Bonus scooter video

Walking home yesterday, this guy passed us on the sidewalk. I hope you enjoy him as much as we did!

Walk across the Harbor Bridge & through The Rocks

Walking across the Harbor Bridge

On Sunday we walked across the Harbor Bridge. We live right by the bridge, but we've been saving up the walk for a day when we had plenty of time to stroll around and enjoy it. 

Our route for Sunday

The bridge walk was really fun. It was quite different from walking across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The Golden Gate was really shaky and kind of intense to be on. The Harbor Bridge was almost perfectly steady. One side of the bridge is for bikes and the other side is for pedestrians.

The bridge has a nice wide walkway, so lots of people walk across to get down to the city or run across for exercise. 

There were great views of Kirribilli and North Sydney from the bridge. 

The Kirribilli shoreline

Some cool rooftop gardens in Kirribili

And the Opera House and Circular Quay. There was a big cruise ship at port in Circular Quay this weekend. 

View of Circular Quay from the bridge

We also saw people heading up to the top of the bridge going on the Harbor Bridge Climb. It wasn't scary being on the bridge, but it got my stomach watching them head up on the top of the arches. 

Brave souls (in blue) heading up the bridge

Toby asked me take a picture of this cool apartment building, AKA the "zombie fortress."

The Rocks

The Rocks is a historic area of Sydney right around the bay. The area was one of the first settlements in Sydney and used to be full of rough and tumble characters. The oldest buildings buildings have been restored but retain the old-timey feel.

Right when you get off the bridge, you see the Australian Hotel. It's one of the oldest hotels and pubs in Sydney.

We also walked by this beautiful Catholic church building. 

There are lots of cobblestone streets and old rock staircases, so it's a really beautiful area to walk around.  Perfect for poking around on a pleasant Sunday. =)

It's become a pretty touristy area. There are lots of boutique stores, cute cafes, and some museums. And we found this cute red telephone booth!

And we found this alley that had lampshades hanging between the buildings. I'm putting this place on the list of  things to go back and see in the dark. It looks so cool during the day, I'm sure it looks even cooler at night.

There are also lots of markets on the weekends - people selling crafts and local art. 

Lots of vendors to check out!

It was a great walk, and I feel like we really only scratched the surface of things to see at The Rocks. You could spend hours meandering through the old buildings, not to mention looking at all the shops and vendors selling things. We'll definitely plan to go back and spend some more time there!

Watsons Bay

Thank you Niss & Sam! They call me C-money when I'm rolling like this...

On Saturday we met up with Kath, an Australian friend of our Tennessee friend, Niss. Kath offered to hang out with us for the day and suggested we head over to Watsons Bay.

Our dear friend Niss gave us some Australian money as a going away gift to take Kath out.



Watsons Bay is about a 25 minute ferry ride from the city. You know how I love riding the ferry, and it was a beautiful day, so I couldn't have been happier with our day. We got to see some beautiful coastline on the way.

Watsons Bay is a cute little coast town. There are some great cafes and bars to visit and enjoy the scenery.

We got a couple drinks and chatted for a while. Kath was super funny and friendly. She gave us all kinds of advice and ideas for things we should check out. And since she's visited the States (and Knoxville), we also had lots of Australian-American comparisons to talk about.

Then we wandered up the hill to check out some of the sites and the town.

View of Watsons Bay from the hill

Gap Overlook

Heading back down - beautiful views all around!

Some of the original houses along the bay

Then we strolled down to a little sidewalk cafe and grabbed a bite for lunch.

Our view from our table was of the bay and a pier where local kids were swimming. Kath pointed out the shark net in the water that helps deter sharks from getting into the swimming area. Ummm!!

Since the last ferry back to the city had already left by the time we finished, we caught a bus back. I saw enough of Watsons Bay to know I want to go back again and spend some more time exploring and poking around!

It was a wonderful day with a lovely person. We're so grateful to Kath for giving up her Saturday afternoon and treating us to a round, and we're extra grateful to Niss for making it possible. Thank you!

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No junk mail!

One interesting thing we noticed right away - even before we had a mailing address - is that people here hate their junk mail! I guess that's not different from anywhere else. But here, Australia Post will not put unaddressed junk mail in mailboxes (AKA letterboxes) that have a "No Junk Mail" or "No Advertisements" sticker.

So that means you see these stickers everywhere!

 

I think this is a great idea! Maybe one of the presidential candidates should put implementing this on his platform. =)

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