Sydney, Australia (Part 1)

Sydney, Australia! Due to a delay we had in Darwin, Australia we got into Sydney a little after noon. From the airport we made our way to our hotel and met my parents. My parents were the fourth, and final, party to meet us on our trip. They were taking a two week vacation around Australia and were spending the final 5 days with us in the Sydney area. After we got settled in the hotel and caught up a little we headed out to the center of town to catch a ferry across Sydney Harbour to Manly Beach. The ferry was at dusk and it was definitely the best ferry experience of our trip. Seeing Sydney Harbour with the bridge and Opera House at night is spectacular. Manly Beach is a cool little area with lots of nice bars, shops, and restaurants, and one spectacular ocean beach. Since it was getting late (10pm) we had to get back to our hotel for my parents' bed time.

Our first day in Sydney we got up bright and early and climbed the beautiful Sydney Harbour Bridge. It took about 4 hours to climb the bridge and it was an incredible experience. We spent a lot of time preparing for our climb since there are a lot of instructions and you have to get in special jump suits. The climb itself was relatively easy. From the point that we left the prep area until we got back to it the views were incredible. Unfortunately, cameras aren't allowed on the climb for safety reasons (they don't want somebody dropping their camera onto moving traffic nor people taking their own pictures when the company is selling their own pictures for $25 a piece) so you'll just have to believe me when I say the view was great.

After the bridge climb the four of us regrouped and took a tour of the Sydney Opera House. I would never take a tour of an opera house, but for the Sydney Opera House I made an exception. The tour of the building was great. The building is beautiful inside and out. I have to say the Sydney Opera House is the best looking building I've ever seen. With our cultural fix in for the day we headed out to the Rocks, one of Sydney's many 'hip' neighborhoods. We caught some drinks and some great views of the city from a rooftop bar. After the rooftop bar we continued to Darling Harbour for dinner. Lara and I were amazed at Darling Harbour. It's a harbour area with lots of corporate offices and apartments that totally goes out for Thursday night happy hour I guess. There were dozens of bars and restaurants that lined the harbour and every one was filled with twenty and thirty-somethings dressed to impress. The women were all in nice dress or skirts and the men were all in nice business attire, some in suits and ties. It was weird being in a place where there wasn't a single pair of blue jeans. After dinner we took Sydney's monorail back to our hotel. Sydney's monorail is just like other monorails in Detroit, Seattle and Springfield. Pretty much useless and expensive. $5 to go 6 blocks.

The next morning we got up and headed out for Port MacQuarie to check out some koalas.