Alex woke me up Tuesday morning after his sunrise walk and we headed to the CBD for coffee with a friend-of-a-friend currently living in Sydney. It was nice to meet and catch up with a friendly face and listen to her perspectives on Australia. After a couple of flat whites we said our goodbyes and headed to the docks to catch a ferry to the Taronga Zoo.
Since it was a beautiful day, the ferry ride ended up being a great way to view downtown Sydney and the surrounding suburban areas from the water.
Looking back on Sydney from the ferry.
We got to the zoo a little after noon and headed to the closest attraction: another great view of the city.
Great views from the zoo!
We set off to explore the various exhibits and ended up spending a solid four hours just walking around and visiting the many different creatures kept there. I couldn’t help feeling a little sad for all of the captive animals – this coupled with the hundreds of screaming children on a school holiday is why Alex and I don’t make it a point to visit many zoos! Below are some of our favorite zoo buds:
Two younger elephants playing in the pool.
These lions were pretty intimidating.
You almost can’t see the goats hiding up in these rocks!
The giraffes have a pretty great view of Sydney.
I swear this koala did nothing but eat leaves the entire day.
After taking the ferry back to Circular Quay, we walked around The Rocks, Sydney’s primary historical area downtown. Many of the buildings and cobblestone streets have been preserved, reminding us a lot of New York’s South Street Seaport.
Sadly the Greek restaurant we wanted to have dinner at was closed (this has been an ongoing theme as many Australian restaurants close for a week or two around the holidays) so we stopped at a nearby café instead before heading back to Bondi.
Wednesday – also New Year’s Eve - was our last full day in Bondi and we enjoyed a leisurely day of brunch, beach and beauty (Alex needed a haircut and I treated myself to my first blowout since our wedding!). By mid-afternoon it was time to head into the city to meet my dad and stepmom for our new year’s festivities at the Royal Botanic Gardens.
We had purchased tickets to NYE Under The Stars, which provided us with a primetime harbor viewing spot as well as unlimited food and beverages. The four of us had the best time catching up on the lawn, watching the fireworks and stuffing our faces. SydNYE was just as spectacular as we had hoped and we were really happy everything worked out so well!
Fireworks #1.
Fireworks #2.
Group shot.
One of the most pleasant surprises was how easy it was to get home at 1am – Sydney’s public transportation system was fast, efficient and free (they didn’t even take our tickets)!
We slept in this morning and packed up our bags before heading out for a recovery meal and final stroll around Bondi. We had a (very) slow brunch at AquaBar and then headed to Icebergs for a little “hair of the dog.”
Cheers to 2015!
We're sad to be leaving Australia shortly, but we've also pretty excited about the next two weeks with my dad and stepmom - we're heading to New Zealand to explore both the north and south islands!