Sydney With My Dad - May 1 -3, 2009

I spent this past weekend with my dad in Sydney.  Having never been to Sydney I didn't know what to expect and I wasn't disappointed.  Sydney is an absolutely beautiful city and reminded me a lot of Vancouver - except of course there were no mountains and it's much much bigger.

I arrived Friday night after quite a hectic day of work - an almost all day field trip to return to school and present our class assembly in front of the entire school. I was definitely ready for the drink at the airport while waiting to board my plane.  The plane ride went smoothly and it was great to be with my dad again.  We caught up on his adventures since he had left me a week earlier and then headed out for a walk in the area.  We were staying in the Darling Harbour part of town so we were right near the water.  We were also near Chinatown and I just missed the Friday night market.  My dad saw it and said it was packed with people.  I only got to see them packing up for the night.

The next morning I got up and WENT FOR A RUN!  I was pretty proud of myself to get off my lazy butt and run.  I ran along Darling Harbour out towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  I didn't really know where I was going and managed to run up some wickedly steep hills too.  Sydney is definitely a LOT hillier than Melbourne.

After a quick breakfast and a talk with our hotel we headed to Paddington market.  I was told that is was a good market to go to and we found out it was on Saturdays only.  Well, I'm glad we made the trek there as I made a couple of purchases and almost bought a dress (it's too bad it didn't fit right because it was SOOOOO cute).

Paddington Market, Oxford Street, Sydney

From Paddington we walked to a place that was recommended to my dad for lunch.  It was well worth the walk as I had a fantastic salad with trout.  From there we walked to Circular Quay to catch a ferry to Manly Beach.  Manly Beach is about 3o min away by boat but still part of Sydney.  The views from the ferry were amazing and while I took a ton of photos I'm only post a couple here. 

Sydney Opera House (taken from the ferry)

Sydney Harbour (taken from the ferry)

Thirty minutes later we arrived in Manly Beach.  As you pull up you see two little strips of beach and wonder to yourself "where's the famous Manly Beach".  Well we had to walk a couple of blocks but we were not disappointed.  Manly Beach is a beautiful long beach which what looked like great surfing waves. It was also full of people learning how to surf.  

Manly Beach

My dad and I decided to take a walk along the shore line but our walk was cut short by a torrential down pour.  Although it was warm (about 20 or so) it was WET!  The rain came and went for the next little while but the surfers kept surfing.

A Rainbow at Manly Beach

Me, standing under the "Dripping Wet, Manly Beach, Australia" sign, soaking wet!

After a quick snack and a hot drink (we were both pretty cold and wet at this point) we headed back to the Circular Quay.  The sun had already started to set as we boarded the boat but I was still able to get a few good shots.  My dad has some amazing shots and hopefully I'll get copies so I can add them to this blog too.  

Sydney Harbour Bridge at Dusk

That evening my dad and I caught an interesting show in the Studio of the Sydney Opera House.  In case you didn't know there are several venues and stages with in the building.  The studio is just one of them.  After the show we had a nice dinner in the harbour and headed back to our hotel.

The next morning I got up and ran AGAIN!  This time I knew my way around a bit better and so I made it right to the Opera House and even ran through the area known as "The Rocks".

Proof I was "RUNNING" in the Harbour

Once back at the hotel and after a Sunday brunch pig out (hey, I had run two mornings in a row), my dad and I scored on our all day Sunday bus/train/ferry pass ($2.50 for the entire day) we hoped a bus for Bondi Beach. Before we actually walked on the beach my dad spotted another market.  He's starting to learn that I love to go to local markets to see what the local artists are up to.  Again I made a couple of purchases but I see them as true memories of my trip.  Once we exhausted the market we headed down to the beach.  Again it was warm but again it rained on us.  Thankfully the rain didn't last as long and it didn't rain nearly as hard as it did the day before.

Bondi Beach, Syndey

From Bondi Beach we hopped another bus and headed back to Circular Quay to spend some time in The Rocks (another area in Sydney right near the harbour).  We had found out the day before that there is a weekend market in The Rocks so we had to go and check it out.  (Okay, maybe my dad didn't need to get to a third market but I DID).  We walked around for a bit but there wasn't anything I needed/wanted to buy (thank goodness).  

The Rocks Market

We snooped around The Rocks a bit more before we made our way to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  I had toyed with the idea of climbing the bridge, and I still may on another trip to Sydney, but this time my dad and I just walked across the bridge instead.

Walking the Bridge 

The Opera House and Harbour from the Bridge

Circular Harbour from the Bridge

Walking the bridge was a much less expensive alternative (it's almost $200 to climb it) and I'm glad we did it.  At this point though I needed to think about getting back to the hotel to catch my flight.  My dad and I decided that instead of walking back to Darling Harbour,  that we would take a ferry back (after all we did have our all day transit passes).  Like the first ferry we took this one didn't disappoint either.

View of the Bridge and the Opera House from the Ferry

View of Darling Harbour from the Ferry

Overall it was a really great weekend. It was nice to spend one and one time with my dad (that rarely happens at home), and it was great to see Sydney too.  The only sad parts about the weekend was finding out that the Canucks lost 6-3 to Chicago in game two of the playoffs, and knowing that I won't see my dad until I land back in Vancouver on Dec 23, 2009.  As for Sydney, I'll definitely be back to take a surf lesson at Bondi Beach (Tammy and Nancy B you'll be joining me I hope !), and to visit the Blue Mountains.  Heck  I may even run the marathon or half marathon in the Spring.

Now hopefully I can motivate myself to run tomorrow after work!

*Remember if you double click on the photos you can make them larger.  I love the one of the Opera House and Harbour taken from the bridge. The small size doesn't do it justice.