As much as I hate to admit it, my activity plans for Saturday might have been a little over-ambitious, so we woke up a little tired on Sunday. It also didn't help that we were woken up at 7 AM on the dot: there was a band playing across the street and they started early and loud! We found out later this was entertainment as part of the Seven Bridges charity walk where participants walk across 7 bridges all over Sydney. Milsons Point is one of the checkpoints along the walk route.

Anyway, the early start to the day was nothing that couldn't be fixed with a little jaunt out to grab some coffee/hot chocolate! Then we took a few minutes and Skyped with family before we headed out for the day.

Darling Harbor & Pyrmont Bay

Our first destination was Darling Harbor, which we reached via another ferry ride. Yay! We took the ferry to one extra stop so we could get off at Pyrmont Bay and walk across the Pyrmont Bridge.

Pyrmont Bridge (and the monorail track)

Models walking the bridge

It just so happened that there was dragonboat racing going on in the harbor as part of a fundraiser. It was pretty cool to show Toby what I had done a few weeks ago! He was properly impressed, and we walked down to watch a race.

Boats finishing a race

Enjoying the race!

Chinese Friendship Garden & Celebrations

When we were done watching dragonboat racing, we headed toward the Chinese Friendship Garden. The Chinese Friendship Garden is basically connected to the harbor area with a series of green spaces and parks, and it was a short, pleasant walk over.

When we got close to the park, we realized something was going on. Unbeknownst to us, it was the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and China, so there was a big celebration going on to commemorate it. We got to see a pretty cool performance going on!

We walked through the booths at the celebration and by the Chinese Friendship Garden, then meandered over through Chinatown.

Surry Hills

After our walk through the parks and Chinatown, we decided to walk up to the Surry Hills neighborhood. Surry Hills is a middle of the road neighborhood with lots of eclectic shops and boutiques, and a good variety of cafes and eateries. I had read about some of the things to check out in the area, so I was excited to spend some time exploring.

Megan and I found lots of cute shops to pop into!

The cutest shop name!

We also stopped in at a pub and got a snack. Lucky for T, a soccer game was on. He was pretty happy!

Pitt Street Shopping

After conquering the shops in Surry Hills, we headed back to the CBD. We walked by Hardy Brothers Jewelers, one of the stores in the company that Megan works for. The store was amazing and had beautiful jewelry displays, so it was fun to window shop. And dream. =)

We also walked by this alley with tons of birdcages hanging from wires strung across the buildings.

We wrapped up the day doing some more shopping in the stores on Pitt Street. Megan pointed out some good clothes shops in the mall that I might like. So yay for future shopping! We also treated ourselves to some macaroons at LaDuree.

After we were totally shopped-out, we headed back to the apartment and Toby fixed us some dinner before Megan had to leave for the airport.

If it sounds like we did a lot of stuff this weekend, we did! We went all over the city and saw a lot of stuff.

Our weekend route

It was a wonderful, full, busy weekend. It was so great to see some family and spend time with someone we love! Hopefully we can see Megan again soon, maybe in Brisbane next time!

Posted with Blogsy