Australia Day 6--Paddy's Market, Bondi to Coogee Walk & Darling Harbour

Australia series

Australia Day 1--Qantas flight 8 DFW-BNE (Dallas to Brisbane)
Australia Day 2--Flight to Sydney, the Westin Sydney hotel & sightseeing
Australia Days 3/4--Hunter Valley & the Blue Mountains
Australia Day 5--Sydney sightseeing and Manly Beach
Australia Day 6--Paddy's Market, Bondi to Coogee Walk & Darling Harbour
Australia Day 7--Sydney to Cairns, Holiday Inn Cairns & the Cairns Esplanade 
Australia Day 8--The Great Barrier Reef 
Australia Day 9--Kuranda Koala Gardens, Skyrail & Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park
Australia Day 10--Daintree Rainforest & Cape Tribulation 
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 1, Cairns to Brisbane 
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 2, Brisbane to Honolulu 
 

This was our last day in Sydney. I had read online that Paddy's Markets was a good place to get cheap souvenirs, so we jumped on the free 555 bus that travels around the CBD, and got off at Hay Street. From there, it was a block to the market. The market was large & had an impressive number of things for sale at various vendors, including souvenirs, clothes, jewelry and beauty products. The souvenirs were basically the same made-in-China stuff found elsewhere, but at much lower prices.

After shopping, we went back to the hotel to drop off our purchases. Then we walked over to Elizabeth Street to catch the bus to the world famous Bondi Beach. The bus cost $3.80, the ride was about 40 minutes.

The Pacific Ocean, Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach was one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. It was a perfectly clear and sunny day. There were surfers in the water, but it was a little too cold to swim for me.

Surfers at Bondi Beach

Swimming pool overlooking the ocean

Skating at Bondi's Winter Magic Ice Rink

The plan was to do the coastal cliff walk from Bondi to Coogee. This walk takes approximately two hours and is of medium difficulty, as there are stairs to go up and down.

During the walk we passed through Tamarama Beach, Bronte Beach, Clovelly before getting to Coogee. One spot of interest was Waverley Cemetery on top of the cliffs near Bronte Beach. What a beautiful spot to have one's final resting place.

Bronte Beach

Waverley Cemetery near Bronte Beach

Clovelly Beach

Coogee Beach

I had really wanted to swim in the Bronte Bath, a free outdoor pool at Bronte Beach, but it was just too cold for me.

Bronte Bath

We were quite tired after the walk, but I thought it was worth it. The views were amazing. At Coogee Beach, we located the bus going back to the Sydney CBD. The bus driver was chatty and feeling quite generous toward us two American gals and let us ride for free.

We got off at a stop near Darling Harbour, but still had to walk a fair bit. As it was Saturday, there were fireworks scheduled to take place at 8:30 pm. Before watching the fireworks, we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe (expensive, but I liked it), and walked around the Harbourside shops.

Winter Festival at Darling Harbour

Hard Rock Cafe

Harbourside Shops at Darling Harbour

The fireworks were a nice way to end our visit to Sydney, even though they only lasted nine minutes.

Australia Day 5--Sydney sightseeing and Manly Beach

Australia series

Australia Day 1--Qantas flight 8 DFW-BNE (Dallas to Brisbane)
Australia Day 2--Flight to Sydney, the Westin Sydney hotel & sightseeing
Australia Days 3/4--Hunter Valley & the Blue Mountains
Australia Day 5--Sydney sightseeing and Manly Beach
Australia Day 6--Paddy's Market, Bondi to Coogee Walk & Darling Harbour 
Australia Day 7--Sydney to Cairns, Holiday Inn Cairns & the Cairns Esplanade 
Australia Day 8--The Great Barrier Reef  
Australia Day 9--Kuranda Koala Gardens, Skyrail & Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park
Australia Day 10--Daintree Rainforest & Cape Tribulation 
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 1, Cairns to Brisbane 
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 2, Brisbane to Honolulu 
  

We started our day at with breakfast at Pancakes on the Rocks. I found this restaurant online and it seemed very highly rated and the prices were quite reasonable. I very much enjoyed my pancakes and bacon, and my cousin really liked her pancakes and eggs. Sorry, I didn't take any pics.

After breakfast, we strolled over to the Government House, the residence of the governor of New South Wales. There are free guided tours at the house Friday-Sunday from 10:30 am to 3 pm. The tours are 45 minutes long. Not knowing anything about NSW or the government, I found the tour highly enjoyable. We got to see a few different rooms and heard a lot of the history of the house.

The Government House is home to the governor of New South Wales

We weren't allowed to bring in bags or cameras, so they said. I checked my bag at the ticket office, but luckily I kept my iPhone in my pocket. When we got to the last room of the tour, the guide told us we could take pictures, so I was glad to have my phone.

Inside the Government House

From there, we walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens to Mrs. Macquarie's Chair. This spot offers a great vantage point across the harbor of both the bridge and the opera house. If you want those "postcard pics" of Sydney Harbour, then this is the place to go. We took some pics, and then we headed back toward the Circular Quay to the library to use the free wi-fi for a little while.

