The Traveling Martens

Sunday in Sydney

We got up early Sunday morning, because we had planned to go on a "Wobbly Wine Tour", riding bikes through Australia's Hunter wine valley, about two hours from here. However, the bike leader was injured, so we decided to skip the regular bus tour, so we could enjoy the beautiful day here ourselves. One funny thing about waking up at 6:30 a.m. was that we got to see people still coming out of and going into the dance clubs here! A couple of streets in Kings Cross are similar to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, littered with the previous night's rubbish and full of people just heading home (some of them in police paddy wagons). Within a few hours though, the streets department had the whole area spotless again.

We ate breakfast, and headed to the annual Sydney Mum's Day run through the Botanical Gardens along the harbour near downtown. Had we known the bike tour was off, we would have run in the race ourselves. There were thousands of runners and entry was closed, but we had actually met the race organizers on our flight to Sydney from Singapore, and they said they could have gotten us in. Instead, we cheered the runners along and enjoyed the beautiful views as we walked along the side of the race path.

From there, we boarded a ferry next to the Opera House and took a narrated harbour cruise to Watson's Bay. The whole of Sydney Harbour is known as Jackson's Bay and there are miles of waterfront land, since the harbour's uneven edges create lots of little coves and bays. And since the area is also very hilly, we've been amazed at how many neighborhoods on these hills along the water have wonderful views of the Bay. Watson's Bay is one of the best, it is the bay on the southern piece of land that forms the mouth of the harbour opening to the ocean. The side facing back towards Sydney's downtown has a little beach and a couple of seafood restaurants surrounded by beautiful homes. Being Mother's Day, the cafes and parks here were full of families enjoying the sunny day. Just a few minutes walk uphill from the beach, we crossed to the side of the peninsula which faces the ocean. This side has rocky cliffs which look down at the ocean twenty stories below. And then looking back towards the little bay below, and downtown behind us, we got probably the best view of Sydney from anywhere around. We got a "take away" bottle of wine and crackers from a pub near the pier below us, and just sat on the rocks high up on the cliff for a couple of hours. A hundred or so tiny sailboats with colorful sails raced back and forth across the bay. We could see the opera house and Sydney bridge in the distance, with the numerous other hills, coves, and the blue water in between.

Back in Kings Cross for the evening, we met a fun local couple over a few drinks at a ritzy open-air lounge overlooking the street. Then an awesome dinner at a tiny Thai place nearby (more of just a little booth with stools, but the food was great). Put us right to sleep....

posted by Mel and Stacy Marten @ 8:11 PM