We did end up hiking to the Wentworth Falls just outside Katoomba. It was a beautiful hike along the cliff looking down over the vast valley, which looked like a sea of Eucalyptus trees. The picture abover is of a smaller waterfall called Weeping Rock.
After the hike we headed towards Sydney, it was about a 2 hour drive and after finding our hotel, we did what all travelers do after two months on the go…we rested! But not for long because Jill was intent on seeing as much as she could of Syney in less than 48 hours.
Our hotel was in a great area called The Rocks. It was within walking distance of basically everything we wanted to do. First on the list was seeing the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House and walking around the Circular Quay District.
After visiting the sites we walked around the city through the main shopping districts (this was totally Tim’s idea). Since it was December 23rd, there were loads of people out shopping and running errands. We enjoyed being out and about in all the Christmas excitement.
Because we were dragging a bit, we decided to watch a movie and chill out while still feeling we were out of the hotel room. What would any self-respecting person watch in Australia? The Australia movie with Nicole Kidman, duh! We did and the theatre was nearly empty and I’m pretty sure I heard snickering from locals sitting below us, but we enjoyed the movie and more importantly the oportunity to sit on comfy chairs for over 2 hours while being entertained.
We ended up getting dinner that night at Sushi Train. It was our first time at a sushi joint where the sushi is on a moving conveyer belt and you pull off what you want to eat and pay per plate. We felt like really city folk…but we like being coutry folk.
After sunset we went back to the Quay District, the Opera House, and the Harbor Bridge to see the city all lit up. It was really beautiful. I (Jill) think the Opera House is prettier at night when it is all lit up.
On Christmas Eve (the next morning), Jill went running through the Royal Botanical Gardens and around a bay or two in the Harbor. Afterwards, we struck back out into the streets to do some shopping and more exploring. After not to many stores and realizing we couldn’t handle the Christmas crowds, we headed to St. Mary’s Cathedral and the park that connects to it (name?). The picture of a walkway in the park is below and it reminded me of Central Park in some spots.
St. Mary’s was beautiful. We walked around it and sat for a few moments in the very ornate cathedral before moving on to the Royal Bontanical Gardens. Jill wanted to show Tim how cool they were from her run.
On our way to the Gardens, we stopped at the New South Wales Art Gallery and wandered through it looking at the work of international and Australia artists as well as some beautiful Aboriginal pieces. The above photo is a picture we sneaked when no one was looking!
Once we got to the Gardens, we exclaimed about the huge grey bats (fruit bats) that live in the garden and hang from the trees. Eewww….but kinda cool.
After cleaning up a bit, we headed down to Darling Harbor, to enjoy Christmas Eve. We bought tickets to U2 3D at the IMAX theatre, which boasts the largest screen in the world. Who can pass that up? Not us.
The movie ended up being really fun. It was like being at a concert only we had the best seats in the house. They did a great job making us feel like we were right there in the middle of everything.
After the movie, we hung out for a bit in Darling Harbor before walking over to the Syndey Tower (much like the Sky Tower in New Zealand) with plans to go to the bar on top and look out over the city and get drinks…no such luck. The bar was already full and they weren’t letting hopeful and pathetic tourists up the elevator. Oh well.
We headed back to Darling Harbor and got drinks looking out over the harbor and listened to some live music (that was way too loud). We ended the evening by taking the last ferry from Darling Harbor to the Circular Quay. The ferry took us under the Harbor Bridge and we viewed the Opera House lit up over the water. It was a great way to wrap up our time in Sydney (for now).
Final Day of Travel – We had no idea how many people traveled on Christmas Day. The Sydney airport was jam packed. Everything went smoothly though, and we caught our 10:45 am flight to Papeete, Tahiti. We disembarked walked around the corner at the Fa’aa Airport in Tahiti -feeling like the trip had come full circle – and got on the next plane headed for LAX. The picture below was taken of the sunrise as we were flying to LA. We caught a commuter flight from LA to SFO to spend our 2nd Christmas day (thanks to the date line) with the Kimmel family.
We arrived safe and sound after a couple delays on our last leg of the trip. We were greeted by Jill’s family (notice in the photo below that Tim is standing a bit far off; to put it nicely…he smelled). It was so nice to be home, though the conclusion of our travels is bittersweet. We count it a blessing that the conclusion is bittersweet because we have been blessed with wonderful travels full of adventure, discovery, lots of laughs.
We hope that everyone had a fabulous Christmas and we can’t wait to reconnect with all of you. Thanks for your prayers and support.
Who’s ready for trip number 2? We’re game:)
