And the iconic opera house:
It was really exciting to see in person and was pretty spectacular from every angle. Then it was off for a great Italian dinner and bedtime for two tired boys.
The boys aren't used to sitting in restaurants that much since we tend to do lots of cooking and picnics on our trips in WA, but flying to a big city meant eating out every meal. Alex kept busy with Daddy's phone. This was at Pancakes on the Rocks, which had the best breakfast I've eaten in Australia so we had to come back a second time.
Then we walked around the harbor and checked out the opera house in person. I'd pointed it out to Ben in Finding Nemo so he was pretty thrilled to see it in real life and kept showing me the picture in the brochure he found.
Glancing back at the bridge from the edge of the opera house.
It was much prettier up close than I'd expected. We would have liked to take the tour inside but it was pretty out of the question with two very energetic boys. I did read that it has the best acoustics in the world but is too small to host a full opera.
Next, we hopped on a ferry at Circular Quay to do some sightseeing from the other side of the harbor. Alex loved the ferry and got his sea legs immediately.
Ben was a bit more impatient but tolerated the boat. These pictures would be much better if I could ever convince him to smile!
We rode over to the zoo entrance but didn't want to spend the rest of the afternoon looking at animals so we just took in the view before catching a ferry back.
Still haven't managed to teach Ben to take a proper picture so I had to long-arm this one.
Later the kids chased seagulls in front of the customs house and then we decided to take a free bus ride around the city.
This little guy absolutely passed out once the bus started moving. We walked a lot and the exercise and excitement took their toll. Ben has so much energy that sometimes I forget he needs a break.
Interesting street music...the best part about this guy in particular was that he played his didgeridoo along with techno music. We declined to buy the CD.
This was our hotel in the Rocks suburb. It had a 6-story building or several historic rowhouses along the front, so I opted for the house. It turned out to be great because the kids slept downstairs and we slept upstairs, except we found that people in Sydney stay up much later than Perth folks and like to talk loudly and drunkenly as they walk home from the pub. Historic rowhouses are not very soundproofed so we got to hear lots of those conversations but it still beat sleeping in a hotel room all together.
On our way to dinner we ran across a really cool 3D map of Sydney.
Our favorite dinner was at Cafe Sydney from a friend's recommendation. It was a gorgeous evening and we ate outside at sunset.
The view over the harbor was fantastic.
Later I noticed there were a bunch of birds flying, then we realized they were bats coming from the botanic garden to feed for the night. They were HUGE. Thank goodness they're just fruit bats.
The bridge was beautiful as all the lights started coming on.
Rare family photo with everyone looking at the camera (but I don't dare hope to get one with 4 smiles).
Two sleepy boys watching cartoons on the second morning. Ben slept on the foldout couch and was really excited about the "magic" bed. Doesn't take a lot to get this kid excited. He still tells me that his favorite part of the trip was the hotel.
Second favorite was still the opera house, as he pointed it out every time we passed.
It was a rainy morning so we took the ferry over to Darling Harbor to visit the aquarium that we'd heard so many great things about.
It really was a great aquarium with lots of animals we'd never seen, like a platypus in action.
A display of box jellyfish, one of the most deadly animals in the world. Not many people live to talk about stings from these guys. Thank goodness they don't come into the waters around Perth.
There were a couple amazing tanks with huge walkways to watch sharks and rays. Alex was thrilled about the kiddy-sized walk on the left hand side and gave me a heart attack when he disappeared in a matter of seconds. We had a few tense minutes trying to track him down in the crowd but he was very calmly walking himself up the ramp to the next exhibit.
This was another great tunnel in the Great Barrier Reef exhibit.
Pretty cool to see a turtle under the floor.
It was definitely worth the visit - best aquarium we've ever seen. And of course we found Nemo there.
Back on the ferry headed toward our hotel.
Sunday was the annual observance of Anzac Day, marking the anniversary of the first major military action by Australian/New Zealand forces in WWI. There were tons of people at all the pubs all day and we ran into the parading bagpipers several times.
We enjoyed our last evening in Sydney by catching a sunset in the harbor.
Alex stayed entertained through dinner with the ice bucket. Why didn't we think of this before?
On Monday we got our last look at the opera house on the way to the bust station and finally got a smile (or a grimace?) out of Ben.
We wanted to see Bondi Beach, probably Australia's most famous, and spent some time wandering around before we had to pick up our bags and head to the airport.
Big discovery at the airport - Krispy Kremes!
We definitely have two big fans. I didn't realized how much I'd missed a good old-fashioned donut until I ate one. or two.
It was a terrific weekend in a beautiful city. Too bad it's not a little closer, but then again, nothing is close to Perth. Thank goodness it was our first and last time with Alex as a lap infant because this kid is not built to share a seat with anyone for 5 hours. We were all glad when that flight landed!
