Sydney

This is quite overdue, but here it is.

We didn't have much time in Sydney unfortunately, but it was still fun. Our first half day after Mount Warrigal we went to a cool local market in The Rocks (near the YHA hostel we were staying at - sooo nice but you had to walk up huge little back alley staircases to get there!) We didn't buy anything except some tasty licorish from an old couple selling many different flavours. The Rocks is a really nice old area with cobble stone, narrow back alleys and random staircases up the steep hill to other roads and buildings (of course, ours was right near the top! We got lost for about an hour with our heavy bags trying to find it!) The Rocks is right near the famous bridge in Sydney and our hostel had a nice view of the Opera House.

The weather did not cooperate for the remainder of our time there (pretty rainy and not very warm), so we didn't get to spend any time at beaches. We spent a lot of time walking through the city, exploring Darling Harbour, the Sydney fish market (NOT very good fish and chips there unfortunately!), some of the markets, China Town, the Opera House, Circular Quay, etc.

One day we went over to Manly Beach, where we finally found an aboriginal art store selling didgeridoos and bought one (we didn't want a souvenir store one). We also attempted to rent bikes to go on the scenic walk in Manly, but we shortly found out that the "walk" is not at ALL intended for bikes. In fact, the whole town was not very well suited to biking as it was very hilly and the bike paths were short and away from the shore, definitely not suited for the 3-speed cruisers that the rental place gave us! So it was quite an adventure and very tiring, but still fun.

The last night we walking across the bridge over to North Sydney and walked along the sea wall there (to check out where T used to live). We didn't get to do the bridge climb as hoped since the weather wasn't great, but at least we saved money doing so!

Finally left Oz from the Sydney Airport and headed on our way to NZ....