Sydney, Day 2

Stephanie had a hard night sleep as we can hear the cars driving by the hotel room. We woke up and walked down George St., the major road through Sydney, toward the harbor to catch the Sydney Explorer buses. It was probably about 2.5 miles starting with hostels and convenience stores in our neighborhood, then getting to the downtown district with nice shopping malls and all the suits going to work (suckers), and ending in The Rocks, a posh neighborhood that is one of the originally settled neighborhoods in Sydney. It has quaint (expensive) shops and cafes: way out of our price range. It reminds us a little of Georgetown in DC.

The Circular Quay (pronounced “key”) is adjacent and is where the cruise ship dropped us off and where we started our Sydney Explorer bus ride: if you come to Sydney you must do this. We rode the bus for the first 13 stops as it brought us by the area sights (Opera House, over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Botanical Gardens, Hyde Park, and multiple museums) and gave a simple commentary along the way. The weather was not friendly-looking as the forecast had predicted, but it was alright inside as the bus had A/C. We got off at Mrs. Macquarie's Chair in the botanical gardens and then walked back to the Opera House along the harbor. Not a bad place to be:

We then walked back to Circular Quay to pick up the next bus, after picking up a chicken burger and some coffee for lunch.

Next, we boarded the Bondi Explorer bus, which was included with our Sydney Explorer ticket (also includes access to all city buses). This bus brought us along all the southern suburbs along the harbor and various points to look out at the harbor. We also went by Sydney’s red light district called Kings Cross and actually saw what appeared to be a hooker on the streets...at 1pm. Arriving at Bondi (pronounced Bond-eye) Beach, the weather fortunately improved...again pictures do not do it justice. The sun started coming out, perfectly timed for us, and we had a breathtaking walk along the beach.

From a distance, we thought this was a pool at some fancy-schmancy hotel - turns out, future lifeguards train at this pool, which is filled whenever a large wave comes along.

Saw some surfers and locals out on the coves. There was a great pathway that we could walk along that cut through the sandstone cliffs and allowed us to take in all the beauty of the beaches in this area.

After walking the 2 mile path to Bronte Beach we caught the bus back towards downtown. We got off near the central district and walked about 10 blocks to our neighborhood and stopped in the local watering hole to re-hydrate (tried Carlton Draught this time – another good local brew) before heading back to the hotel after a long day of walking. It seems that all bars/pubs are named as “hotel” just to confuse visitors and all that we have entered have wagering and gambling facilities. After our beer we headed back to the hotel for showers before going out for the internet and grabbing some food for dinner. We stopped for Pad Thai again, and again it turned out to be a good choice...and hey, it's relatively cheap, which isn't easy to find in Australia.