Burning the Inheritance

As I noted in the last installment of this blog, for a number of reasons we were really giving short shrift to Sydney, where we planned to stay for only two nights.  Were we not travelling with our friends the Maddens, it seems entirely possible that we might have committed a week or more to Sydney, the oldest city in Australia as well as its most populous with about 5.3 million people in the metropolitan area. 

But given all of the other stops we wanted to include in our travel itinerary with the Maddens (blame it on New Zealand?), many of them already being one night stays, we really couldn’t muster enough time to truly give Sydney its due, so we were content to see this as just our first taste (and likely a pretty intense one) of Sydney.  Despite having been in Australia for over 7 weeks, there were still many amazing and incredible places we had yet to see, and we felt pretty confident that this would not be our list visit to Sydney nor to Australia.

Getting There

After one last morning on Cylinder Beach on North Stradbroke Island, we bid farewell to Anchorage on Straddie on February 23^rd and made our way back to the Brisbane Airport (via bus, ferry, and Uber) to catch our flight to Sydney, our last stop in Australia, where we would again meet up with our friends the Maddens, who had left for Sydney the day before.  (Were we not travelling with the Maddens and were time therefore not at such a premium, it is likely that we would have taken the 14-hour train from Brisbane to Sydney.)

There was an unusual buzz when we arrived at the Brisbane airport, where we noticed that there seemed to be a disproportionate number of young women, mostly in small groups, accompanied by their mothers or (sometimes) fathers, many of whom (the girls, but mostly not the parents) were bedecked in interesting outfits which included lots of glitz and glitter with (for some inexplicable reason) an inordinate number of pink sequined cowboy hats. 

With the help of some electronic information boards (the airport shops were apparently ready to assist with any necessary last-minute accessorization), we realized we were surrounded by “Swifties” who were on their way to Sydney for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which had four shows, the first of which was that evening.  It was more of the same when we arrived at Sydney Airport where, fearing the worst for our stay, we made a quick exit and grabbed an Uber to our hotel.

The Shangri-La Sydney

Finding a place to stay in Sydney would probably have been the most challenging of any of our stays while travelling with the Maddens.  Because of our very short time there, we wanted to be as close to Sydney Harbor and the surrounding neighborhoods as possible, but a first search suggested that there were very few choices which met our criteria and those that did were very pricey.  Fortunately, Denny and Wendy graciously offered to handle our accommodations in Sydney as a gift of sorts.

And so it was that we now found ourselves arriving at the Shangri-La Sydney, a luxurious five-star hotel located just steps away from Circular Quay and Sydney Harbor, where (yes) the hotel lobby was crawling with Swifties and their parents (as would be the case for the duration of our stay).  The room Denny and Wendy had booked for us was on the 25th floor with an incredible view of Circular Quay, Sydney Harbor, and the Opera House. 

As it was now about 10 PM, after a quick tour of the room’s complimentary minibar, we turned in for the night knowing that the next day would be a busy one.

A Taste of Sydney

We were up early the next morning and (after confirming the increadible view from our room which we had glimpsed the night before) we started our day with a complimentary breakfast in the hotel’s 30^th floor guest lounge, which had even more amazing panoramic views of Sydney Harbor (including the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge!) 

After a great breakfast, we made our way down to Circular Quay on the south side of the Harbor to meet our guide for the first activity of the day: a walking tour of The Rocks, Sydney’s oldest and most historic neighborhood, which rose from the east side of the harbor up to the south landing of the Harbor Bridge. Our tour guide, Andrew, was incredibly knowledgeable and, as he led us through the back alleys of the Rocks, he regaled us with one story after another about the history of Sydney and The Rocks neighborhood which was at one time a bit of a slum and a very dangerous place to be indeed!

