Days 112 to 115 Helicopters, Jellyfish & Tapas in Sydney

Being in Oz for New Year meant one certain thing for us. We had to go to Sydney and see it live at the Harbour. We arrived in Sydney after a relatively short 4 hour flight from Perth. Looking out of the left window of the plane as we landed, we caught our first glimpse, albeit a distant one, of the Harbour bridge and the Opera House. It was an amazing sight and really wetted our appetites for seeing them up close.

We had booked our accomodation for the new year several months ago when we were still working and decided to splash out for the week and stay in the Hilton on George Street, a short walk from Circular Quay & the Rocks. Once checked in we couldn't wait for anything other than to get straight down to see the Opera house close up. It was dark and the first up close glimpse totally took our breath away. The vibe at the harbour is fantastic, a really splendid setting for the many cafe's and restaurants that give you a great view of the Bridge and Opera house.

On Friday We took an open top bus tour of the city, which was a great way to get our bearings and we got a discount with our trusty backpackers card. The bus stops at the main attractions of the city and even has a second route which takes in Bondi Beach. We stopped at Bondi for Saturday afternoon. Alot of people had told us that it is smaller than you would expect, but it is actually a great beach in a cove with lots of shops and eating spots along the front. The water was alot calmer than we had expected so surfing was put on hold and we swam and sunned ourselves instead.


Sunday morning was an early start for a collection to take us for a Helecopter ride over the Sydney. To say this was an unforgettable experience is selling it short. We saw over the harbour, bridge, opera house & bondi. In total we were in the air for 25 minutes, The pictures we've taken really don't do the sights of Sydney justice! It has also been VERY difficult deciding which ones to put onto the blog as we had a choice from over 200 pics! Seems strange to be saying 'no' to perfect postcard pictures, hey, it's a hard life but somebody's got to do it! :-)


After the helicopter flight around Sydney we took the ferry to Manly and enjoyed a 4 hour lunch of tapas & 3 ish bottles of wine. The four of us then "struggled" to the beach & Sarah and I went body boarding. It had been a while since we'd been out on boards but the waves were fantastic, giving us both a real buzz. Needless to say mum & dad stayed on the beach! The rip got quite bad and the life guards then closed the beach, just in time for me to get stung on the back of the leg by a jellyfish which meant a painful walk back to the ferry.

We will be celbrating the New Year in style but you will have to wait until after the event for an update from us on that.

Until then, have a fantastic new year and live your dreams!!!


Mike and Sarah.xx

---

---