Sydney

We have REALLY enjoyed Sydney! It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have that full extra day here. We’re quite tempted to become delayed (unfortunately of course) on our way out!

Yesterday, we rushed throughout the morning to accessorize for the evening’s grand event – a tour, dinner, and orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. Our first objective was finding a suit for Mike to rent. This was very easy, although expensive. I didn’t realize it was so pricey to rent an outfit! At least when women spend the money on clothes they get to keep the outfit, and potentially wear it for more than one evening! After picking out his proper attire, we continued on to the local shopping center to find a dress and shoes for me. We were lucky at our first stop as we were able to find a nice black dress straight away. The challenge of the day was finding shoes to match. I eventually settled on a pair that punished me for settling by hurting my feet before we even left the hotel room (ack!). We got Mike a haircut and went back to the hotel room to primp. The tour was really nice and led by an opera singer who sang for us in one of the rooms. Dinner was exquisite. We started with scallops, followed by a steak for him and fish for me, and finished with a chocolate and apple dessert. Mmmm… The Orchestra turned out to be an Opera/Orchestra. It was really lovely. Our seats were second row, center so we had absolutely problem seeing the emotion in the singers/players. It will be a hard anniversary to beat in future years.

We spent today walking the city. I would say we spent a good nine hours walking. We started out by heading over to King’s Cross – a strong recommendation from a native of Sydney with whom we work with. It was, as advertised, a more hippie side of Sydney. We walked the area in search of the famed Harry’s Café de Wheels and after a couple hours (hehe) found it. We were told they had the best meat pies in all of Australia..and while they were good – they don’t have a leg to stand on next to my mom’s. J (You should open your own restaurant mom – you’d put them to shame!)

We stumbled upon the Botanical Gardens on our way back from King’s Cross and spent a significant portion of the afternoon strolling through the numerous gardens. It was really beautiful and we took a ton of pictures so look for those soon!

We spent some time sitting by the harbor and then joined in the evening’s Ghost Tour. The storyteller did not leave us disappointed. We heard several stories about Sydney’s sometimes dreadful past and the rumored sightings of the area. I found it to be very interesting!

Tomorrow, we head off to Brisbane!