SYDNEY PART 2

Hello all,

Sorry for not writing, I have some pretty good excuses though:

1. Half of the time that I didn’t write, I was in the middle of nowhere hiking through gorgeous nature and sleeping under the stars. No phone, no laptop, nothing.

2. Here in Australia they think Free WiFi is ridiculous.

3. I did so much. Most of my days started at 6 a.m. and by the time I got back at the hotel I was desperate for some sleeping time.

Enough excuses, time to tell about the AMAZING time I am having here.

I am going to start with our last days of Sydney.

27^th of July

This day the weather was amazing again. The sun was shining bright and the blue sky was present again.

It is winter in Australia at the moment, but mostly the weather is even better than in our summer.

Give us a winter like this please.

Back to the 27^th. Today we went to Manly, which is a small village part of Sydney. It is famous for its beach.

We did a biking tour through Manly and saw beautiful picturesque views that we otherwise wouldn’t have seen.

We all loved Manly beach.

Manly has an amazing boulevard with the nicest restaurants.

As you can understand, lunch was taken care of easily.

The food here is super by the way! Such nice and classy restaurants!

The thing we love also is the fact that in European countries gorgeous beaches like Manly are immediately made really touristic and spoilt, not in Australia.

In Australia everywhere we have been yet everything is so clean and as I said classy.

We also went to Bondi beach!

No lifeguards unfortunately.. ;)

28^th of July

We didn’t spend this day in Sydney.

We got picked up at 7 –I believe- and drove to the Blue Mountains with a tour guide and eleven other travellers.

The mountains are called this way because of the blue glow they seem to have when you look at them.

We walked quite a heavy track through the mountains.

But it was beautiful!

 Love,

Isabelle

FINALLY: SYDNEY

Dear all,

Here I (finally) am, writing this post on my laptop from our hotel in Sydney.

First of all I want to say I am having an amazing time and I have been absolutely loving Sydney!

Sydney is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been..

Since I haven't posted anything yet -due to not having free-wifi- I will give a quick summary of what has happened so far.

23th of July

We had an 13 hour flight from Amsterdam to Singapore -in business class which made it so much fun.

The stewards asked me where my journey ended/started and when they heard my answer they were all like: 'Ah Australia, I love it! The vibe is so nice, and all the people are so relaxed and down to earth.'

As you understand I couldn't wait till we got to our destination..

24th of July

We arrived at Singapore airport and we had 5 hours to do what we wanted.

We chose to go swimming at the swimming pool from a hotel on Terminal 1.

It was so so hot outside and we were pretty tired already, but a nice dive can help a lot.

After that we showered, and felt all fresh again to start another 7,5 hour flight to Sydney.

25th of July

At 6 in the morning (Australian time) we arrived at Sydney Airport.

Since we kind of skipped two nights we had no idea of time anymore but it didn't matter at all

because we were SO excited to see the city and see our hotel.

The time difference between Holland and Sydney is 8 hours by the way, it is 8 hours later over here.

The hotel is lovely and it is located in the middle of the centre which is awesome!

We walked around Darling Harbour and because it was so early still, there were almost no people on the streets. 

The atmosphere was so calm and relaxed, we immediately loved it!

Then we walked through the City part, with all the business people.

So gorgeous, and so New-York like!

That same day we also went to Paddington, a very bohemian quarter with lots of vintage shops. I bought some really nice boots :)

We ended up at one of Australia's best restaurants, Benthleys.

Delicious food and drinks.

26th of July

This day we slept till 10.30 because we were so tired.

We had the most amazing breakfast ever at our hotel and afterwards we went to the Opera House.

We did a tour through the Opera House, it was so interesting and inspiring!

The building is so beautiful and so impressive.

We had lunch in front of it. 

Best spot ever.

After our tour we went to The Rocks and we walked over the Sydney Harbour bridge (fun fact: locals like to call it 'The Coathanger').

The view was breathtaking.

-Especially for my dad with his vertigo.-

The Rocks is another super cute area with lots and lots of nice restaurants.

We popped into a pub for a drink, again, the atmosphere was amazing!

This evening we had dinner at Darling Harbour.

So many young people enjoying their night out!

As you can hear, we have already fallen in love with Sydney..

Our amazingly funny tour guide.

Love,

Isabelle

All photos by Isabelle Verhaegh