After Adelaide we did a short overnight stay in Canberra, the capital of Australia, where we did a quick hop on hop off bus tour of all the sites in Canberra. The next day we headed to Sydney for a 5 night stay. On this trip we decided to rent a car from the airport (with a car seat!) in order to have our freedom of getting around on our terms with a cranky toddler.
On our first day in Sydney we drove to Darling Harbour where we went to the Sea Life Aquarium and Wild Life Zoo. We first went to the Wild Life Zoo which was really interesting as they had all the animals native to Australia inside. Some of our favorites were the koalas, where one tried to jump from the tree to Lily and me while we were taking a picture. We also were able to go into the kangaroo den, but most of them were sleeping so we didn’t get up close and personal with them. We also saw some wallabys, a very large crocodile, platypus, and wombats.
After the Wild Life Zoo, we went to the aquarium, which was right next door. It was a typical Sea Life brand that we have been to many times and it was quite large and crowded by this late morning time of day. Lily started to get cranky so we headed out through the gift shop, of course, and made our way to a nearby restaurant on the harbor. We ate at Pontoon Bar, which was the first restaurant headed toward our parking area, which was a nice indoor/outdoor seating area with typical western food, but it looked like it could turn into a party bar at night!
After returning to the hotel for nap time we took a swim on the top floor of our Intercontinental Hotel where there was a great view of the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge.
We then headed toward the harbor and settled at Buckley’s. We sat outside and as our food started to arrive we noticed there were a lot of seagulls around the seating area. One actually was stalking us and kept overlooking us from his umbrella perch. At the end of the night, we were getting ready to leave, Matt went inside to use the bathroom, and as soon as he got up from his chair this seagull landed on our table to take some leftover food, meanwhile smashing Matt’s beer glass. Lily started screaming and it scared the crap out of me, at this point everyone is looking at us and Matt has no idea what he’s about to come back to. The waiters were so kind as to help us clean up and apologized for the bird. We quickly gathered our things and headed back, but not before stopping to get Lily some ice cream first. She was wary of all the birds the rest of our trip.
The next morning we headed to the Sydney Opera House to take some family selfies. Here are a few of our good ones!
After we took all our photos we headed to the Taronga Zoo via ferry from Circular Quay, near our restaurant from the night before. The ferry ride is only 12 minutes and gives you great views of the Harbor Bridge, Sydney Opera House, the city skyline, Fort Denison, and the Taronga Zoo hillside.
Once embarking at the zoo’s wharf we headed up a small hill to the cable car line. The entrance to the Taronga Zoo is at the top of a hill so as you make your way through the zoo you are essentially going
During our visit to the zoo, we, of course, encountered giraffes, elephants, kangaroos, and koalas. There are gorgeous views of Sydney from various points in the zoo and it did not seem crowded at all. There was a large playground that Lily loved and we ate at the food court area where you can bet we encountered more birds while eating! The good thing about this zoo is you can spend as little or as much time visiting. There are large areas of grass to lounge and have a picnic or you can pick a path and see the major animals and head for the wharf as quickly as possible. We spent about 2-3 hours there with lunch and playtime, which we enjoyed because the weather was beautiful and warm that day!
That evening we headed over to an area known as “The Rocks”, a historical area of town on the other side of Circular Quay where we dined at Zia Pina Pizzeria, which had so many pizza options with was impossible to choose. But get there early as it’s a small restaurant and it fills up fast! On our way we were able to catch the Sydney Opera House lit up at night.
The next day we took Lily to a large playground in Darling Harbour and let her run wild for a couple hours since she had been a trooper on the long two week trip. After the playground we drove out to The Entertainment Quarter, which houses a ton of restaurants, a bowling center, parks, a stadium, and my favorite, The Urban Winery. I was able to sample a few wines from around Australia and actually meet the winemaker, Alex Retief, as he passed by us and refilled my glass. All of this while Lily rested in her stroller watching a show (heaven!).
After my wine tastings and buying a bottle of Tempranillo, that was so fresh it didn’t have a label on it yet, we headed back to our car. Of course on the way Lily spotted a playground so we let her play and make new friends while we talked and I let my wine buzz wear off.
On our last day in Australia we headed over to Manly Beach to check out one of Sydney’s famous beaches. Since it technically wasn’t summer yet, we didn’t go swimming, but we did let Lily play in the sand, touch the water with her toes, and admire the surfers.
We then walked around The Corso, a walking only street, to check out a few shops where of course we found a playground in the midst, so we had to stop for a bit. We then headed over to 4 Pines Brewing Company. Matt had been there before with his study abroad group so he wanted to go back and have a beer. We ate lunch outside and enjoyed the people watching before heading back to the hotel to prepare for our departure back to Hanoi.
Sydney has so much to offer no matter whether you are single, couple, or a family. I recommend this city to anyone traveling to Australia. When we move to Canberra in a few months we hope to visit Sydney often and explore the city even more!
Food: Australia has a lot to offer in terms of diverse foods. There are many international restaurants to choose from and of course local flavors there as well. Australia has a large coffee culture so you will find many local coffee shops and little to no Starbucks across the country. As a Starbucks fan, I actually found the coffee to be better and less commercial than Starbucks, putting the focus on the coffee itself.
Hotel: The Intercontinental was located steps from Circular Quay which was perfect because it was close to restaurants and the ferries. Getting back to hotel was an uphill walk so it was a bit exhausting at times pushing a stroller, but worth it because of the close location to things. The breakfast buffet was great and they provided valet parking for our rental car. We arrived super late at night due to bad weather delaying our flight from Canberra, so the staff was extra helpful with our bags, car parking, adding a roll away bed, and room service as we were hungry and tired. The only complaint we had is that the building next door was under construction and the jack hammering was super loud during the day time and early morning. We understand that this was not the hotel’s fault, but it was a bit disturbing for us.
Things we wanted to do but didn’t: Bondi Beach was one of the places we wanted to go, but since the weather was a little colder than we wanted it to be at the beach, we settled for Manly Beach this time. Luna Park is an amusement park that we wanted to go to and ride the ferris wheel, but it was closed on the day we were free to go. We also would have liked to go to the Royal Botanical Gardens, since they were so close to our hotel, but time did not allow to see it all. These are just to name a few.
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