds" is said to have the best coffee in town. We had a Brekki Burger, pancakes and porridge.

After being strengthened, we went to the famous Westfield Shopping Center. Westfield is owned by almost every house in Sydney, including one of the largest shopping centers. After stocking up on food again, we went up. With the elevator of an office building, we reached the 48th floor and enjoyed a great view of the Harbour Bridge and the harbor - this time in daylight. After some time, the reception ladies asked us to leave, as we were blocking the waiting area of ​​the company without permission. They explained to us that they usually give tourists a few minutes to look around, but we seem to have taken too much time.

Harbour Bridge - view from the building

Afterwards, we made our way to the Botanic Garden. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a disappointment, as we only ended up on a path between two fences. Freedom was on the left and the closed Botanic Garden was on the right.

In the end, we arrived at a small pond. There were large eels to watch. What's interesting is that nobody introduces the eels into the pond, they are regularly fished out again. However, young eels always migrate from the harbor and settle in the pond. Another attraction here were the birds. When Krissi was about to feed a few eels, she was attacked by a bird, and we all know that Krissi doesn't like birds flying around her head. But then we started feeding the birds anyway. We know we shouldn't do that, and we have always believed that, but it was fascinating to see the birds eating directly from our hands...

Afterwards, we were able to watch a beautiful sunset. We sat right by the harbor opposite the Harbour Bridge and the opera house. From a distance, we could also watch the light show at the opera house again.

Already quite hungry, we headed towards China Town. But before our well-deserved dinner, we made a stop at the art museum, which is free to enter. We didn't have time to see everything, but the museum is definitely on our to-do list for our next Sydney visit. Then we finally had a super delicious and comparatively inexpensive dinner.

We wanted to end our last evening with a bottle of wine at our place. Julia stayed in our room with a sleeping bag and a sleeping mat because she originally only booked her hostel for two nights. We even asked our "landlords" if that was okay. Julia fell asleep immediately after the first sip of wine. This was probably due to the jet lag and the two previous days full of sightseeing.

The next morning, we had to leave at 7 am to go to the airport and Julia headed about 600km south towards the competition area.

After a small and expensive breakfast at the airport and a good but occasionally shaky flight home, the question arose of how we would get back to our apartment from the airport. Take the expensive Airtrain again? Or use Uber? Krissi then decided to hitchhike, which initially annoyed Kenny, but when it finally worked and we were sitting in a car with a friendly Australian on our way back to the city center, Kenny was happy again. We took a detour and were on the road longer than necessary, but it was free.

By the way, Julia finished in 3rd place in her age group (U30) at her competition. Congratulations for that. :)