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Sydney Trip Report

April 2008

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  • Manly Beach
  • Carroll's Blog

Sydney, Australia

Sydney is a beautiful city.

 

 

 

 

Marriot Circular Quay

We spent two nights at the Marriott Circular Quay and absolutely loved it. This is a truly nice hotel. The service was wonderful and the location could not be beat. The hotel sits one block from the Circular Quay ferry boats and within easy walking distance to the Opera House, Botanical Gardens, and The Rocks.

sydney marriott

The room was very nicely appointed It wasn't the largest room we have ever had, but the bed and furnishing were high end.

sydney marriott room view

We had a Opera House view which was great. Each morning we could watch the sun come up over the horizon. We are Marriott Gold members so we had access to the concierge lounge. This included free breakfast and free drinks and appetizers from 4 PM to 9 PM. The lounge was large and they had a good variety of food and drinks.

The bathrooms included a bath and a separate shower. The countertops were beautiful granite.

Downtown Sydney

A must see in Sydney is the Royal BotanicGardens. The park is very large and very scenic. The admission is free and you could spend an entire day walking all of the paths.

The park has numerous types of flora and fauna. We also saw quite a few large spider webs!

The park is loaded with flying foxes. (fruit bats) These guys were noisy and fun to watch.

Another interesting place is "the rocks". This is an historic part of town that is located near the Harbour Bridge. You'll find all sorts of touristy type stuff to do in this area of town.

The larger cruise ships will dock at "the rocks". This is a newer cruise port built for the new large cruise ship that cannot quite fit under the Harbour Bridge. If they can fit under the bridge they will dock in Darling Harbour.

We took the hop on and hop off bus, (which we do not recommend), and walked around Darling Harbour. 

Darling Harbour is also very tourist oriented. There is lots to do and see.

There are numerous fountains located within the downtown area.

We took the hop on hop off Double Decker bus tour around Sydney. This was initially fun but we would not do it again. The bus is not reliable and they advertise that you can "go to Bondi Beach". What they don't tell you is that there is only one bus to Bondi Beach. Which means that you might have to wait up to 1.5 hours for the transfer and then if you get off the bus at Bondi, you'll have to wait two hours for the next bus.

Needless to say, we never made it to Bondi Beach.

Sydney is a very pretty city that reminded us of San Francisco and Vancouver.

There was a giant Chinese protest going on in Chinatown the Sunday that we visited Paddy's Market. Paddy's Market is a flea market place that has cheap touristy stuff.

The protest was well publicized by the local media.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

One of the highlights of the weekend was visiting the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon. The cost is $9 a person and this allows you to walk up 200 stairs to the top of the pylon structure. From there the views are awesome. 

Highly recommend this for anyone visiting Sydney.

The views are 360 degrees from the top. One view is out toward the open harbour.

Another nice view is back toward Circular Quay.

There are tours which allow you to actually climb to the top of the bridge. This looked a tad bit adventurous for us but it looked pretty exciting.

And of course the view of the Opera House is also nice.

Manly Beach

A great way to spend the afternoon is to take the water ferry over to Manly Beach. The ferry leaves from Circular Quay about every hour. The cost is $6 each way and you'll get to see a tour of Sydney Harbour along the way. 

manly ferry

manly wharf

The ferry takes about a half hour to get to Manly Beach. Once there, you will land at Manly Wharf. Walk straight ahead, across the street, and the main plaza will take you right to the beach.  Along the plaza there are all sorts of shops and eateries.

manly beach

Manly Beach is a picturesque surfer beach. It is a great place to people watch and take in the beauty of the bay.

If you time it right, by taking the 5:45 PM ferry back to Sydney, you will be treated to a sunset cruise. When we took off the sun was just setting over the horizon.

Who needs a night cruise of Sydney Harbour when you can hop on board the ferry to Manly?

Carroll's Sydney Blog (2008)

Saturday, April 12, 2008
We awoke early and finished packing for our weekend jaunt to Sydney. We easily made our way to the airport and checked in for our 8:45 AM flight. Once in Sydney we took the train into town to Circular Quay and we were checked into the Marriott in no time.
Our room was quite nice and had a great view of the Sydney Harbour and the famous Opera House. We quickly settled in and then headed out to see the sights.
We walked over to "the rocks" and had lunch right near the outdoor market area. I tried the Barramundi, which is an Australian fresh water fish. Dave had sausage and mashers. Both meals were good but also costly.
We browsed around the market and then headed over to the Harbour Bridge so we could climb up to the Pylon Lookout. Once you arrive at the pylon you must climb 200 stairs to the top. That helped us work off the calories from lunch. At the top there were stunning views of all of Sydney.
We then made our way back to Circular Quay to catch a ferry to Manly Beach. From the ferry we had great views of Sydney Harbour. Manly Beach is a surfer beach and it was fun to just sit and people watch. Dave and I also bought a couple of lottery scratchers. I won a free ticket and then won $8 on my next ticket.
We caught the 5:30 ferry back to Circular Quay and was treated to the beautiful sunset over the harbour. Once the sun went down it got a bit cool so we returned to our hotel.
Dave has access to the executive lounge, so we went up there for drinks and snacks. Since we had a substantial lunch, that sufficed for dinner.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Dave and I awoke and had breakfast in the executive lounge. We then headed over to the rocks to catch the Sydney Hop on Hop off bus. We waited at the stop for well over an hour. Dave finally called them and they said they were running late. They then called back and said that they were skipping our stop, (and three others), and that we should proceed up the street a few blocks to catch the bus. The bus we were supposed to catch didn't stop so Dave had to call them back. Long story short, we finally got picked up about one hour and a half late.
We rode around and got off at the Royal Botanical Gardens. We strolled a very small section of the park and then got back on the bus. We then rode to the Powerhouse Museum and got off to go to Paddy's Market. 
There was a large Chinese demonstration going on which was quite a spectacle. We then made our way to Darling Harbour to walk around and have lunch. As we finished lunch it started to rain so we walked around the Harbourside Centre for a bit.
We got back on the bus which was quite crowded on the bottom deck because of the rain. We rode back to Circular Quay and got off.
We returned to the Marriott to relax a bit before dinner. We also organized our things since Dave was returning to Brisbane and I was returning home the next day.
We had a before dinner drink at Cruises Bar at the Overseas Cruise Terminal. Dave ordered a Cosmopolitan for me and despite not quite knowing how to make one, the bartender did a very good job.
We had a 6:00 PM reservation at Wild Fire also located at the cruise terminal. We were seated right away at a harbour view table. Dave had the Barramundi and I had the veal. Service was very good and not rushed. We split the Deconstructed Black Forest for dessert. During dinner it started to pour but by the time we finished the rain let up so we had a pleasant walk back to our hotel.
We went up to the executive lounge to have a night cap before retiring for the evening.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Dave woke up early to catch his flight back to Brisbane. I slept in a while longer. Since my flight wasn't until 1:55 PM. I walked around the Sydney Opera House and took in the fantastic views one last time. The Princess Cruise Ship was docked at the Overseas Terminal. She was going to take off for a 31 day cruise to Los Angeles. Over the few days we were in Sydney we met several people who were going on the voyage.
I checked out of the Marriott at around 11:00 and took a taxi to the airport. Once there I waited in line to check in for my flight. I proceeded through customs, security, and then had a short wait at my gate.