The flight from New Zealand to Sydney was pretty short, but the overall day was long. We started first thing in the morning with a flight from Christchurch to Auckland, then the international flight to Sydney. By the time I made it to the room in the hostel, it was around 8pm.
The only activity we planned ahead of time was the Bridge Climb. Blue Mountains, Rugby (NRL), Bondi Beach, and the submarine were all figured out first thing Friday morning.
Bridge Climb
The Sydney Bridge was built in the 1920s during the Great Depression. Before its completion, cars were ferried between the north and main part of Sydney. There are over 6 million rivets holding the structure together, each put into place by hand. In the couple of years it took to build the bridge, 16 people died. This is despite an average of 1400 men working on the bridge each day. Of those 16 deaths, only 3 fell into the harbor. The others were involved in accidents at the nearby production facility.
Eventually, steps were installed below the highway lanes and up the arches of the bridge. These allow for people to walk all the way to the top, across, and back down. Going up one side you pass between two levels of pedestrian traffic and on the other side you pass down through two lanes of train traffic.
Cameras were not allowed on the walk, in fear of being dropped. So the only picture I have is the group photo from the top. It pretty much captures the sites in Sydney metro: the bridge, the opera house, and the skyline.
The options for climbing are: day, twilight, and night. The day climb is already pretty expensive but the twilight and night are even worse. My plan was to book the very last day climb in hopes of catching the sunset. It worked out. As we descended the west side of the bridge, the sun followed us down past the horizon.
After our climbing “adventure,” we walked through the restaurants on the Sydney Harbor. At each one we checked the menu for a very specific item. Of the restaurants we looked at, only one offered our dinner of choice: Kangaroo. The taste reminded me of buffalo, tenderness of a rib eye, and it was lean like a sirloin. All-in-all, I was looking forward to another kangaroo steak meal.
Blue Mountains
New Zealand is famous for sheep and Australia is famous for Kangaroos. Now that I got to taste one, I was ready to pet one. Park of our tour through the Blue Mountains area was a stop at a national park. Here, we got to see kangaroos in the wild. When we first arrived at the park, we started trekking out to find the national animal of Australia.
There was a young male laying in the ground, with an older one nearby. I was amazed at how close they let me approach without running away. After seeing the guys hang out in the grass and hop around a bit, I headed back to a large open area. There was a mother and a joey playing. After a while, I think Mom got tired of all the attention and decided to hop away.
(YouTube Video Coming Soon.)
Josh was the guy working the travel desk when we booked our days in Sydney. I had read about the area called Blue Mountains and he suggested a day trip with took us around the Jamison Valley.
The tour included a number of lookouts, lunch, and a visit to Scenic World. One of the guides at Scenic World was quick to point out that this area is older than the Grand Canyon. I am not entirely sure how one piece of Earth can be older than the other, but it appears to be the case.
Honestly, by this point I was pretty tired of the views. While spectacular, it did get boring seeing it from 100 different angles.
Rugby!
On the way back from Blue Mountains, a couple of the girls in the group practically begged for a stop at the Sydney Olympic Stadium. By about 6pm, I was ready to go home and sleep. As we approached the center, we realized a National Rugby League (NRL) match was in progress between the local Bulldogs and the Parramatta Eels.
When we asked the tour bus driver if there was a train station nearby, he lit-up super bright. It was obvious ditching the ride back to Sydney Central for a Rugby game was a great idea. So great, I think he wanted to join us! By the time we got to our seats, it was halftime and the home team was losing, badly.
Unfortunately, the Bulldogs ended up losing. But we got to see quite a bit of action in the game, even more than watching the All Blacks vs Australia a couple of weeks ago (on TV).
Submarine
On display in Sydney’s Darling Harbor was the retired submarine HMAS Onslow along side the gunship HMAS Vampire. The last time the Vampire saw action, it was used as a training ship. Both vessels were very cool to see up close, but the submarine was my favorite. The Vampire tour benefited from a guide that previously served on a Daring-class ship.
The whole experience makes me want to take a trip over to Norfolk and check out some of the US Navy’s ships. These were built in the 50s and are incredibly obsolete.
Here is a link to the Gallery with the Sub and Gunboat pictures.
Bondi Beach
No stop in Sydney would be complete without seeing Bondi Beach. And since we planned on doing something near the water, it was raining cats and dogs. Even in the rain and cold, people were surfing. It almost made me want to rent a wetsuit (and a board).
The whole area looked pretty cool. I might come back at some point during the summer months to check it out it again.
Bus ride back to the city to get our bags, train ride to the airport, and we were on our way to Indonesia.
Of the sheep and kangaroo…uh, which one did you eat and which one did you pet?
Both, of course! I liked the Kangaroo better.