A Sparkle City

Friday, March 30, 2012

Yep, you guessed it...SYDNEY is the Sparkle City! At least in my opinion. There are many reasons why I say this...the people, the sun, the pristine beaches and scenery and their amazing fireworks! The 1st day in Sydney, we just walked around to all the sites. The city is breathtaking. Water everywhere, it's so green and the people are incredibly friendly.
A good friend of ours that lived in Australia for a couple years highly recommended a beach walk from Bondi beach to Coogee beach. Wow...AMAZING...thanks for the great recommendation Jen! As you can see from the pictures above...the water was so blue and the flowers were in full bloom. You literally hit one beach after another and each beach had people playing in the water and sunbathing on the sand. One of our favorite things about Sydney was how much people enjoy the outdoors and take advantage of the gorgeous weather. We stopped a few times on the walk to enjoy a beer and the beautiful views. We even saw an outdoor bowling field. How great is this?! Sorry...it's a little blurry...
It was Christmas time and it was nice to see Sydney does some decorating for the holidays. The stores were packed with last minute shoppers and we even heard some Christmas tunes every now and then. It felt a little like home.
The next day we took the ferry to Manly beach. It was a bit cloudy, but still beautiful. Everyone was in bathing suits and sunglasses...ignoring the sprinkles and clouds in the sky. It's a fun, laid-back beach town where surfing is the main sport. B was so excited to surf, but, unfortunately, the weather brought in a large swell...a little too large to surf. The lifeguards weren't even letting people swim. This is one thing we really wanted to do in Australia, but did not have the opportunity this time around. We hope to head to Byron Bay in the future, where B will FINALLY get to surf in Australia! We did get to enjoy some delicious drinks at Hemingway's in Manly.
For all those blogger friends that live in Australia...I don't know how you do it...food is expensive! Literally, meals are twice as much as they are in the states. We waited too long to find out the secret...eat at pubs! The food is delicious and cheap. We ate on the rooftop of the Glenmore Hotel and we had an incredible meal and an incredible view for quite a steal!
On our 3rd day, we took a trip to the Blue Mountains. This trip turned out much better than we could have imagined! We 1st stopped at a wildlife park where we got to see all kinds of animals and feed kangaroos.
On our ride to the Blue Mountains, we enjoyed seeing some of the suburbs of Sydney and listening to all kinds of history and facts about Sydney from our tour guide. Once again, it was a little cloudy, but the views were still beautiful! We took a gondola ride and saw The Three Sisters and many beautiful waterfalls.
The Three Sisters   


Now for the most spectacular part of our time in Sparkle City...NYE 2011! We met back up with our good friends Nick and Hil to celebrate New Years. When we arrived in Sydney on New Years Eve the City was crazy...people everywhere, so excited to celebrate the start of 2012! We had booked a boat on the harbour and this was the best decision ever. We had front row seats...on the water...for the entire evening. We got on the boat and had champagne and appetizers. Then, a buffet dinner and desserts were served. We met fun people from all over the world and to say the firework displays were amazing is an understatement. There were 2 shows and we were right there for both! As soon as I thought the show might be ending...a hundred more fireworks would light up the sky with all colors of the rainbow. It was beautiful and something that B, Nick, Hil and I will never forget. If you want something to add to your bucket list...add this!
Hopefully, this gives you a glimpse of why Sydney is the Sparkle City! For all of you that live in Sydney...I'm jealous! It's incredible and I can't wait to visit again one day!!

This is sadly the end of our Australian/New Zealand adventure, but we will venture to both places again...without a doubt!

Once one adventure ends...another begins. While we were in Australia, we found out I was pregnant with our first baby! Yes...we are going to be parents in early fall. It's hard to believe and we've called it "Joey" ever since we found out....since we found out in Australia. It's time for that name to retire because we are having a baby GIRL! However, I will be thrilled if she comes out with an Australian accent...haha...I kid!

Have a great weekend!!

3 comments:

Amy said...

wasn't Joey on Dawson's Creek a girl? Just sayin' it could be cute in a 1998 kind of way.

Kate Robinson said...

Oh My Goodness!!! Congrats! That is sooo exciting!

Liz said...

Thanks so much Kate! Hope you and the family are doing well!!

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