Oh and just a slight disaster/miscalculation with flight time - we arrived at the airport 6 hrs early! How can this be I hear you cry? Well my fault actually - I really thought the flight was at 10, turns out it was at 1pm! What did we do for 6 hrs - shop at DFO! Aaron even got into it and brought himself some clothes and a Trilby hat!
Arrived in Sydney to a sunny but v chilly 15 degrees (ouch frostbite)! All the 'wow's and 'wee's started as soon as we got the hire car from the very lovely peeps at Vroom Vroom Vroom - fab service booked online and cheap too http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au/ the ease with which we collected the car....ahhh made it so much easier!
& yesss I am aware my horizon is off but I was a tad squiffy at the time (now I'm over 30 it only takes one glass of wine) Luckily I have Photoshop!
We booked the apartment through www.sydneyshortstays.com Aaron (the manager) was great, to the point where when the bank accidentally charged us twice for the apartment - he offered to lend us money (you mad foooolllll - didn't your Mum teach you to not give money to strangers)?? hehe - we declined the lovely offer, thank you anyway X
The funky changing lift - will it be green, will it be blue we just never knew.......
Ooooo it was blueeee....
For all your brekky and lunch needs - pop next door to the guys and gals at TwoGoodEggs! Mark's mission every morning "2 lattes and 3 hot chocs please" ! by the time we left - he was becoming part of the furniture! http://www.twogoodeggs.com.au/
Things to do list......
This is a biggy - its such a fascinating and busy city! Ok, here goes...... we loved Hyde Park - just a 2 min walk from our accommodation, very well set out, Anzac Memorial building just beautiful! Oh and its Autum so all the leaves were falling off the trees - haven't seen that in ages! The QVB - stunning building so much history! At the very top you can have 'high tea', however at $30 a person we decided not too ($30 a cuppa)!!!! Sorry I'm still in shock!
The Harbour Bridge - despite going over it several times on the first day, its still an awesom sight to behold. You can climb it - if you've got a spare 3 hrs and $257 - ummm we didn't! Apparently the views of Sydney are amazing - perhaps when we've won the lotto!
Check out the size of the nuts tho!
No seriously - check out the size of the nuts! (apology for tongue hanging out - Mark wanted me to make it look dirrrtttyyyy)!
The Opera House - well the only time we went in was to ask for the loo - so can't give you much info on it really! From the outside, impressive, made of ceramic tiles in the shape of sails - took over 500 pics of the thing tho!
Parking under the Opera House will set you back $40 during the day, with a flat rate of $15 over the weekend up until 5pm. We did this until we realised we could walk from our apartment, yes thats right walk! The children moaned at that one!
The AMP Tower and Oztrek - definately worth a visit, views from the tower amazing! The Oztrek 'adventure' hasn't changed since I last went on it 8 yrs ago - altho the company was a lot nicer ( was with my sis Helen then)! http://www.sydneytoweroztrek.com.au/ Access to the tower and the ride will cost you $75 for a family of 5.
Darling Harbour & Maritime Museum. The harbour is great, lots for kids to do, loads of shopping - loved it! The Maritime Museum - errrmmmm, yesss, see for yourself in the boys expressions! Cost was around $60 for a family ticket which gave us access to all the ships and museum. The museum itself is really good, lots of history and you can even 'up periscope' and watch life wander by around the museum (or girls as my boys did)! The only downside was the Volunteers - yes I feel bad saying that! OK so the Volunteers were strategically placed around the ships and even down in the sub! The MADE us listen to their tales as life as seaman (yeah I giggled at that)! Can you escape??? Nooooo ! They've blocked off the hatches! One called 'Bill' even described to my bewildered children how "if Mum or Dad were in one section and a torpedo hit" they'd have to lock off the section and watch us drown otherwise everone would drown! Nice going Bill!!!
Smile Bill - they aren't that bad!
Hurrah we found the escape hatch (Bill was hiding it)!
Ollie - still stunned at the 'torpedo/hit/mum/dad' ditty!
The Botanic Gardens - right next to the Opera House! So beautiful and quaint - lots of history and even some bats! It was here we met up with the gorgeous Caldwell family for a photo shoot! My mission - to get their littlest to smile. Did a achieve it?? Eermmm sometimes! Mostly as soon as I pointed the camera towards her - she turned her back on me (its happened before, I'm use to it)! I didn't take it personally!
Within the botanic gardens you can sit on Mrs Macquaries Chair - its about a km's walk from the Opera House. Don't get too excited its not a chair, rather a carving out of stone in the form of a seat where Mrs Macquarie used to sit and watch harbour life'. The views of the Opera House and Bridge are truly amazing from here X
Luna Park - dull by day, lit up at night! Unfortunately it was closed when we arrived as Guy Sebastian (Australian Idol winner of bygone years) was getting hitched! I always thought he was gay!
Bondi Beach! Errmmm can't say I see the attraction myself. Clakkers & Harwich in the UK are much nicer! Thumbs up for the graphitti tho - very arty! Vicious rumour that 40,000 people were on the beach! We counted, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5! Oh, wait... that was us! Do we count? The weird and wonderful visit Bondi - check out this funky space Kombi - they even wore space helmets when driving - mad? Most definately!
Cameron 'thrilled' to be at Bondi!
Ummm..wonder how many others have done that exact pose? Time to get your Hep B antigen levels checked Mark!
Ahhh how many times have you wanted to say that?? Now theres a sticker for it!
Blue Mountains & Leura - a 90 min trip from Sydney CBD and where we met up with the wonderful Annabel and her gorgeous family! As a fellow photographer you can only guess what happened - yep the lenses got a workout! Annabel achieved something I am unable to do - get pictures of Aaron! Thank you chick I owe you one!
Did I mention it was cold (hence v silly hat and frozen faces)? Just a few degrees above freezing in fact! At one point we thought a St Bernard rescue dog would come out with a barrel of brandy for us - alas this did not happen!
Cold?
Finally we celebrated Mark's 36th birthday! Being a bikey (and in desperate need of new biking gear) I took him to MCAS which just happened to be next door to the apartment! Handy! Got him a new helmet, jacket and waterproofs, bargain too! They have an online shop and ship all over Australia - good range of kids trials stuff too http://www.mcas.com.au/
After a day of leisurely walking through the botanic gardens and a bit of shopping (I say a bit as we were almost skint at this point)! I took Mark to The Wharf Restaurant. Wow! What an amazing night! The staff were fab, catered for the boys so well and even sung Happy Birthday to Mark. Great views of the Harbour Bridge and Luna Park and a great atmosphere. Thank you once again! http://www.thewharfrestaurant.comau/
A room with a view! Harbour Bridge, Luna Park and a reflection of the restaurant ahhhh
Also a big thanks to Tim and Phil from Pastry Perfection in Sydney for baking and icing Mark's cake so well! http://www.pastryperfection.com.au/
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