Sydney: Part 1

Since we spent a few days in Sydney both before and after the cruise I am going to break it up into 2 parts. I will wait until after I write about New Zealand to do part 2 that way everything is in order.

So we got into Sydney around lunch time on Wednesday, the 20th. We bought shuttle tickets and then went to eat lunch at McDonald's. Grace learned the goodness of french fries! Now if she even sees them she will not eat anything else (unless, of course, it is ice cream!). It was also Grace's very first taste of fast food. We ate quite a bit of fast food when we were in port and while travelling just because it is fast and cheap. Plus, we were eating fancy dinners every single night on the ship.

After lunch we took the shuttle to our hotel and checked in. Grace took a nap while we showered and got ready to go our for dinner. We walked around Hyde Park which was right across from our hotel then went on to explore the shopping district.

{Grace loves to SHOP!}

This next picture is of the Queen Victoria Building. It was a huge mall and then went underground and into another mall. Once you got to the lower floors it was a huge maze since it was so big. The stores were all very fancy and way expensive which is totally not my type of place!

After a bit of shopping we were hungry. We asked about some restaurants since nothing in the food court of the mall looked any good to us and ended up walking to Darling Harbor. We wanted pizza but couldn't find any where we could actually sit and eat it and we did not want to carry our food around looking for a place to eat. So we ended up eating at a pancake restaurant which was very good. I think if it was closer to where we stayed after the cruise we would have gone back. Then we went back to the hotel and let Grace go swimming for a little while. The pool was a little too cold for her but she enjoyed the hot tub which was just a little warmer than her bath.

The next day we packed up our bags again so we could head to the ship. We ended up putting our 2 small suitcases inside the bigger suitcases so it would actually all fit in a taxi. The taxi driver pulled up right outside the ship and there were guys who took our luggage so all we were left with has the stroller, diaper bag, camera, and computer. We decided we would just explore the Rocks area of Sydney before we got on the ship.

{in front of our ship and the Opera House}

We were walking around when I spotted a convenience store with internet. I decided I would check into it since I knew that our family would be thrilled to know we made it to Sydney alright. While I was calling family Dustin was going to walk around with Grace since she was so tired and could sleep in her stroller.

This is what I saw when I came out to find them!

{Grace loves playing in water and they found a little fountain}

It was about lunch time so we were off to find something to eat. We decided on Hungry Jacks.
Take a look and see what you think this place is!

{Burger King}

They even have a whopper on the menu! Grace ended up falling asleep so we walked back to the ship where there were some shade trees and park benches to eat our lunch then Dustin went back to find something for Grace to eat when she woke up.

{crowds of people waiting to board the ship}

{Aboriginal that played loud, spooky music}

We still had lots of time left in the day so while Dustin was looking for Grace lunch and she was sleeping I pulled out all of the tourist books we had picked up. We decided to go to Observatory Hill and the Observatory Museum. The view from the top of the hill was spectacular!

{Grace was still sleeping so she got left out}

Grace woke up while we were still on the hill so we decided to have a picnic!

{she was enjoying all of the grass}

And then she got to run around some which is one of her favorite things to do.

{Dustin did quite a bit of chasing after Grace the entire time we were gone}

{still running around}


Then we went into the museum, which was free! It was all about stars and planets and telescopes. We were too late for all of the shows so we just looked around a bit. It was pretty fascinating but very small so we didn't spend a lot of time inside.

{in front of the museum}

Then we walked to the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We had to walk down several flights of stairs to cross under it to get to the side where we were allowed to walk. Then back up even more flights of stairs. All while carrying the stroller. We walked to the lookout point on the bridge which had an amazing view of the harbor!

{Opera House from bridge lookout point}

Then we headed back to the ship and this time we checked in! We got on the ship and found our room and all of our luggage was inside waiting for us. So we unpacked as much as we could and then headed to dinner.

The next day was a port day in Sydney so we decided to stay on the ship until after the Fisher Price playgroup was over and then we went to the Opera House. We had already done quite a bit of exploring by this time so we took it easy that day since we had 3 days in Sydney still after the cruise.

{ Here is a picture of our ship from outside the Opera House}

{The pillar on the left of this picture is where we walked to the day before. Now I can see that we didn't even go over the water!}

{this was taken from our ship}

Whew! That was a lot. I think next will be life on the ship (since we had 2 sea days before we made it to NZ).