Sydney Is So Pretty this Time of Year

For the first 3 days in Australia we played tourist, Sydney turned on the charm and the weather as we checked out the sites the kids were interested in.We didn’t venture too far but they had a great time. Planting ourselves in Darling Harbour was a great idea, close to countless restaurants and sites and the museums and Sydney Harbour was well worth it. We snagged an apartment, I didn’t mean to when booking but it was great and with no one having to share a bed they were happy little campers.
Jetlag  kicked our ass a bit with the kids crashing the first day at 5pm and me being the big stay up girl until 6:30, day two woke us at 3 am but I managed an extra couple of hours snooze, Miss Gremlin was struggling by the time afternoon arrived but was a trooper, fueled with solo and vitamin waters. We traversed all manner of vessels along the wharf at the harbour where the maritime museum is housed, tall ships, scuttles and submarines, the latter both still in commission, they are run by volunteers and the passion that these older gentlemen have for sharing the stories is wonderful, old retired guys sharing their love of these vessels to the younger generation and overseas visitors is wonderful to see, it made me nostalgic though, imagining my dad enjoying doing something like this had he gotten that chance.

The tall ship Endeavour, which James cook captained to new holland in 1770 claiming it for Britain was a highlight, I was on the same ship in 1990 when they were building it, of course it’s a replica with the original being sunk off the coast on Plymouth UK in 1790 ish. The kids were fascinated by ship life and they learned the true meaning of the term ‘letting the cat out of the bag’…all about the cat of nine tails whip.
The museum itself was interesting but being as I’m not a mega museum fan we were happy to see the big things and scoot, actually feeling like we got our value on the boats anyway. And the beer can boat, seeing that restored my faith in Aussies!

After a quick room rest for Miss Gremlin’s benefit we headed over in the harbour ferry to circular quay, sailing under the Harbour Bridge, which we didn’t climb this time because Miss Gremlin was frightened and I didn’t want to force her, we sailed past the opera house which we explored the next day before heading on the big ferry over to manly for some beach time and a BBQ with some old school buddies.

Then we headed south in the train to family and the farm, where the kids got to make their “city” in the dirt pile which they had been busy drawing blueprints for, for weeks before we left.