Brent goes to Sydney all the time for work, but usually just overnight trips in the middle of the week, so we never went with him. I decided I wasn’t leaving Australia until I got to see Sydney! Everyone always talks about how gorgeous the harbour is… so I wanted to see it, especially the Opera House. During Labour Day weekend (which is in March here), we took the long weekend to visit.

We were up bright and early on the 9am flight, so that meant that we were there, checked-in and ready to hit the sites by lunchtime. I was eager to be very touristy and was ready to see the Opera House in person. With seeing so many pictures of it all the time and always seeing the NYE firework shows around it, I wondered if it would be as amazing in person. And, judging by the number of pictures that I took of it, it must be! I think it would be hard to get tired of seeing it; sort of like the Eiffel Tour.

We were fortunate enough to get this fab view of it from our room.

We spent the afternoon exploring the harbour area. I didn’t just want to take pictures of the Opera House; I wanted the tour. So, we did the 1 hour guided tour. (I’m not sure why I was so obsessed! haha!) And, the kids were actually quite entertained by it- perhaps it was simply wearing headphones.

The history of the Opera House is very interesting so I’m really glad that we took the tour. You can read the history here. But the quick(er) version is that- Building the Opera House did not go according to plan. It was meant to cost $7 million to build and 4 years to complete… But there were two major problems. The harbour site wasn’t capable of holding the structure without massive supports in place and secondly, the Danish architect, Utzon, that won the design competition for the building, simply submitted sketches, so they still had to figure out how to make this unique structure actually stand, which took about 5 years to figure out. After lots of political turmoil and controversy, the government fired Utzon, and he promptly left Australia. He never saw the finished building. It finally opened 14 years after building started and cost $102 million to complete. Utzon did finally get involved again from afar in 1999 when renovations needed to be completed, and he received recognition for his  iconic building in 2007 when it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, just one year before he died.

After a long afternoon of walking, we had an early dinner and found the view as cool at night.

And, early risers get another good view. The kids clearly found an enjoyable spot to sit.

On Saturday morning, we were off to the Toranga Zoo. It’s just on the other side of the harbour so we took the ferry across. This is the view from the zoo, and the giraffes can see it best.

The chimps were really entertaining along with the meerkats waiting for their meal.

The tiger did a lot of pacing right by the window so I was able to snap this picture.

We enjoyed the seal show followed by the gorilla feeding.

This one managed to snatch all the stray carrots and kept a watchful eye out for the others.

After some back and forth, the silverback settled in for some food as well.

And, even this little one wanted in on the action and was sometimes getting a little too brave.

That afternoon, we took the ferry to Manly Beach which is on the northern coastline. I didn’t manage to get any good shots from there, but it was a beautiful area. We met one of Brent’s former colleagues there for some drinks so we were busy chatting with them for the afternoon.

On Sunday, we took the bus to Bondi Beach. It’s probably one of the most well known beaches in Australia. It’s also famous for its dangerous rip currents (perhaps you’ve seen the TV show Bondi Rescue). Well, it’s no joke there. Between boats, jet skis, and surfboards, the lifeguards were constantly in and out of the water helping people. 

We also got to check out the famous Bondi Icebergs ocean pool. Well, checked it out from the distance. Ocean pools are quite popular in this area-built into the cliff side, they allow swimmers to avoid the dangerous currents and sea life of the actual sea.

On our final morning, I got up early and walked the Harbour bridge and was able to catch sunrise. We just spent the rest of the morning walking around the botanical gardens before catching our flight back.

There we have it- bucket list check. The kids were so exhausted that they fell asleep at 5pm on the car ride home and slept through till the next morning.

Next up, we are celebrating Greyson’s 4th birthday and the arrival of Brent’s parents for their visit. We are going to head to Western Australia to the coast and a really good wine region with them. So, more on that soon!