After Lizard Island, my final destination in the land down under was Sydney; the harbor front city with the historical Opera House and Harbor Bridge. The two days and three nights I was there I conquered a lot of land. With a great tour curator, Carly Rea , I got all of the history I needed to know by walking the path to Bondi Beach and past the Coogee Cemetery. Usually people go from Bondi to Coogee for the walk, but we did it the other way around for time sake. It was a gorgeous day and a nice walk. We started off at Coogee Pavilion, which is like an Eataly with many eating stations.
After the Bondi/Coogee walk, I visited Australia’s oldest indigenous art gallery called The Cooee Art Gallery. The Aboriginal artwork collection known as dot paintings ranged from bark paintings, to acrylic paintings to even some contemporary paintings. Their historical dot paintings originated by the Aboriginal men who told stories by drawing symbols in the sand. These paintings were exciting and beautiful to view. And, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that most of the artists in this gallery were women!
After the roughly four mile walk along the coastal path earlier in the day, I geared up for the night time VIVID Bridge Climb on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. I’m not going to lie. It was daunting—especially in the dark! But, what a way to participate in VIVID Sydney and see the incredible light show in Sydney Harbor! They even had a dance floor at the top of the bridge and I boogeyed to disco music. Don’t worry I was completely cabled in, but I’ll tell ya I could bust some moves with those cables on. Ha! It was a once in a lifetime experience, so thankfully I won’t be doing that climb again. Whew!
The next day started with a ferry ride from The Park Hyatt hotel to the Taronga Zoo for a private viewing of the koalas and to tour the Wild Australia Experience. I saw an emu, a platypus (weird looking creature but very interesting), some flying mouse creatures called Feathertail Gliders (I held one and what a long tail it had!) and of course cuddly koala bears. I couldn’t hold one but boy did I want to. They were so cute cuddled up in the tree but it was a strong “no”, so I abided by the rules.
After the zoo, I took the Sky Safari Cable Car (which is really a gondola) down to meet a water taxi. The water taxi was a quick and easy way to cross the harbor to Manly Beach, where I ate at Hugo’s restaurant. It’s a great waterfront location with fresh oysters and creative pizzas. After lunch, I took the ferry back to the Sydney Circular Quay for a private Opera House tour. It was a little bit disappointing because since VIVID was in motion, I couldn’t go into the big theatre as they were rehearsing for the evenings events. The night ended with a pool club dance party at the Ivy Hotel. Believe me it was very hard to find a club for dancing and for celebrating a very special birthday, but I was very happy with the outcome. And through my research, I discovered four other club-like places in Sydney. Just Ask!
Thanks to The Tailor, I was able to jam a lot in all three locations of the country during my 10-day stay in Australia and what an Aussie time I had! I do wish I had more time to experience Melbourne and the wine country but there’s always next time! Believe it or not, no shopping was done on this trip. Ha! This was an adventure trip, not a shopping trip! But I can recommend R. M. Williams for some exquisite leather belts and boots. I just didn’t have enough time to try items on.
Again, there’s always next time!
P.S. If you missed them, here’s Part 1 and Part 2 of this fabulous series.
