Days 27-30 - Sydney

Sydney, a waterfront metropolis.

Sydney is a wonderful clean city but unfortunately currently filled with construction sites.

Where do you go in such a huge city? Like most tourists, we start at Circular Quay, where the large cruise ships and ferries dock. From there, you get the first glimpse of the famous Harbour Bridge and Sydney's iconic Opera House.

Directly behind the Opera House is the Botanic Gardens. A beautiful green oasis of tranquility where you can relax from the city tours. Plus, the park is free. We stroll through the park to Ms Macquarie's Chair, a small viewpoint from where you can admire the opera house and the bridge in all their grandeur.

You can find a piece of the old town with many great restaurants and cozy atmosphere at The Rocks.

Another beautiful spot is Darling Harbour. Here you can find many great restaurants and bars. Not cheap, but very cozy for evening hanging out.

Not far from Darling Harbour is Sydney's Chinatown. If you walk through Chinatown, you definitely have to stop at Emperor's Puffs. A small inconspicuous window, but you can't miss the queue of people waiting. The shop is famous for its pancake balls filled with vanilla custard.

If you want to buy cheap tourist gifts, bags, jewelry, and even a lot of unnecessary stuff, you can go to Paddy's Market, a huge market hall located at the end of Chinatown.

In Sydney, you can really walk your feet off and empty your wallet.

To save money on a river cruise, we get on a regular 'line ferry' with our Opal card (valid for bus, train, and ferry) and ride the stops in a circle.

With buses and trains, you can quickly get to Sydney's beaches. If you are looking for a livelier beach, you should go to Bondi Beach. A real tourist beach, somehow the Ballermann of Sydney, but not as dirty. We get off the bus at Bondi Beach and walk along the partly rocky coast to Gordons Bay, a bay that invites you to dive and snorkel.

If you spend New Year's Eve in Sydney, you shouldn't miss the grand fireworks at the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Since we don't want to spend money on various expensive VIP events, we arrive at the big square in front of the Opera House at 11 o'clock in the morning to secure a good spot. We are lucky because after three-quarters of an hour, no one else is allowed to enter, but there is a huge crowd of people.

So we spend the day under an umbrella with sunscreen on the hard ground, waiting for it to start. The atmosphere doesn't really get going. In the late afternoon, there is a small flying show, followed by a ship parade.

There is a bit more atmosphere when a small fireworks display for families is ignited at 9 pm. But then it's quiet on the square again. We can hear snippets of music from the VIP parties, but hardly anything reaches us. One minute before midnight, the countdown is shown and the people rise joyfully and eagerly await the fireworks. We toast with $10 expensive champagne. The fireworks are great, you should definitely see them once. But as soon as the fireworks end, people leave the site in droves, as if struck by lightning. Keeping pace with the crowd, we are pushed through the entire downtown area and end up at Darling Harbour, where many people are also coming towards us. Only the previously booked clubs are celebrated there as well.

Despite the great light show, hardly any New Year's Eve atmosphere arises and it is a pity that for the majority of people, New Year's Eve ends with the last rocket.

Conclusion: You should definitely experience it and check it off your bucket list because the fireworks are incredibly beautiful, but that's about it.

Exhausted from days of walking around and the long wait in the blazing sun, we take the New Year's Day calmly and let the city impress us one last time before heading to Cairns the next day.