We finished the tour on the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge with great views across the Harbor to the Opera House and across the bay to North Sydney.  Starting our day with a walking tour worked wonderfully as we now had pretty firm bearings on the neighborhood and, along the way, had identified a number of places we wanted to more thoroughly investigate. (We continue to strongly recommend booking a walking tour on your first day in a new place – particularly large cities.)

As we wandered the Rocks neighborhood, we caught glimpses of the Harbour Bridge which at one point was a bit reminiscent (for me at least) of the iconic view of the Manhattan Bridge in New York which you see in so many movies and television shows.

On our way back to The Rocks from the Harbour Bridge, we stopped in at a pub we had passed earlier, The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, which was established in 1843 and is the oldest operating pub in Sydney and therefore (one would think) the oldest in all of Australia.

Back in the Rocks we stopped for a lovely lunch at Caminetto Italian Restaurant to fortify ourselves (the food was gone before I had a chance to photograph it!) before proceeding with some serious shopping. There are an amazing number of shops and markets in The Rocks selling a wide variety of interesting items.  At an open-air market we checked at some unusual varieties of jerkey and Colleen purchased some “smoked” garlic (which we had never seen before – pretty good!).

Our best find in the rocks was a place called Spirt Gallery – Aboriginal Art and Didgeridoos, where we finally found the kind of Aboriginal Art and handicrafts for which we had been searching since arriving in Australia.  The Spirit Gallery is a Co-op of sorts which features work by many First Nations artists executed with traditional materials and techniques.  After looking at almost everything in the store, I purchased three beautiful  Dreamtime paintings (which came complete with information on their artists and descriptions of what they depicted) and Denny bought a (yes!) didgeridoo!

With our shopping time (and budgets) pretty well expended, we made one last stop in the Rocks at the Rocks Discovery Museum which told the history of Sydney through artifacts and full-size dioramas.

We left the Rocks and made our way back across Circular Quay to the Sydney Opera House, which we spent a bit of time wandering (Denny is also an architect) inside and out, and learning a bit more about its design and construction. We were also treated to some great views of the Harbor Bridge back across Circular Quay.

From the Opera House, we made our way through the Australian Rockery Lawn and the Royal Botanical Gardens of Sydney where we saw some very large trees with incredible root structures which we eventually determined were a species of fig (Moreton Bay Figs in fact, not to be confused with Moreton Bay Bugs). In any case, I don’t recall ever having seen fig trees that large!

On our way back to our hotel, we looped through Sydney’s Central Business District which has a very interesting mix of new and old building, and arrived back at the Shangri-La in time for the complimentary happy hour in the 30th floor lounge with its incredible views of Sydney Harbor.

After a few cocktails and a bit of rest, we finished the day with a walk across the peninsula to an area known as Darling Harbor where we were told there were nightly fireworks.  Darling Harbor was very crowded (definitely the most crowded place we had been in quite some time).  We had made a reservation at a place called Nick’s Seafood which was supposed to have incredible seafood and which seemed likely to be in a good location to view the fireworks.  It was fortunate that we had decided to make reservations (thanks Wendy!) because as we waited for our table we saw more people turned away than being seated.

We ended up being seated just inside the restaurant’s canopy which was fortuitous as it began to rain a bit halfway through our meal.  The food was incredible (more Moreton Bay “bugs”!) but the place was packed so the service was not so great.  The fireworks however were spectacular and it turned out to be a great way to finish what had been a very packed day in Sydney.

Off to New Zealand

We were up early the next morning and, after breakfast in the Guest Lounge with that amazing view (they even have mirrors in case you’re not facing the panoramic windows) took one last quick walk around the hotel neighborhood before heading to the airport around 11 AM.  At the airport, we were greeted by throngs of Swifties who were now departing Sydney, but as we were flying internationally, we quickly left most of them behind.

After over 8 weeks in Australia we were off with our friends Denny and Wendy to what looked like it might be the most amazing place we had visited yet, the nearby island country of New Zealand, which you’ll hear more about in the next segment.  So, from our last stop in Australia, one last “G’day Mate!”.