Sydney Summary

For our final day in Sydney we went and did something we've wanted to do since we were in Surfers Paradise, we saw a live AFL game! Zahra kindly got us some tickets to watch the Sydney Swans (our new team to follow) vs the Western Bulldogs at the Sydney Cricket Ground. We met up at about midday at Central Station and all went together to the ground. We got to our seats about 5 seconds after the first bounce (we're pros now, know all the technical terms!!) so pretty good timing. The sun was out, the footy was in full flow and there were 29,000 people all enjoying it along with us making for a great afternoon. The Swans were playing pretty poorly, missing lots of chances and seemed to have completely lost any will to win by the third quarter. In the final quarter, however, after a lucky goal their heads came up and they realised they were still in with a chance. This made the final few minutes really exciting and fast paced, with the Swans only needing 2 goals in 4 minutes to tie it up. Unfortunately, due to all the Swans players being in attack, as soon as they lost possession there was no defence at all. The Bulldogs scored and easy goal in the dying minutes to seal up a 112-97 victory. Even though our new team lost we had a great time and watching AFL live is definitely better than on TV. The pitch is so big (cricket oval size) that on TV you can't really get the gist of the game as you can't see the options or who they're kicking to.

So, our time in Sydney is up, what did we think of it? We both absolutely loved it. I'm glad we stayed for a month too as we got to do all the touristy things we wanted to but also got to do the family thing too. If we were only in Sydney for a week or two we wouldn't have been able to go out into the suburbs as much or explore as freely as we've been able to.

Sydney is a really massive city and not just in Australian terms but in comparison to other cities across the world. It is also made of so many different areas and none would survive without the others. The CBD (Central Business District) is obviously the main hub where all the shops are and where the most famous landmarks are. This is also where most people work. If you were in Sydney for just a short while it would be in the CBD that you would probably spend most of your time. The outskirts and the suburbs, however, are just as great to spend time in, if you have a chance. Newtown is a prime example, so different from what we had found in central Sydney but it was still a part of the city, part of what makes Sydney unique. The other thing that makes Sydney so special is the beaches. There are so many beaches and all offering different things. There are beaches within the harbour offering swimming and sailing and then there are those on the ocean coast offering great surfing. We only managed to go to the most famous beaches like Manly and Bondi but there were so many more great ones that we drove past within only a few hundred metres of the really famous ones. We were in Sydney for a month and still only scraped the surface of what was out there.

So, a few of our 'favourites' from Sydney.

Favourite Experience: BridgeClimb. Absolutely amazing, being on top of one of the most recognisable structures in Sydney. Fabulous weather, great sunset and a great view of Blue Mountains one way and ocean the other.

Favourite Snack Place: Circular Quay, Wharf 5 Cafe. Muesli and Yoghurt......amazing!

Favourite Lunchtime Restaurant: Guzman y Gomez, Newtown. Best Mexican ever, and cheap too! Alternatively, The Elephant Boy Cafe in Bowral (Blue Mountains) for the best pies ever!

Favourite Restaurant: Aria. Best restaurant I've ever eaten in, best food I've ever eaten!

Favourite View: On any ferry going East from Circular Quay when the sun is just going down, you can see the bridge and the opera house, nice!

Favourite Beach: Manly, not as busy as Bondi but still amazing, great waves too.

Favourite Drinking Hole: "The Fortune of War", the Rocks. A real pub with live music all weekend evening.

Biggest Surprise: The Opera House was a lot smaller than I expected when I first saw it, it wasn't as bright white as I had expected (probably to do with all the bloody cloud!) and it's actually 3 buildings, not just 1!

All in all, we had a great time in Sydney and a month was only just enough to do everything we wanted, wouldn't have experienced it quite as well if we had stayed any less!