I initially fell in love with Australia 10 years ago when I studied abroad and I never thought I would have the opportunity to return. Not only did I have the chance to return to Australia, but we got the opportunity to celebrate our one year anniversary in Sydney.. totally amazing and unforgettable. In typical McBee fashion we got off to a bit of a rough start when our typical 30 minute drive to the airport turned into 2 hours thanks to probably the worst traffic that Singapore has ever had seen. Sadly we missed our flight, but Nate being the seasoned traveler already rebooked us on a new flight while we were stuck in the taxi. 2 hours after our intended departure time we were off to Adelaide. It was a red eye flight and I have a complete inability to sleep on planes so caught up on a few movies. Once in the Adelaide airport we were super excited to find they have actual diet coke! Diet Coke doesn't exist in Singapore so clearly I had to have it! Just as delicious as I remembered..
After a brief stop in Adelaide we boarded our final flight over to Sydney. A bit tired from our journey we checked into the Marriott and headed up to our room where we were greeted by the amazing sights of Sydney
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| View from our hotel room |
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View from the Lounge Balcony
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We were more tired then we realized and opted to sleep rather then head out for dinner. We woke fully refreshed the next day and headed out to Bondi Beach. It was surprisingly cold and windy at Bondi Beach. Thank goodness I didn't sign us up for surf lessons as that would have been incredibly chilly. Instead we did the cliff walk, which ended up being more gorgeous then we had anticipated. It was about a 6 mile walk in total. At the end of our walk we found a pizza place and indulged in some pizza and potato wedges. They don't use ketchup in Australia as they prefer sweet chili sauce so I figured I would stick with the culture and try out their sweet chili sauce.
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| Bondi Beach! |
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| Start of the cliff Walk |
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It looked like it was going to rain all day
thankfully the rain held off |
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Awesome Pool!
You can swim with the waves crashing in |
Time for the bridge climb! Although the weather wasn't so great earlier in the day thankfully the clouds left for our twilight climb. We got suited up and headed out for the climb. The climb took longer then we expected as we got stuck behind a very slow group. Thankfully you can't beat the views even though it was a tad chilly. We had the 3:45 time slot for the climb and didn't get off the bridge until 7 pm. Famished we headed out to grab some dinner. We stumbled across a restaurant right near the Opera House. I had the most delicious meal of crab meat and shrimp in pasta. Nate opted for some fish and chips.
After an adventure filled weekend in Sydney it was off to Canberra. Nate had to go to Canberra for work and I figured I would tag along. We met up with Nate's co-workers and headed by van to Canberra. Matt handled the driving as we all watched rather entertained as he did his best to navigate on the left hand side of the road. We did make a few stops along the way the first was to a place that was supposed to have the best pies in Australia. The store was located in a little town that reminded me a lot of Exton. We pulled in and as we walked into the place I realized the pies were meat pies.. not exactly what I had in mind. I opted for a croissant instead.
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| Little place where we got the pies |
On the remaining portion of our 3 hour drive we made two additional stops. One to see the largest sheep in Australia and an olive grove. I also took some pics while we were driving and we happened to see some Kangaroos!
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| Largest Sheep in Australia! |
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| In front of the sheep |
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| The Guys |
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Nate thinking he can make a
pretty good profit on all that fu |
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| Guys at the Olive Grove |
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| Pic of the olive grove |
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| Pic while driving |
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| Kangaroos! |
After the drive was complete we checked into the Breakfree Capital Tower hotel. This was the strangest hotel. We actually received a key for our room. I don't remember the last time that I have used an actual key in a hotel. The rooms were miniature apartments and I think might have actually been larger then our actual apartment. Sadly the hotel did not have internet which was a tad odd. There was a coffee shop across the way with a very distinct and creepy statue that offered free internet service so at least there was a way to log on to email.
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| Creepy statue man |
After doing a quick internet stop to check emails we decided to venture out and check out what Canberra had to offer. Our first stop was the little food store across from the hotel where we were shocked to find a 6 pack of diet coke costs $12. Canberra is unlike any city I have been to in Australia. It is mostly made up of government building so it gives off more of a cold feeling. There is a complete lack of public transportation so you either have to go on foot or take a pricey cab ride. Besides for government buildings there was an abundant amount of restaurants, but not much else. The city feels almost desolate at night as there is very limited housing in the city and well I am not sure where all the people go. We returned back to the hotel and met up with the coworkers for dinner. Since none of us knew where to go we opted for the hotel located directly behind ours. I thought I would be adventurous and order the snapper. It arrived with head, tail, and all the bones. The fish was good but it's a bit unappetizing to be staring at the head of the fish while eating it. Nate played it a bit more safety with pasta. After dinner it was off to bed as the guys had a big day of meetings. I have a new found appreciation for Nate's work trips he is definitely non stop the whole time.
