Sydney – First Impressions

G’Day! Our grand adventure has begun. We left our apartment with two suit cases and two back packs at 10:45 AM on December 26^th.

We landed in Sydney on December 28^th at 8:30 AM. About 22 hours in the air. From Apartment to Sydney, just over 27 hours. Yikes! Yes we were tired, but after a quick shower, we were off to see the sites on the Hop-on Hop-off Big Bus, which provided a great lay of the land. With the 48-hour pass, we essentially had a giant taxi until mid-day on December 30th. Sydney is a spectacular city with beautiful buildings from the late 1800s as well as modern high rises and some of the most diverse architecture we have ever seen in a city. And that doesn’t even include the Sydney Opera House, which is in a class by itself. We were so inspired that we bought opera tickets for Feb. 16, when we return. Who knows, we might develop some class on this trip.

Our tour around town took us to the historical sites, harbor boardwalks, as well as to the famous Bondi Beach.

Along the way, we hopped off multiple times to explore on foot and sample some of the local beers and wines. A favourite (?) spot was the Wooley Hotel Bar in Woolloomooloo. Such a fun name to say.

Lots of areas have similar unique Aboriginal names. The Big Bus narration mentioned when the early settlers saw a large animal jumping around, they asked the indigenous people what it was. Their answer was Kangaroo, which meant, “I don’t know what you mean”. They admitted that the story may not be quite true, but it sounds fun. We hung around for a couple of hours listening to a local musician playing acoustical guitar and playing our kind of music. All in all, the past couple of days we walked 18 miles (52,259 steps) and climbed the equivalent of 32 flights of stairs.

With the help of the latest technology, we’ve kept up with life back home. We were even able to watch the Packer/Lions game and that unfortunate Badger game, thanks to a VPN, Spectrum TV and an HDMI cable connected from a laptop to the TV. Works great. With WhatsApp, we were able to make free video calls to our family. We also have a MagicJack service. Coupled with the MagicApp on our iPhones, we can make free WiFi calls to any US numbers. Ping Steve at Travel@RoamingRetired.com if you have any questions on this. 

More to come..