3rd Dec – Bridge Climb and the Rocks


We awoke to find a clear calm dawn! Our first day of sunshine for Sydney so we planned to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. After an early start we headed out and caught the bus into Sydney (50 min), since we had arrived early we found our way to the Rocks and a little cafe for a coffee and the boys shared a huge gluten free chocolate muffin. We were all supper excited, even though Bell and Chris had done the climb in 2011 we were still looking forward to it..... and it certainly didn’t disappoint. The view from the summit was amazing, just being up close to the bridge and gaining an insight to understand just what it took to build the largest single spanning bridge in the world. Being 1332 steps for the bridge climb alone...... it was going to be a busy day on our feet. Following the climb ( 3 1/2hrs) we decided to hit ‘The Glenmore Hotel’ straight across the road for lunch, from here we continued our adventure through ‘The Rocks’ exploring the beautiful old buildings and explaining to the boys the history of this part of Sydney, notorious as being a rough part of town. Another highlight was visiting ‘Sticky’, homemade candy store were you could watch them make all types of candy right before your eyes... and of course we had to get a souvenir. Then it was straignt across to the Opera House, from here you had a perfect view of Circular Quay, including a huge cruise ship which had docked some days prior. The boys mentioned the Opera House was not what they expected, it was sad they had erected steel fencing around the area to prevent you getting too close, that said we still managed some great photos. Continuing away from the Quay we walked through the Botanical Gardens, discovered a 100 year old Dragon Tree which had fallen over but which was still going strong. In need of a rest as our feet were killing us by now, we sat and watched the cruise ship leave the docks, it was a slow process but well worth the wait. The boys were keen to catch a train over the Harbour Bridge, so once we figured out how to navigate the platforms and maps  it was done.... there and back in 15 minutes!. By now it was 8pm and we had been in Sydney for 12 hours, so we caught a ferry back to Manly and had the best ever Thai meal at the Manley Jetty. With a 40 minute bus ride home we found it was 10pm by the time we got back to the camper, we had covered 21620 steps, or 13.5km, bed never looked so good. Sydney is a fantastic place with so much to see and do, it is fast paced and hectic, a great place to visit but not somewhere we could live.

















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