Sydney: Start of our Super Expensive Australian Adventure

To begin: Air Asia sucks. SUCKKKKKKKKKS. But more on that later.

We got into Sydney early Sunday morning and took the expensive train ($17 AUD one-way) (AUD and USD are practically the same thing, the AUD is slightly smaller) to Wynyard Station near Darling Harbour, downtown Sydney. Our Sydney hotel was the Hotel Ibis King Wharf, which was tiny and spartan but cheap and well-situated for exploring the Rocks/ Harbour area by foot. (Note that it's "Harbour" and not "Harbor" because it's Australia and they're fancy like that).

We also did the typical Starbucks run. Chocolate brownies in Australia look WAY better than those in the States (those, in turn, look WAY better than the chocolate brownies of Thailand). 

We went to the Rocks for their Sunday market. It was hilarious. 

(Above: kangaroo testicles)

We had tea at the Tea Cozy because I wanted a taste of British fanciness while we were there. Essentially, I paid $13 for two (delicious) scones and tea. Nick got the "Ploughman's Lunch" which resembled a meat and cheese platter. 

Then we explored the Harbour area and got our first look at the famous Sydney Opera House.

(At one point during the trip prep I was trying to find an event or show to attend at the Opera House, but tickets there are crazy expensive and neither of us packed anything fancy.)

From the Sydney Opera House we strolled the Royal Botanical Gardens, which housed the "Government House", a pretty building which we knew nothing about. We weren't allowed inside, and when we asked the security guard if this was the original house, he knew nothing about it. 

Still the Botanical Gardens were incredible. There were some beautiful plants and a lot of people- tourists and locals- walking or running around the trails.

(Recognizing how dorky Nick looks in this photo, I must add that I asked him to stand there as a comparison for how huge the flowers behind him are!)

Then our first evening we took the ferry ($14 AUD round-trip) to Manly Beach, per Nick's friend's recommendation. The ferry trip provided some breath-taking views of the harbour at sunset. 

Also: these two Asian tourists stayed and videotaped/ photographed from the back of the book the entire trip. I just wanted to get a couple shots of the harbour but literally had to force my way pass them to get a good view. (This is not unlike the rest of Asia... I do not understand why Asian tourists enjoy taking photo after photo of the same thing.)

From Manly Beach we walked the promenade. There were a couple surfers left when we got there, but it was already 6pm and getting dark.

On the promenade :) 

ALSO WE FOUND A YOGURTLAND. This was one of my favorite places in Louisiana, and Nick and I used to go for froyo a LOT. (Frankly it wasn't nearly as good in Australia- the flavors were off, the toppings weren't cut down to proper topping size, and it was quite a bit more $ than back home.)

Still, it was awesome.

The next day Nick and I grabbed an overpriced breakfast at "Nick's Seafood", which was conveniently located next to a Lindt's Chocolate Cafe.
It had Lindor truffles of all sorts- ones I had never seen before! Raspberry and Peanut Butter and Cappuccino, oh my!

Then we hopped on a bus to Bondi Beach, which I kind of think of as Sydney's Laguna beach. In the summer apparently there can be up to 35,000 people on that beach. And really, it's a pretty small beach.

The weather was kind of crap all afternoon, and at one point we hid in a cafe and ate mussels while we waited for the rain to stop. After our late lunch, we took a short walk along the coast, and were rewarded with an incredibly beautiful rainbow.

We had our second dinner in Sydney with Nick's friend from his ski-resort semester off, and he showed us more of Darling Harbour and a great bar; the next morning we got up early to make our flight to the Whitsundays. 

Although we only got to spend about 48 hours in Sydney, I'm really glad we got to see it. It would feel wrong to visit Australia and not come to it's biggest and brightest city.