Sydney Day 2

Our second day in Sydney could easily be called Opera House Day, since we spent most of the day within view of the famous icon.

First step, of course, was getting some good coffee.

Then we caught an Uber over to the opera house.  We had a bad experience with our taxi driver from the airport.  I'm pretty sure he was drunk, or, at best, hungover, so we used Ubers for the rest of our time in Sydney.  We were headed to the opera house for a Junior Adventure tour.  Australian schools were also on break, so the opera house was offering special, kid focused tours.  Vivian was the main tour participant, so she got one of their kid vests.  She had mixed feelings about it.

The rest of us were just excited to be able to tag along.

The junior tour was much shorter than the official tour, which was for the best, since I don't think our kiddos would have tolerated the full two hour tour.  We still got to see all the performance spaces though.  I liked the concert hall and the opera/ballet hall.

The best part of the tour, in my opinion, was being able to walk inside the famous arches and see the view from the inside out.

There are balconies along the outside where you can stand and look out at the harbor.

Vivian's favorite part was when they let the kids loose on the costumes and props.  She put together quite the outfit for herself.

Elena didn't want to dress up, but she found a prop to play with.

After the tour, Vivian wanted to check out an area they had set up about newspapers.  It was in conjunction with a play for kids that was running.  Kids could write their own news stories and try out old typewriters.  Vivian was in her element.

When we finally finished with the opera house, we tried to get a family picture outside, but the sun didn't really cooperate with us.  I still like the smiles though :-)

Our next adventure was exploring the Royal Botanic Gardens which start right near the opera house and loop around the bay.  In one direction, you look back out at the harbor,

and in the other direction, you look towards the city.

It's a beautiful park, and the weather was perfect, so we spent a leisurely afternoon there.

We eventually got hungry and grabbed some lunch at the cafe.  It was so nice to be able to eat outside.

After lunch, we found a cool pond.

Vivian had seen lots of people just sitting on the grass in the shade, and she really wanted to do that too, so we let her pick a spot to relax.

Eventually, we made it all the way around to the other side of the harbor, and a nice woman offered to take a family picture for us.

Elena was fading by that point, so we got an Uber back to the apartment for a little rest before our final adventure of the day, a sunset cruise on a tall ship!

It was a dinner cruise, and I had found a great deal online that included an unlimited drinks package, but the best part was the sunset.  It was incredible.  It started out pretty.

But as we sailed farther out, and the sun was setting behind the bridge and the opera house, it became absolutely stunning.

After that spectacular show, we relaxed and enjoyed sailing around.  Vivian got a chance to help out with the ropes.

Eventually, we came back to the harbor and got to see everything lit up.

Then we made our way back to the apartment for another well earned night's sleep.

Sydney Day 1

We knew we only had time for one more big trip before leaving this part of the world, and I wanted to cross another continent off my list, so I planned a trip to Australia for us.  Australia was a great choice, not only for bucket list priorities, but also because the weather is cool in April, everything is in English, and there was a cruise leaving from Sydney during Vivian's April break.

I took a gamble on the overnight flight that got to Sydney around 7am.  I had found an Airbnb for us in the touristy area, but I knew we wouldn't be able to check in that early, so I also researched breakfast places with play areas along the way.  It worked out :-)

It was a week day, so it wasn't crowded.  There was plenty of space for our bags, and a park across the street for the girls to run around in once they'd eaten.

We spent a good chunk of our morning there.  Vivian fueled up on hot chocolate, which came in a bottle.

She was ready for Australian fun.  The day before we left, she got her nails done.

We kept up with the kids by drinking plenty of excellent Australian coffee.  They also offered Elena something called a babycino, which is like a kiddie "cappuccino" made with steamed milk and sugary goodies.

Apparently, it's a big thing in Australia, but my little Thai baby completely rejected it.  We eventually made our way to the apartment, dropped off our bags, and then started exploring.  

One of the reasons for picking that apartment was that it was within walking distance of lots of different things we wanted to do.  We started with the closest one, the Australia National Maritime Museum.  

The big draw for that one was that they have real ships docked in the harbor that you can climb on and explore.  We started with the HMAS Vampire.

Elena was not in the best of moods, so after a little bit I took her back inside the main part of the museum and let Jeff and Vivian continue their exploration.

Inside the museum, Elena and I discovered a kiddie play area with a maritime theme.  She had a great time playing there.

Meanwhile, Jeff and Vivian moved from the destroyer to the submarine.

They also explored the Endeavor, Captain Cook's original vessel.

Eventually, we all met back up again inside the museum to see their special exhibition on the naval rescue at Pompeii.  I hadn't realized how long it took for the volcano to actually erupt, and apparently, some people were rescued by naval ships from the mainland.  They also had exhibits on things like pearls, which I enjoyed.

After a couple hours, we walked back towards our apartment and stopped at a restaurant for some excellent burgers.  We went to bed pretty early, and everyone slept well.  It was a good start to our vacation.