Sydney

G'day from Sydney!

Sinead lived here for 2 years from ~2010-2012 so we revisited her old stomping grounds and friends. We had 11 days here so there was no rush to pack all the sites in and we could leisurely enjoy the city.

We were staying in an AirBnB in Newtown, right off the train stop, which gave us easy access to all parts of the city. Newtown is a young, trendy area with lots of bars, restaurants, and shops and it was fun to explore during the day and night.

Sydney is culturally very similar to California and at nearly the same latitude as San Francisco, so it is a very similar climate and has not been hard to get used to. Unfortunately we are here in the dead of winter. Fortunately it has been sunny and nice in the mid 60s.

We've had our daily dose of vegemite, Milo, and Tim Tams to eat as the Aussies eat! The real food that they eat is also pretty good.

We walked all around the Sydney harbor and through the different neighborhoods from artsy Newtown and hipster Surry Hills to gay Taylor Square, surfer Bondi, and historical The Rocks. We explored the Sydney fish markets, Paddington markets, Surry Hills markets, and took the ferry past the Opera House over to Manly. There is a great style to Sydney with cute terrace houses lining the street and all the restaurants opening up to the outside.

Oxford St. Sinead used to live around the corner from this spot

Bondi Beach

Manly Ferry

Sydney Harbour Bridge 

Surry Hills

Sydney Fish Markets

A toast to the 4th of July!

Bondi Beach

Drinks with Sinead's friend Christi and her boyfriend, Nick

Australia is known for its excellent coffee and I even started to drink coffee while we're here. But it turns out when you order an "iced coffee" you get an ice cream sundae with coffee poured over it.

There was a light show on the Sydney Opera House at night with Aboriginal artwork and music that was really incredible to see.

As we walked, we visited all of the places where Sinead lived while she was here. It turns out she lived a lot of places.

 

My favorite spot in Sydney was McIver's baths in Coogee. It is a women's only pool along the beach filled with salt water when the tide comes in. The bottom is rocky and surrounded by urchins, crabs, and fish making swimming laps more entertaining. The water was cold but refreshing and since it was the off season there weren't many other people there with me. I ended up going back because I loved it so much.

On the 4th of July, I did the Coogee to Bondi coastal walk and took in the gorgeous beaches and cliffs. I met Sinead in Bondi where she was working from a cafe. We spent time on the famous beach before heading to Sinead's friend Jill's house for a 4th of July dinner. The Aussies tried to be as American as possible and our dinner consisted of Buffalo wings, Hamburger Helper, and mac 'n cheese, followed by s'mores for dessert made using a blow torch (and we spent $25 on a 12-pack of Coor's).

We did barefoot lawn bowls (similar to bocce but with a not quite circular ball so it rolls in an arc) overlooking the ocean with Sinead's Sydney friends.

My cousin, John, also lives in Sydney so we caught up with him and his girlfriend, Fernanda.

Sinead's old boss, Kristo, took us diving back in the shark tank where Sinead used to lead shark diving tours. I was expecting it to be great, but it was even more amazing than I had imagined! There were Tasmanian smooth stingrays the size of queen-sized mattresses, six 10-foot long sand tiger sharks (aka the "labradors of the sea" as Sinead says), 400-pound loggerhead turtles, and wobbegong sharks among many other species. The sharks swam so close that the pectoral fins were less than an inch away from my face, the turtles were clumsy and ran into my head, and one of the stingrays was very social and took a liking to me and kept flying over my head and grazing me.

And to get our authentic Sydney experience, we went to an Aussie rules football game to watch the Sydney Swans beat the Gold Coast Suns 118-51. It is similar to rugby with the main goal being to punt the ball between the goal posts (for 6 points, 1 point if it goes between the side posts). It's a good pace and very entertaining to watch. I could get into it if we lived here.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and look forward to coming back sometime in the summertime so I can explore more of the outdoor swimming spots!