Yes, you're reading that correctly. I went to Sydney, Australia with a friend for 3 days, then back to the states for work. Luckily with our jobs we have the ability to just hop on a plane and go. We happened to have the same amount of days off, so we said let's finally go to Australia. We did it where we had 6 days off planned for 2 travel days and left the last day to recover before returning to work. It worked out really well and got just enough of a taste of Australia with the hopes of going back to explore more.
We booked a hostel on Bondi Beach which happened to be right near that really cool pool you might have seen when you look up Bondi. If you haven't seen it look right below, It's pretty impressive.
The Bondi Icebergs Pool
Day 1 was pretty much walking around the beaches. We had brunch near Bronte beach at Three Blue Ducks ( threeblueducks.com ) which was delicious. I was excited about having brunch nothing like having a little mimosa with breakfast! I had an Avocado Toast with poached eggs. Of course the one time I don't photograph my meal I talk about it. Check out their website if you can or want a fun place to eat if you're going to the area! Try and get the bar stools by the open window, perfect for people and dog watching with the fresh air!
We then walked along the beach up to Bondi! Once we got to the hostel we dropped our stuff off and changed. The beach was calling our names and I needed a nap! As we walked down to the beach we passed a tour agency. We went in and saw they booked tours to the blue mountains. We went in and wondered if we could do one of the blue mountain tours for the following day. They took a look and said their was actually just enough space for the both of us and we booked it immediately! We were excited, because we wanted to get out of Sydney a bit and explore, this was the perfect way to do it. We finished the day on the beach and then went out for dinner. Again I don't have photos go figure but I have the name. Very fun atmosphere perfect for cocktails and they have fun bar food. ( http://www.neighbourhoodbondi.com.au )
Day 2 we had to get up early to catch the bus for the tour but we were so jet lagged that we were actually up in time to have a quick coffee on the beach and watch the sunrise.
The tour was with Loka tours ( https://loka.travel ) It was a jam packed day but everything we were looking for. We stopped at 3 sights quickly the first was the 3 sisters lookout.
The rock formation of the 3 Sisters, Wilma, Meena and Gunnadoo
Next stop was looking out at Govett's Leap and the Bridal Veil Falls. The falls were subtle but so pretty. At the end of the falls you could see a little rainbow. I happened to capture it in my photo so look out for it on the right side.
Can you spot the waterfall?
The photo above it to the left of the Bridal Veil Falls. Here is a good example of why the blue mountains are called the blue mountains. The mountains and the distance you see a blue. That is because the trees are mainly Eucalyptus trees. The release their oil and the oil gives off that haze of blue into the air. I thought that was really cool.
Now it was time for the hiking part of the day. We went to Wentworth Falls, for about an hour and a half hike. We learned about this large plant that actually has these pods that explode in the wildfires to reproduce. So it's actually a plant that needs to continue producing because of heat! We then learned that the deadliest spider lives in the blue mountains. I didn't get any pictures of that thank goodness! I just took fun pictures along the way. We then reached a couple different views of the falls. After we also learned about tea trees and how the oils their leaves produce is good for skin treatments for acne. It has other good benefits but I was focused on that fun aspect and have since purchased tea tree oil and use it everyday! It really is a miracle worker. Here are the photos of that fun hike.
Those are the pods that will explode in fires!
Finally the last part of the tour was going to see if we can find wild Kangaroos, followed by a swim in a near by river. Which was a little scary thinking about what critters were in the water but come on how often are going to go swimming in river in Australia. It was a good ending.
Eastern Grey Kangaroos in the wild! So fun to see!
The river we went swimming in.
We then hopped on the bus to go back to downtown Sydney where we would get dropped off. My friend and I were wanting to see the opera house so we took a nice long stroll along the coast line to see it. We walked from Darling Harbor all the way until past the Sydney Harbor bridge. It was a good end to the day. The lights we so pretty in Darling Harbor, across the bridge and then the opera house.
Darling Harbor
Artwork we saw along the way
Luna Park Sydney
Sydney Harbor Bridge
Sydney Opera House
Day 3 starts out again with another cup of coffee enjoying the sunrise at the beach. It's nice being able to enjoy the calm before the day fully gets started. We didn't have plans, besides doing the Coogee walk along the beaches. We ended up just taking our time walking along the Bondi beach, got some breakfast followed by souvenir shopping. Later we started on the Coogee walk, but I kept taking pictures so it was taking a bit to go far. When we made it to Bronte beach we kept seeing dogs in the water so we went to go find them. Once we found the dogs, we ended up basically just spending the whole afternoon playing with dogs in the water. Probably one of the big highlights of the trip. We weren't the only ones who just came to play with the dogs either. So much fun. We eventually went to get some food and made it to the Waverley Cemetery, but we had to turn back quickly to beat the storm that was approaching. Which we did end up beating back to Bondi but not by much.
Tamarama Beach
Waverley Cemetery
I hope you're able to get ideas on what to do in Sydney. It is pretty doable in a short amount of days, but it's probably better to stay for at least a week. If you're a beach person or a mountain person there is a little bit of everything in Sydney and its surrounding areas. We might have been crazy to do it in such a short time, but it was totally worth it. Until next time on another wild adventure!
-MM
