Day One – Peace Out USA!
Here we go! Thirty-two days, eleven flights, four countries & touching three continents.
Leaving home for over a month is never easy, but when your 15.5-year-old dachshund starts whimpering and your 100-pound teddy bear says goodbye at the top of the fence, it definitely adds a little extra emotion to the departure.
And so it begins, as we embark on 20 hours worth of flight time. Usually, 5 hours would be enough time on a plane, but that just got us to LA.
Twelve years later, we are heading back to SE Asia with a couple of new stops: Australia & Malaysia.
After a 3-hour layover, the incredible journey to Sydney begins. Amazingly, the 15-hour flight to Australia wasn’t too bad. Especially for Scott, who slept about 13 of those hours!
Day 3 – Welcome to Sydney!
Time change cost us a day, literally. We left on June 30th and arrived on July 2nd. Hope the rest of the world had a great July 1st?!
What’s really wild is we landed in what they call a ‘bomb cyclone’ in Sydney. Pretty much their version of a hurricane. It was a wild, really windy, wet, and cold mess! Walking out of the airport, we began scrambling to get any type of transportation. Anything to get out of this blustery weather!
Although the immediate exit from the airport was chaotic, we managed a 25-minute taxi ride to our hotel. Thankfully, we were able to check in really early at 8 am. Shootout to the Sofitel Darling Harbour for being so accommodating!
With a 14-hour time change, we knew the best thing to do would be to power through the best we could and get out to enjoy Sydney. Stepping foot in Australia means we are one step closer to our goal; it is our 6th continent we’ve travelled to together! Someday, we hope to find our way to #7, Antarctica. We will save the Oceania continent debate for another time. But just in case Oceania is considered a continent, we were fortunate to experience some of the beautiful Oceania Islands a few years ago.
In the meantime, it’s a strong cup of coffee to help us battle jetlag and get us going. We meander through the streets of Sydney on our way to enjoy a late breakfast at Pancake on the Rocks.
A few more steps down the hilly streets and the view opens up to Sydney Harbour and the iconic Opera House. Wildly, as we navigate this day through gusting winds and clouds, the sky opens up to blue just for a few minutes to allow us to enjoy our first view of this iconic site.
Knowing today may be our worst weather day, we decide to enjoy a few beverages around the city to kick off this adventure. First stop, an outdoor waterside French restaurant, Whalebridge, overlooking the Sydney Harbour.
A stroll around the harbour leads us to Fortunes of War, Sydney’s oldest pub. Originally opening its doors in 1828, we found it to be the perfect place to relax with a couple of beers and enjoy being inside. The Rocks neighborhood is the oldest European settlement in Sydney, dating back to settlers arriving in 1788. It was settled mainly by convicts, mostly from England, who established this neighborhood which is given credit to developing modern Sydney.
Instead of walking back, we decide to give the train system a go. America, take note of this. Seriously! Walking down to the underground train system was an extremely pleasant experience. Pristinely clean, kind people helping everywhere, and an enjoyable experience all around. It was so fun we felt like we were looking for Platform 9 3/4 😂.
Back to the hotel for an early room service dinner, because yeah, this time change is real. In reality, it was a bad idea to go to bed so early, but we know, it is going to take a couple of days to figure this out!
Day Four – Manly Beach
Adjusting to a 14-hour time difference got us… with a 1 am wake-up. Oof! It’s a wild feeling waiting hours and hours for the rest of the city to wake up so we can start our day. We know this is going to take a few days to adjust, but 1 am is a harsh way to start our day.
Hours into our day, we can finally get out and explore more of Australia. We jump on a ferry ride to Manly Beach. Keep in mind, we are just a day off of the city experiencing a cyclone. The harbour is windy and rough, but the ferry experience out of Circular Quay was pleasant and an easy way to get around.
Arriving at Manly wharf, we immediately see The Corso, a pedestrian plaza that connects the wharf to the beach. Post cyclone, with offshore winds, created massive waves. Easy to see why they consider this beach the ‘birthplace of surfing in Australia’.
The laid-back beach scene made for a welcoming vibe, spending the day wandering around.
After lunch at Fusion Point, we followed a walk along the coast pathway called Marine Parade to Shelly Beach, with a hike up to Lookout Point. Heaps (our new Aussie word) to see, including a few new species of birds. We didn’t realize that birding would be this much fun for us!
Stroll back into town, grab a crepe (of course),
and jump on the ferry back to Circular Quay in Sydney Harbour and capped our day off hanging in front of the famous Opera House, enjoying a couple of beers at House Canteen. Just don’t ask Katie about the red-billed gulls hanging around the harbour!
Love that Sydney offers an incredible, vibrant beach scene just a short boat ride from the busy city streets! Back to the hotel for an early bedtime as we continue to adjust to the time change, knowing we have a couple more days to enjoy exploring New South Wales.
Couple more Opera House shots….
Two Wayfaring Wanderers 