October 31, Sydney Day 1

October 31, Sydney Australia

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia with over 4.2 million people. It is the state capital of New South Wales and is located on the southeast coast. Sydney was established in 1788 at Sydney Cove by Arthur Phillip who led the First Fleet from Britain. Sydney harbor is the largest natural harbor in the world.

Several gold rushes starting in 1851 brought waves of people arriving from around the world, and the rapid suburban development that began in the last quarter of the 19th century continues today, giving Sydney its cosmopolitan flair.

Australia is expensive. A basic ham and cheese sandwich is $6.50 - $9.00 depending on where you get it, and if you are lucky you might get a small handful of chips with it (but don’t bet on it). Soft drinks typically run around $2 - $3, a bottle of beer $5 - $7. A sit down lunch starts around $20 and goes up from there. Dinners start around $40.

We had originally planned on taking the hop-on hop-off bus the first day and perhaps stopping off at the zoo. After finding out that the entrance fee was $41 per person, we re-vamped our plans. We decided to visit the aquarium and a new “Wild World” animal kingdom next door to it, as we could visit both for $49.50 per person.

Wild World is small, but does have a pretty nice display of various Australian animals. They have a koala and kangaroo exhibit where you can get up close and personal to them and other nice displays. The aquarium again is small, but very well put together. There is three separate areas where you actually go down to the bottom of the tanks and are able to walk around them and through underwater tunnels. They even have a couple of manatee’s there, along with all of the typical reef fish, sharks, rays, etc.

If you are docked at central quay as we were, you can walk to Darling Harbor where they are located in about 20-30 minutes at a slow stroll, and in our opinion well worth the visit for the cost. Is it as good as the zoo? I seriously doubt it but it is quite nice.

Tomorrow we are off on an all day tour out to the blue mountains, and includes stops at Featherdale Wildlife Sanctuary, the 2000 Olympic site, National Park, the Three Sisters at Echo Point, the Scenic Skyway, Scenicsender, and Steepest Railway in the world, lunch, and finishing off with a river cruise back to our ship. It’s a full day and sounds like a lot of fun. Let you know tomorrow!!