Blue Planet Journey

We had about 28 hours in Sydney before heading to the airport.  After lugging our bags up numerous stairs, we made it to the bed and breakfast in The Rocks , where we found we were on the third floor (more stairs).  We dumped the luggage, and took advantage of our location, right next to another set of stairs that leads to the walkway along and over the Sydney Harbour Bridge . So we've ridden bicycles across the bridge, and took a bus that drove across.  We've been under it on numerous walks, and the ferries and tour boats give you a good perspective from underneath.  But we had never walked across.  There's a good breeze, so a warm day shouldn't keep you from making this trip.  And it is free.  If you have the time and money, you can walk over the inner (about $160 AUD) or outer rim (about $300 AUD) of the bridge, or climb one of the pylons ($15 AUD).  Jeez... or you can rent a bike for about $25 AUD and ride across, or walk for...

Caroline and I finally got bikes to ride around Sydney.  Jeez... you would think this would be a relatively straight-forward process!  But we panned the dockless bikes (the subject of an earlier blog), and when we found docked bikes at a nearby hotel, the check-out panel told us they were “in need of service.”  That’s what we were told for 2 of the 3 bikes there... we didn’t try to check out the third because we needed 2. So we walked downtown where Siri told us there were some bike shops.  We found 2 opened during this holiday period.  They were large stores, with a great deal of equipment and bikes, but no rentals.  One shop employee suggested some vague possibilities for bike rentals in Manly, or Bondi, or The Rocks.  The other shop gave us a name in The Rocks, and after consulting Siri, we finally walked into Bonza.  Bonza seems to focus on tours, but Steve set us up with 2 great Trek bikes.  Sweet! We started off with a ride ov...

I think it’s fair to say that all visitors to Sydney go through Circular Quay.  Here you have the Harbour ferry terminals to a variety of locations, including the Toronga Zoo.  There is the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Botanic Gardens, The Rocks area, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  There are cafes, restaurants, street entertainers, and CROWDS.  Yes, I suspect that for most residents of Sydney, this area is one to avoid if possible, like residents of Oahu avoiding Waikiki. As far as we can tell, there is no ferry from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay , so we’ve hoofed it on multiple occasions.  It’s about a 2 mile walk from our apartment to CIrcular Quay (pronounced “key”). Today was a Sydney Opera House day, with a tour, lunch, and a show.  Then, a different route back, with a stop for a 6-pack of White Rabbit dark ale (“fermentation with imagination”).  Total mileage?  Seven miles.  Caroline and I ran to the Royal Botanic ...

I’ve done some exploring these past 2 days.  Yesterday, we walked around Darling Harbour and the Barangaroo Reserve , in addition to taking a 2 hour Harbour cruise.  Today, we challenged ourselves taking the city bus back to Bondi Beach, and being hammered by rather large waves. The Sydney Harbour cruise was a blast.  We got seats on the front of the ferry, so we had a great view of the Harbour Bridge from all angles... front, back, and bottom.  We had heard that you can even walk on the top span of the bridge, and we could see groups of brave souls trekking the ironworks.  Of course, we also had the best view of the Sydney Opera House, with the sun and blue sky framing that distinctive structure.  One highlight of this cruise was that we invited ourselves (we knocked on the pilot house door), to visit with the captain.  He was very gracious, and chatted with us for about 10 minutes.  As we were about to leave, he asked, “do you want to sit ...