So, after a month recovering in Massachusetts during the glorious fall, I’m on the road again. I headed out of town to LA on Halloween for a few days of SoCal sunshine and volleyball before heading to Sydney on 11/6. It was great to reconnect with my friends and the beach.
We packed up and headed to the airport on the evening of 11/6, boarded up the massive plane with a few hundred of us to Sydney and we were off….so we thought. We sat on the plane for 2 hours while they fixed the satellite and notified us that we were “about to take off” when there was a woman who insisted on getting off the plane for unknown reasons. By the time they removed her checked bag from under the plane, the crew was over their time allotment for flying. The allotment is apparently 16 hours and our flight was supposed to be 15 hours so obviously that’s cutting it pretty close. Needless to say, the flight was cancelled and rescheduled to the morning. I wonder how many flights to Sydney get cancelled for that reason. We were offered a hotel for the night which we thought might be more convenient than heading back to Moini’s apartment but turns out they were offering a voucher for a 2 star hotel in Hawthorne (reviews mentioned roaches) so we bounced and headed back to her place for a few hours of sleep.
We arrived back at the airport a few hours later (11/7), crossing our fingers for a smooth departure. We boarded the plane and sat there for an hour…worrying about the 16 hour cut off…and then we took off…finally. We were somewhat relieved and somewhat apprehensive about the next 15 hours stuck on this plane with a group of unhappy travelers.
The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Sydney around 10 PM (11/8), losing a day due to the time difference (+16 hours). We grabbed an Uber and zipped to our place in Millers Point quickly and efficiently. Our AirBnB was beautiful-my favorite part was that the toilet room was separated from the shower room! And there was a Nespresso maker. The beds were so comfy and we had a great place to crash at the end of our busy days of sightseeing. https://abnb.me/P6omWbn5N1
We woke up early the next morning to start the day. Arriving in the late evening and the 16 hour time difference makes for a fairly easy transition to the time change. We walked over the Barangaroo Reserve right near our place, where they were showcasing a short documentary film which was made about the Maori culture. It was a silent, beautiful portrayal of some of the ceremonial and cultural traditions.
https://www.timeout.com/sydney/things-to-do/barangaroo-reserve
We headed off to breakfast and found a sweet local cafe (https://www.bitterandtwistedcafe.com) where we learned that our new favorite breakfast of the trip would be poached eggs on freshly baked toast. We visited Darling wharf (super touristy), the Chinese Garden (really beautiful and lots of life to see there), Paddy Markets (don’t bother), the Opera House and Sydney bridge (a must do), Botanical Gardens (no bikes allowed-we learned the hard way-park is huge, beautiful and had lots of cool birds to see including the local sulphur crested cockatoo gang).
For some reason it seemed that most restaurants were not open in Miller’s Point on Saturday. We still haven’t figured out why. We settled on the only open place we could find (I was hangry) and got the fish and chips. It wasn’t very good but it took the edge off and made me stop complaining about hunger for a bit. Even though the food was not great, we listened to an old 80s band play a few hits and sang along. With hangry behind us, we were off on our bikes again!
We rented Lime e-bikes which made getting around the city easy and fun! The hills are so much easier with the e-bikes and they are cheaper than Ubers, faster than traffic and better for the environment. Win, win, win. You can sign up for the app, put in your credit card and the app charges you based on how long you ride.
The following day, we headed (on our e bikes) over to Centennial Park which is a huge park with many ponds, lakes, native birds, fields for cricket and soccer, a labyrinth, eucalyptus forests, food trucks and more! It’s definitely worth a visit.
The following day it was time to wrap up of brief stay in Sydney and head to a more adventurous Queenstown.
I loved Sydney, the food was great, great parks and easy to get around the city on foot or e-bike (or Uber if you prefer but traffic is a bit rough).
Stay tuned for NZ adventures up next!
Where in the world is Ko? 