Sydney Proper

Every once in a while, whether travelling or at home, a city can give you one of those magical nights that makes you fall utterly in love with it.  Sydney gave us her best on Thursday night…although she did have some help from the meticulous planning of Kim.

Back in town after a week gone for work, Nick, Martin and I hopped the ferry to Sydney to meet up with Kim for drinks and dinner.  Arriving at Circular Quay, we found Kim and headed over to the Opera Bar for pre-dinner drinks.   We found the place bustling (either due to a show that evening or just the great weather) and the energy of the crowd was a nice compliment to the lights of the city shimmering on the bay´s waters. As the sky grew darker, the lights of the bridge, opera house and skyline took over and just when we thought it couldn´t get any prettier, an impromptu firework show began over the Botanical Gardens (Kim really outdid herself in planning the evening!)

With an 8:30 reservation, we wrapped up our drinks and headed over to the historic Customs House for a dinner at Café Sydney, whose 5^th story floor to ceiling windows provided the same picturesque views of the Harbor and Opera House. 

Dinner, along with the conversation, flew flawlessly by: from the martinis, beef tartar starter and prawns and goat cheese raviolis, to the bottle of Australian red, strawberry sorbet and grappa.  We caught up like old times and as if we had last seen each other only a few months ago rather than a year and a half.  We laughed throughout each course and as the nearby tables came and went we were reminded as to why we loved Zurich so much…because of our friends.

It was absolutely perfect…and even the slight scuffle for the bill couldn´t deter the fun.   

A Ponyride and Bushwalk

So we didn´t quite ride a pony, but we were treated to a 2 hour tour in a fully restored 1967 convertible mustang… a true treat given that every piece was scavenged and shipped over from the US and significant time and sweat was required to not only restore the car, but also switch over the driver side to the right.  It was a labor of love and Ross´s, Kim´s dad, favorite hobby.

With clear skies and a fresh breeze, Ross picked us up for a spin in the car before dropping us off for our planned hike.  A quick spin turned into an informative and entertaining 2 hour tour of Manly and surrounding headlands.

 

The view from the Manly Bluffs

 

Smiling from all of the fun facts, Ross said good-bye to us at the Spit, where we were to begin the 12 km walk back to Manly along the Manly Scenic Walkway.

The trail hugged the bay´s shore, winding through the jungle and bush and dropped us off at the Manly Wharf.  Far removed from civilization (at least in feeling) it felt more like we were on a deserted island rather than just outside of Sydney.  The only problem with being that remote however was the abundance of wildlife, including my favorite spiders (the Huntsman) and large lizards.  I spent the first 3km alternating between looking up for spiders and down for lizards.  I eventually had Martin lead the way which helped somewhat, except when he would stop to take photos of plants and flowers… which was more often than one would imagine!

Martin leading the way

A Huntsman spider...only slightly enlarged 

We thankfully made it back to town safely, with just enough time for a shower before heading to Sydney for a send-off dinner with Kim and Nick.

A Beach Day and Dinner with the Griswolds

Wednesday was spent at Palm Beach with Kim and Grace, where Grace proudly wore all of her safety gear including wet suit, water wings, back floatie and extra-large hat and Martin tested out his boogey boarding skills.  It was entertaining to watch them both play in the water.

Famished from all of the activity (or at least watching the activity) we popped over to the Boat House for lunch where we were surrounded by Brits looking for Summerland (the name of Palm Beach, as portrayed in Australia´s biggest soap opera Home and Away).  Unfortunately our people watching and related lunch were cut slightly short due to the rain (I could have spent all afternoon on their pier), and we left before any high rollers from Sydney arrived in the sea plane for a $600 burger. 

With Grace (and maybe me) needing a nap, we headed home in the early afternoon and had only a few moments to mentally prepare for an early dinner with Kim´s parents, the original Griswolds.   Always entertaining, I knew we were in for a good night!

Within seconds of arriving, Linda, Kim’s mom, remarked “oh Damn! Your American accent is back and worse than ever!”  And before I could even respond, it was followed up with a request to see my engagement ring.  I figured she was just giving Martin a hard time (as she has done in the past) but after 10 minutes of not letting it go, we realized she was thinking of some of Kim´s other friends.   We immediately poured a stiff round of drinks to recover and the night had officially begun.

The last time I had been to Australia was for Kim and Nick´s wedding so I had attributed the chaos of the house and family to the flurry of preparation…I now realize it wasn´t all due to the big event.   While the meat was grilled, stories were shared of the “counsel clean-up” (aka the Griswolds nabbing stuff off the sidewalk originally set-out for the dumps/goodwill – apparently a common practice, at least for the Griswolds, and thankfully one Kim gave us a heads up on), Ross´s travels and Linda´s well thought out, and highly evolved mental torture of her older sister and cousins (only echoed by Trish´s stories of harassing Kim growing up)…the CIA could learn a thing or two. 

With the house so full of energy and love (and maybe a dash of crazy), we couldn´t help but enjoy the company and food. It was a perfect night and so great to catch up with them. Invitations may or may not have been extended to stay at our house in San Francisco, and I only hope they give us at least 2 week´s notice before showing up.

Beware of Flying Foxes

After 2 tours through Sydney on previous vacations, I wondered what was in store this time around with Martin.  Would it be the same old 3 hour obligatory tour, or would we discover some hidden gems and feel more like a local.  I am not sure about feeling like a local (the sunburned didn´t help there), but there were quite a few new places to see and things to do that never made it on my radar before.

As we were staying in Manly for the week, Martin was able to have the best introduction to the city possible - a view from the water on the Manly ferry.  And while the views checked both the Opera House and Harbor Bridge boxes, we decided for a more up close and personal look at the famed waving arches of the Opera House before embarking on new territory – the Botanical Gardens.

 The view from the Ferry!

 Martin taking it all in

The Botanical Gardens are a local highlight, with over 150 acres of gardens and pathways along the bay.  However, they are most famously known for their flying foxes... Still not positive what flying foxes were, we completed our walk from the Opera House, along the water´s edge and headed into the middle of the park.  There, we were greeted by a wall of noise, ranging from the innocent birds to the aggressive insects, all working in harmony to make us feel like we were in the middle of the bush and/or Congo.  And upon further inspection and glance to the sky we were alarmed to notice that the most aggressive noises were coming from a large colony of bats hanging in the trees and flying overhead. ..we had found the flying foxes.  A large species of the fruit bat, these guys can weigh up to 2 lbs and have a wing span of over 3 feet.  And they are in such abundance in the gardens that the city tried, unsuccessfully, to get rid of them back in 2011.

Slightly creepy, and incredibly large, these soaring mammals got a little too close for comfort, so we quickly wrapped up the tour of the gardens and made our way over to the more civilized Rocks for lunch before making the trek to Darling Harbor.  We of course managed to pass a park along the way with at least 50+ people working out on their lunch breaks, making us feel even more guilty about the meat pies we had just devoured.  Nothing like a cold beer on Darling Harbor to ease the pain J

Our tour of Sydney ended with a stroll through the retail district, stopping only to gaze at the pretty things in the windows of Prada, Gucci, and Tiffany.  Why this never made it to the previous sight-seeing list, I will never know.