Royal Botanic Gardens

Nice skyline view while walking through the gardens

Mrs Macquarie's Chair

The beautiful view from Mrs. Macquarie's Chair

Next on the agenda was riding the ferry to Manly, home of one of the area's most popular beaches. We took the 3 pm ferry to Manly. A round-trip ticket cost $14.80 AUD. The ferry is another way to get good photos of the Sydney skyline.

A ferry at Circular Quay

View from the ferry going to Manly

Inside the ferry

Manly ferry station

After the 20 minutes or so ride to Manly, we exited the station and walked along the Corso to the beach. The Manly Corso reminded me of Lincoln Road in South Beach, Miami. The only difference is that the Manly stores were a lot less upscale. The beach was very scenic. Though it was July and a little chilly, there were many surfers in the water and people at the beach.

Manly Corso

Manly Beach

Manly Beach

After admiring the beach, we headed back to the Corso to look for somewhere to eat. We picked Watervue restaurant because the specials looked enticing. However, the food was not good.

We took the 5:45 pm ferry back to the Circular Quay. Then we went over to the Opera House Bar, where they have live music every evening. We had drinks, people-watched and enjoyed the music.

Live music at the Opera House Bar

Australia Days 3/4--Hunter Valley & the Blue Mountains

Australia series

Australia Day 1--Qantas flight 8 DFW-BNE (Dallas to Brisbane)
Australia Day 2--Flight to Sydney, the Westin Sydney hotel & sightseeing
Australia Days 3/4--Hunter Valley & the Blue Mountains
Australia Day 5--Sydney sightseeing and Manly Beach
Australia Day 6--Paddy's Market, Bondi to Coogee Walk & Darling Harbour
Australia Day 7--Sydney to Cairns, Holiday Inn Cairns & the Cairns Esplanade 
Australia Day 8--The Great Barrier Reef 
Australia Day 9--Kuranda Koala Gardens, Skyrail & Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park
Australia Day 10--Daintree Rainforest & Cape Tribulation 
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 1, Cairns to Brisbane
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 2, Brisbane to Honolulu  
  

Hunter Valley Wine Tour

 

The Hunter Valley region is located a couple hours north of Sydney. It is well-known for its vineyards and cellar doors, or wineries. Neither my cousin nor I had ever gone wine tasting and we thought it would be a fun thing to do in Australia.

The previous day we had booked a wine tasting tour of the Hunter Valley region. In my pre-travel research, I found an online travel agent site offering a tour for $99 AUD. The tour included transportation, lunch and stops at four wineries. This turned out to be quite the deal because basically the same tour from the operator's website is $185.

That morning, we got breakfast (or brekkie, as the Aussies call it) from a little coffee shop and walked down to the nearby Marriott for our 7:20 am pickup. The bus did a few more pickups then dropped us off at the coach terminal to get on the bus heading to Hunter Valley.

Bus tour to Hunter Valley

The bus driver/tour guide, was very talkative, friendly and funny. He gave us lots of fun facts on the two-hour ride to Hunter Valley. The tour included a small group of diverse people, including some from Canada, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

The first two wineries we stopped at were Drayton's and Lindeman's. Tastings were a lot of fun, and they gave us cheese and crackers. We tasted a variety of whites, reds and dessert wines, such as Chardonnay, Semillon, Shiraz, Moscato and Port.

Wine tasting at Drayton's

Learning about wine at Lindeman's

Lindeman's tasting room

The wine we bought

The vineyards in Hunter Valley

After Lindeman's, we went to Hunter Valley Resort for the included lunch and wine tasting, which included watching a 15-minute DVD about how they make the wine.

DVD viewing before lunch

Then we went to McGuigan's for another tasting, and lastly the Hunter Valley Village which had a bunch of little shops and more wine tasting, if we wanted.

McGuigan's wine tasting

Then it was time to head back to Sydney. The bus dropped us off outside our hotel. We grabbed some McDonald's (are you seeing a trend here?) and were once again back in the room by 8 pm, ready for bed.

The Blue Mountains

Day 4 included a day trip to the Blue Mountains. I decided we could do that on our own, rather than take a pricey tour. It was $17.20 AUD for a round-trip ticket from the Sydney CBD (Central Business District) to Katoomba, the train stop for the mountains.

Sydney Central Station

Katoomba Station

From there, we bought a $25 AUD all-day, hop on hop off ticket for the trolley bus that hits all of the highlights in the area.

Buying tickets for the hop on, hop off bus

We rode the full one-hour loop (29 stops) on the trolley and listened to the commentary. The driver made a few quick stops at some different lookout points and we got off to take pictures. We returned back to Katoomba and grabbed some lunch from one of the restaurants on the main drag.

One of the tour bus lookout spots

 After lunch, we hopped back on the bus (an express one) that went direct to the main tourist spot of Echo Point, where you can see the Three Sisters rock formation.

It was quite cold up in the mountains, but very beautiful. We hiked a bit around the Three Sisters area and took some pictures.

Blue Mountains and the Three Sisters

Three Sisters

We also rode the express trolley to the Scenic World stop, where there is a skyway, cableway & railway. However, we did not do any of those activities.

We headed back to Katoomba and took the two-hour train ride back to Sydney around 5 pm. After returning, we had dinner at a pretty nice place in the same building as our hotel.