Term 2 School Holidays Part 1

Sydney

We took our first plane trip since arriving in Australia 6 months ago to Sydney. It was a tough decision on what to do after our last holiday break, and looking at the costs of flying to Queensland and Darwin, Sydney was by far the cheaper choice. The prices for domestic tickets in Australia are much, much cheaper than flying domestic across Canada, but still with 4 tickets needing to be purchased, the costs can add up. We went with the cheapest and least reputable airline, Tigerair, but had no issues other than a delay of 30 minutes on the way home. Ticket prices were extremely reasonable and we paid less than $600 for all four of us to fly.

A really good app that I've been using to time when ticket prices will go down is the Hopper app, and it has saved me thousands of dollars, and is a free app to boot!

We got some help this time around from some former exchangees.We got a ride to the airport from Pauline Annear and some Opal cards (transit passes) for the family from Brad and Libby Edwards. Since we were trying to do everything on the cheap, we didn't rent a car and were going to use the transit system which I had heard Sydney does quite well. Unfortunately, I had researched that Sydney airport charges very high fees to take the train directly from the airport, so I thought it would be a bright idea to walk the 20 minutes to the closest train station to save the $10 extra/person much to the chagrin of my wife and kids.

Double-decker trains and buses

Day 1
We were going to North Sydney to our first Airbnb in Collaroy and everything was going as planned. We had discovered the B-line bus system which seems to come every couple of minutes. I made a quick decision and decided we should get off at Dee Why as my Opal app suggested. I realized my mistake immediately and got the family back on the next bus.

We arrived in Collaroy and when we got off the bus, I asked Jenny if she had the camera bag. My wife was less than impressed with the suggestion that she had lost the camera bag, and we spent several minutes arguing about where the bag was and who had it last. My kids confirmed that I was the one responsible for the camera bag. We got back on the bus to Dee Why and found that we didn't leave it at the bus stop there. Panicking, I realized that not only was our nice DSLR camera gone, but I had also hastily put my keys (car keys, house keys, school keys) into the camera bag during the security screening at the airport.

After much annoyance and panicked conversations, I phoned Sydney transit and they gave me a number for the end of they line in Mona Vale for lost property. I decided that we would find out tomorrow whether anyone had turned it in.

Wife is not pleased with me.

When we got to Collaroy, we needed to scale a really steep hill for about 20 minutes to get to the house. I thought it was worth it for the view. The Collaroy plateau and beach were easily one of the best looking places we've stayed and are highly recommended. We ordered pizza from Mimmos and called it a night.

Day 2 
 
Waking up early, I phoned down to the Mona Vale bus depot and asked if anyone had turned in our Nikon D3300 and sure enough someone had along with the bag and keys.

The place that we were staying at had everything we could want and more. We had lots of cereal, bread, milk, fruit and TimTams all supplied for us. After heading down and picking up the camera we made our way down the B-Line to Wynyard station and set off for the most recognizable landmark in Australia, the Sydney Opera House.

It was very cool to see in person, but it wasn't as interesting on the inside. They inside reminded me of the 70s aesthetic of the University of Calgary with cement beams on the roof and wood paneling on the walls. Every shot I took of it on the outside, however was amazing, and my camera roll is full of Sydney Opera House shots.

We walked around the area and had lunch at the harbourside aptly named Opera kitchen.

 The rest of the day we walked around sight-seeing around the beautiful Sydney harbour and Circular Quay (pronounced key).

Artist Sun Xun

The Rocks

We stopped in at the museum of contemporary art and looked at the art of Chinese artist Sun Xun. It was very unique and our kids were actually interested in some of the 3D stuff on display. We then made our way to "The Rocks" thinking that there were going to be actual rocks, but we took part in a bit of French culture with the Bastille Day markets that were going on. Jenny and I had some mulled wine and listened to all the French accents which reminded me of our trip to Strasbourg, France.

All in all I put in close to 19000 steps and we were tired and hungry when we got home.

Day 3

Our Airbnb hosts were amazing and gave us two guest passes to the Taronga zoo. Henry and Miles love zoos and it was all that Henry wanted to do since Day 1 and part of the reason he didn't smile in most of the pictures. The Taronga zoo has a fantastic view of the city and has a gondola that runs through the park that really has amazing views (the animals were great too).

Orb Weaving Spider

Sydney Funnel Web Spider

Platypus (by the waterfall)

After the Taronga zoo, we headed back to our place in Collaroy for the last night. We were sad to leave as our stay had been amazing despite some hiccups at the beginning. We moved to another Airbnb in Allambie Heights near Manly next.

Collaroy Beach

To be continued in part 2...