Day 6 - Sydney

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!!!!!  We love and miss all of you!  It's definitely different being in a warm climate for the Holidays, but it's nice to see the sun!

We were so tired last night we didn't post, so here it goes.  It was Christmas Eve here yesterday and we decided to spend it on the water.  After a few hours at the pool, we headed down to Circular Quay and jumped on thhe Captain Cook Harbour Express.  This is the ferry that allows you to hop on and off at the famous attractions around Sydney - Taronga Zoo, Watsons Bay, Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, Fort Denison, Shark Island, and Luna Park.

Since we had already visited a wildlife park, we skipped the zoo and headed straight for Watsons Bay.  This is the home of Doyle's famous seafood restaurant, which has been around since the early 1800s.  They just recently restored the front facade in the original architecture, so it felt like we were eating at an old seafood port. 

We met a really nice 23 year old from Boston who has been in Australia for 3 months now, travelling, working odd jobs, and just experiencing life.  He figured he should do this now while the job economy in the US tries to recover.  We thought that that was pretty cool.

Watson's Bay was really beautiful, we couldn't believe it was only a few minutes boat ride from this huge city - it felt like we were in a different country.  We ate lunch at Doyles Take Away and then sat on the boardwalk just watching time go by, it was really relaxing!

Luna Park was cool too - Syndey's fun park with rides and games!  Joseph would sure love this part of the trip! 

Finally we stopped at Darling Harbour and decided to get off and walk the rest of the way home.  We walked along the waterfront and got to Tumbalong Park, which is pretty much completely sponsored by McDonalds (notice the red and yellow) and has a huge playland for kids.  This area leads directly into Darling Walk, which is a beautiful man made water way that leads into the Chinese Gardens, which we obviously loved!!! 

From here we walked down Market Street and ventured in and out of the shopping district.  You wouldn't believe this are, HUGE shopping malls that are literally 5-7 levels deep/tall.  They also all blend into each other.  So at one point you will be in the Queen Victoria Building (like a Macy's) and then you will come out of the Galeries Victoria (another shopping centre)...CRAZY!!  I couldn't even shop this much!  Can you believe that?  Another weird thing about the shopping Centres is that they are organized by designer, not by the TYPE of clothing.  Since we hadn't heard of many of the designers here, we couldn't find anything!  We definitely looked like the tourists that drive us crazy in Chicago!  LOL.

Yesterday was a geat day, we love being on the water and taking in the sights.  We ate at a great restaurant - Wildfire last night.  It generally overlooks the harbour, but the "World" is in port.  The World is a travelling condimunium.  It looks like a cruise boat, which it is, but people actually own the cabins and live there year round (or rent them out).  CRAZY!!!! 

It's Christmas Day now and everything is pretty much still open.  We planned a nice relaxing day at Bondi Beach.  It's a short 30 minute ferry ride over and there are cafe's and restaurants along the coast.  It was a toss up between Bondi and Manly, but we figured when we come back next week, we could check out Manly.

Have a merry Christmas!  Thanks for all your support and love throughout this year!