locomotion/ June 8, 2018/

Australia Part 1: New South Wales

I’m starting my travel diary in New South Wales but we crisscrossed the coasts of Australia in no particular order. We departed Phoenix at 4PM and landed in Sydney at 7:30AM after a 14-hour overnight flight. This should have made jet lag easy as we were essentially flying when we would have been sleeping. We flew on a brand new plane and of course they are packing more seats into the size space to make more money. So that idea of sleeping on the plane just became really cramped and uncomfortable. The flight was not full so Jersey ended up moving to another row so we wouldn’t be so crowded. I hated that.

After a good shower we powered through the first day the best we could. Our hotel was pretty close to the Sydney Harbor so we took an Uber over to a place called the Circular Quay to check it out. Of course it was busy and beautiful with cruise ships, tourists and views of the opera house and harbor bridge. One observation during our stay in Sydney was we never saw any police in the tourist areas which is really expected when we travel. We also heard no sirens. Sydney is at the top of the safest cities in the world list. So it makes sense I suppose.

After a couple beers and people watching we took another uber over to the Botanical Gardens which supplied even more beautiful views of the harbor. The gardens were lush and it was where we were first introduced to the Australian White Ibis bird. It’s a fancy pigeon with a long beak. While we were having lunch in the gardens it came over to our table to devour a piece of cheese we dropped just like a pigeon. We saw these birds all over the city.

Let your bank and credit card companies know you are traveling abroad. You don’t want to deal with fraud alerts and pay for phone calls while you are traveling. We always get the local currency for our destination in the U.S. airport before we leave so we have cash to pay for a cab or whatever when we land.

I’m not ashamed to tell you that we ended up in bed by 3PM that day and slept through the night. A good quiet We did wake up pretty early . . . like 5AM early. Vacation is meant for sleeping in and resting after all. So we made a plan and headed over to Bondi Beach arriving around 7AM. There was literally a couple dozen people there which is unbelievable. Bondi Beach is always packed! We enjoyed a nice healthy breakfast on the boardwalk then headed to down to the nice soft sand and laid around for awhile. It was the perfect cure for jet lag.

The art along the board walk is something to admire and observe. The talent and the light and fun approach to the art made the beach feel so welcoming. We spent time shopping here and really just hanging out.

We left Bondi to head back to the hotel so we could jump on a ferry over to Manley Beach. The ferry was packed and so were the hippi-esque streets of Manley. It was really windy that day so laying on the beach wasn’t super relaxing with sand blowing in our face. But the water was crystal clear and the beach had an easy vibe. The boardwalk had tons of bars and restaurants right there making it easy to want to hang out for the day.

We turned in pretty early that night. We had a day trip planned to the Blue Mountains the next day which was about a 2 hour drive. Our first stop was Scenic World, a park of sorts that had creative ways to see monuments like the Three Sisters. The park has the steepest incline train in the world. I thought how cool but the ride itself is not even 2 minutes but the views made it worth it.

Carry Dramamine everywhere. You never know when motion sickness will set in. We were driving on the right hand side of the road and I was riding in the passenger seat on the right side and it is a bit weird. This alone made my stomach a bit woozy. But then there are boats, ferries, small planes, helicopters, you name it. I take a pill for all these reasons. Better safe then with sea sickness – it doesn’t go away.

We then headed to check out the Blue Mountain wineries through winding roads inside a lush forest. The wineries were real small businesses. Magalong Creeek Estate was the first one we stopped at where we had free wine tastings. When we arrived we chatted with the owner and she said her dad was in the shipping industry. Jersey then realized the wine tasting venue was a shipping container, a detail I would have never noticed. I did however notice the gorgeous wallpaper and cute covered patio. So creative.

In the very same area was Dry Ridge Megalong Winery. Another small business ran by a couple who had also done some extensive traveling. We love to hear about other’s travels and those conversations often form where we go next. The previous winery did not offer food but Dry Ridge had a fruit and cheese plate alongside the free wine tasting. With gorgeous views and pups running around it was a perfect afternoon. One thing we learned after the fact is that in Australia you can carry liquids on the plane. If we would have known this we would have bought a couple bottles of wine!

We stayed at the Ovolo 1888 Darling Harbor hotel in Sydney. It used to be an old factory building converted into a hotel. The rooms had modern decor and the food was more than excellent. They also had a room available when we checked in at 9AM. We have yet been denied an early check-in when traveling thank God! After these long flights there is nothing a hot shower can’t solve.

Walking distance from the hotel was the Darling Harbor. It was very active at night with live entertainment and tons of restaurants.

When planning the driving parts of our trips I often notice that 30 miles may take an hour. I have found this could be for various reasons like dirt roads, curvy roads, and other driving challenges. Be sure to investigate so you have the right car rented. We also try to be sure we drive during the day. On this trip it was crucial because the kangaroos and wallabies come out at dusk and believe me you do not want to hit a 200 pound kangaroo with your rental car. More on this later.

A week or so later after exploring South Australia (more on this next week) we fly back to Sydney to drive up the Gold Coast. As you can see by the map above, we believed this would be a coastal drive but what we found was an express way. A long boring express way that had exits that lead to the beaches, usually around 30 miles in. I know numerous people who have done this drive but honestly if I could do it over again I would just fly us up to Brisbane and spend a couple nights in Byron Bay. But these are things you learn along the way. The total drive to Brisbane was about 10 hours so we made some stops. We spent a night in Port Macquerie which was nice enough but essentially closed down. It was Fall there and this small town was taking advantage of the off season.

I have learned to pack light for these long trips. This means that we have to plan for laundry. The great thing we found on this trip is many of the places we stayed has laundry facilities. We stayed in private houses that even had laundry detergent for us to use. So we didn’t have to spend time away from sight seeing we could get it started over breakfast and finished up before we left for our day. We also let hotels take care of it too. Just plan ahead and budget accordingly.

Our next stop was Byron Bay a cool little hippie beach town similar to Venice Beach but cleaner. It draws famous people like Miley Cyrus and her Australian beau. The beach is gorgeous and the vibe is easy going.

As cool as Byron Bay was we really loved our beach suite. We had our own plunge pool and kitchenette. We had self service laundry where the staff actually finished it up and delivered it to us. The beach was just across the street. The suite was also walking distance to the downtown area full of shops and restaurants. One of my favorite things to do is to research where we will stay. This place had me excited and it turned out perfect!

Of course we enjoyed the local beers which is always a highlight of our annual trips. We did not see any Fosters. Fosters is actually made in the UK and advertised in the US as “Australian for beer”. I love a good lager so Crown was right up my alley. We also ran into tons of craft beers. We are not craft beer fans and in a few places we stayed it was all they had. Yuck.