Marcel and I like to be away for New Year’s eve, but we were never ON a plane when the year turned. So I was quite curious what would happen and when it would happen. As it turns out: Nothing happened, except a notification on the screen around 17:00 German time saying „Happy New Year“. And I even slept through that. So nobody made a fuss out of it.
Welcome to Sydney
We arrived after 20:00 in Sydney and where family Woods (Leanna, Paul and their son Hugo) picked us up from the airport. That was super nice and so we arrived quite quickly at their apartment. Our guest room was really beautiful and some gifts were waiting for us. How nice is that? Of course the little stuffed animals needed a name so Hugo helped us with that: „Rocky“ the koala and „Skippy“ the kangaroo.
Car tour: Coogee and Bondi Beach
On our first day, Paul took all of us on a car tour through Sydney. We started with Coogee Beach, where we went for a walk at the beach and tested the metal detector Hugo got from Santa last year. On the beach, it was quite misty which you can see in the picture and which really surprised Lee and Paul.
We were wondering, if there was a fire or something. Turned out, that it was sea fog and this was quite uncommon (only 1-2x a year) and made the news this day.
Coogee Beach
Watsons Bay
We then drove by Bondi Beach (which is quite terrible for parking) and then further to Watsons Bay, where we had lunch and went for a walk through Robertson Park.
Mammatus clouds at Watsons Bay
When we got back to the car, I noticed the rather funny looking clouds. This also made the news on this day. The clouds are called “Mammatus clouds”, are associated with severe weather or storm activity, and form their distinctive shape when cold air sinks below the cloud.
Our first walking tour
Hyde Park
We started the day quite slow and played „Kids know best“, before doing some travel orga stuff (buying an Australian SIM card). Paul helped us with checking the best Prepaid plan and it turned out that ALDImobile (yes – the very same ALDI) is on the Telstra network which has pretty good coverage also in rural areas. And even more: we can call to Germany for free. How awesome is that?
Rocky & Skippy at Royal Botanic Garden
We then went by bus into the city and walked through Hyde Park, the Royal Botanic Garden and to the Opera House. The weather was super nice and so we spontaneously decided to have our dinner at the Opera Kitchen – right next to the Opera House with a view of the Harbour Bridge.
Lee, Hugo, Paul, Marcel and I at Opera Kitchen
4 Comments. Leave new
Wow, what a super nice start of your travel! Interesting cloud formations, also. Looking forward to reading your upcoming posts. Hugs and take care!
Thank you, Gunilla! It was a fantastic week indeed! Hope you had a great start into the New Year as well! ?
It was an absolute pleasure to host you both for the first week of your 8-month vacation! Paul, Hugo and I had a magical time showing you our beautiful city. The highlights were watching the cruise ship leave the harbour while sipping wine at Opera Kitchen, walking the Sydney Harbour bridge in 38 degree heat and puzzling til 1am!! Safe and happy travelling in Tassie. See you in March ??
Oh wow… thank you so much, Lee! The last puzzle was really tricky. Did you finish it yet? Otherwise, we’ll help you when we come back ?