Day 2 in Canberra and the guys are off to their meetings and I am left with a day of exploring. It is a strange feeling to be in a different country without the ability to make a call or access the internet. I always considered myself a very independent person, but the thought that I can't even make a phone call freaks me out a bit. Thankfully I found out that google maps still works even without wi fi. Figuring that I couldn't get too lost I headed out to the Australian Botanical Gardens. After exploring the city the night before I was amazed to find all the beauty that surrounds Canberra. Here are a few pics....
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| Lake Griffin |
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| You can just see the Telecom Tower on the Black mtn. |
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| I actually took this one from our hotel room w |
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| Birds doing some sun bathing |
I successfully made it to the gardens, even though I took a completely out of the way route, but it was pretty since I was right next to Lake Griffin. I did some strolling through the botanical gardens and stumbled across this cool rainforest trail.
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| Success! I navigated to the gardens |
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| Rainforest path |
Next up I saw a separate hiking trail to go to the Telecom Tower at the top of Black Mountain. Per the sign the path takes 40 minutes. It didn't sound like a big deal to me so I started my hike. It definitely turned out to be an intense hike and I had to stop twice to catch my breath. My legs hurt for a good two days after. Thankfully the view from the tower was worth the pain.
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| Telecom Tower! |
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| View from the top |
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| Another look |
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Proof that I made it!
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The hike down was much easier although I tried to take it slow so I didn't accidentally twist my ankle. To get back to the hotel took about an hour and a half as I again took the extra long route by accident. Later that night we went to dinner with Nate's work partners in Australia. They took us to an Asian restaurant :)
Wednesday it rained, which was probably good since my legs needed a day off from my explorations. I instead went to find the Canberra Center, which was supposed to have a Target. I was pleasantly surprised to find the Canberra Center was quite large and filled with a variety of stores. I checked out a few of the stores then stopped at a coffee place to use some wifi. That afternoon Nate's Australian Partners took us over to the parliament building..
Later that night Nate had to go to a business dinner. I decided to head back out to the Canberra Center and grab some stuff from one of the supermarkets for dinner. Our hotel room had a microwave and I found some microwave popcorn in the supermarket.. yum popcorn! Ah how I miss a microwave.
The last day in Canberra turned out to be gorgeous so it was back to exploring. I headed out to the Australian war museum. The museum was packed with little school children running all over the place so I spent as much time as I could handle.
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As I turned onto the street
up to the museum |
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| One of the cool monuments along the street |
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| Not sure what happened with this one |
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| Me on the street |
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Can you see me?
Those statues were huge |
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| Australian War Museum |
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| Looking out at the Parliament Building |
Friday morning we woke up super early to catch our 6:00 am flights. Nate and crew were headed to Adelaide for more meetings and since we were flying out of Sydney on Saturday I caught a flight back to Sydney so I could spend Friday there and then Nate flew into Sydney later that night. Poor Nate had to do so much flying and didn't get to enjoy any time in Sydney on Friday! I arrived in Sydney at 7:10 am and caught the train over to the hotel. We had used the train a bit the last time we were in Sydney so I figured it would be a breeze. The train portion was a breeze, but I had neglected to notice how many stairs there were in the park that I would need to walk through to get to the hotel. It was quite the workout! Once settled into the hotel I quickly showered to get the airplane gew off of me then it was out and about in Sydney. I trekked all over Sydney.. back down to the bridge, circular quay, the rocks, then over to darling harbor. I ended up stopping for lunch at McDonalds in Darling Harbour. I have never been a huge fan of McDonalds and always laughed at Nate for eating at McDonalds while traveling and not exploring the local cuisine. However now I fully understand why..there is just something comforting about going into a McDonalds and being able to order something that tastes exactly the same no matter where you are in the world and it's cheap! So one cheeseburger and fries later I was a happy girl. Nate didn't get into the hotel until close to nine at which point he was exhausted so we grabbed some food from the lounge and then headed to bed. I neglected to mention previously how fabulous the mattress was.. soft mattresses I will no longer take for granted.
Our final day in Australia and we headed to the airport to catch our 10 am flight from Sydney to Melbourne. From Melbourne we caught a flight over to Singapore, which I caught up on most all of the episodes of Homeland and watched a few movies. We landed in Singapore at 9:10 pm.
If you made it through that long blog post and are still awake.. here is a little video I put together. My video skills need a bit of work and you can def tell when Nate is doing vs me :)
Next up I saw a separate hiking trail to go to the Telecom Tower at the top of Black Mountain. Per the sign the path takes 40 minutes. It didn't sound like a big deal to me so I started my hike. It definitely turned out to be an intense hike and I had to stop twice to catch my breath. My legs hurt for a good two days after. Thankfully the view from the tower was worth the pain.
