After our time in Queenstown and Auckland in New Zealand, then in Cairns, we went back to Sydney for a few more days. This time we stayed at an AirBnB in Elizabeth Bay/Potts Point. While it was slightly less convenient than staying in the CBD, we loved staying in an apartment (with a kitchenette) in a neighborhood. It was a lively area with easy access to grocery stores and other conveniences as well as being only a short walk to the Kings Cross train station (also only 25-30 min walk to Circular Quay where the opera house is and where the ferries leave from).
The first morning we woke up there, we headed out for a run along the water – down to the Botanical Gardens and passing by Mrs Macquarie’s Chair (https://www.nsw.gov.au/visiting-and-exploring-nsw/locations-and-attractions/mrs-macquaries-chair-sydney) on the way and enjoyed some great views of the Harbour.
Once we got back to the apartment and got cleaned up, we headed back out and wandered around town. We checked out St. Mary’s Cathedral (https://stmaryscathedral.org.au)- we had passed by it on the first part of our time in Sydney and wanted to make sure we got back to see it. It was a beautiful church! We been in so many of these cathedrals but they still manage to amaze me. It stands on the site of the first Catholic chapel in Australia and built from 1866 to 1928. The foundation stone was laid in 1868, and the dedication mass held in 1882 …. but the spires were only added in 2000.
One our second full day back in Sydney we did a day trip out to the Blue Mountains. There were plenty of organized tours available, but all of them had extra stops we weren’t interested in and this one was so easy to do on our own. A big advantage of that was the flexibility it offered. We took the metro from Kings Cross over to Central Station then hopped on the train to Katoomba. One cool thing about Sydney transport is that there are daily and weekly max amounts you pay. You can get an Opal card (transit card) for this but you get the same benefits using your credit card to tap on/tap off (you obviously need to use the same card to get the benefit of the cap on costs). It maxes out at $19.30 (Australian dollars/AUD, around $13 USD) per day Mon-Thu, $9.65 AUD/day (about $6.50 USD) Fri-Sun and public holidays, and $50 AUD (about $33.50 USD) per week. This includes trains, buses, and even the ferries! It even included the hour-long train all the way out the the Blue Mountains so it was a good deal!
Once we got to Katoomba, we took a public bus over to Scenic World (https://www.scenicworld.com.au). All of the buses here were also included in the Sydney transit cost. Scenic World includes 3 different scenic transportation options – a cableway, a ropeway, and a train. You can take all 3 as many times as you want (up or down or both) for the day ticket to scenic world (which was $61 AUD, or about $40 USD).
The cableway and ropeway had beautiful views but the train was a huge draw – we took it twice. It is in the Guiness Book of World Records for the steepest passenger railway in the world, boasting a 52-degree incline. The tracks were originally built for the coal mining in the area. You could also make the bench seat even more (or less) inclined – so of course we chose the Cliffhanger mode!
We took the train down and walked along the elevated boardwalk through Dinosaur World (which was surprisingly pretty cool) then took the ropeway back up. Then we took the Cableway out, walked along the scenic walk to the 3 Sisters lookout, and then took the cableway back. After that we did the train one more time before taking a bus back into Katoomba to catch our train back to Sydney.
The next day we took the ferry out to Manly Beach again to explore it more. We had decided to try snorkeling on Shelly Beach (on the ocean side – you basically get off the ferry from the Harbour side then walk across to the ocean side). We found a place near the beach to rent snorkeling gear – they also rent surfing gear so they are right across the street form the beach and they had lockers to stash our gear. You then have to walk over to Shelly Beach for snorkeling (it’s a more protected area – no where the main surfing area is). We didn’t realize it was quite as far from the snorkeling rental and also erroneously thought we could just walk there barefoot. It’s roughly a 15-20 min walk and we got nearly halfway and then you have to go on an asphalt road (the concrete was hot but not unbearable barefoot – the asphalt was not bearable!). So we ended up going back to the lockers to get our shoes. When we finally got to the snorkeling area, the water was a bit rough, making it hard to get in with our fins on and also not much visibility. It was disappointing but I think our expectations had been a bit high after our recent Great Barrier Reef snorkeling experience. So we chalked that up to a learning adventure and headed back to drop off the snorkeling gear. We stopped in a bar to get a beer and headed back on the ferry.
As we got close to Circular Quay where the ferry docks, the ferry passed under the Harbour Bridge (passing up the Quay where we should have docked). For a minute I thought maybe we somehow got on the wrong ferry but it turned out that massive cruise ship we had seen last time and again that day was leaving so we all had to get out of the way to let it pass – I’m pretty sure we would have lost that game of boat chicken! Once we realized what was going on, pretty much everyone on the ferry ran to the back to see it. It was cool to see how they get a boat that size out into the main channel using tugs.
The following day, we got up early and did a sunrise kayak tour in the harbour after a tip from a friend about it. We had to get up around 4am and took an Uber over to the over side of the harbour. It was a kayak and coffee tour so we got to put in our coffee order ahead of time and they made the coffee for us. The kayaks had a cup holder up front just perfect for the coffee mugs! The organization we booked with was amazing – they broke us into 2 groups with a couple of guides per group. The guides led us out and not only had great info to share but also took some really awesome photos (the photos were included in the tour price and they had them to us by later that day in a google photo album!). While it was an early start to the day, it was so worth it! It was definitely a highlight of our time in Sydney.
After we got back, we decided to explore the area on that side of the bridge then walk back across the Harbour Bridge rather than take the train. The view from the bridge is stunning and we loved seeing all the ferries and other boats out there – it’s a busy harbour!
Once we got back to Circular Quay, we took the train back over to our AirBnb and got cleaned up then headed back out to meet some friends. One thing we love about traveling is meeting people from all over the world. In this case, we met a couple from Sydney while we were in Bruges, Belgium in August 2024. We met them at a pub and hit it off so it was a lot of fun to meet back up with them while we were in Sydney – and have a few more beers with them!.
On our final day in Sydney, we had a late evening flight so we checked out of our AirBnb and left our bags in a luggage locker near the Central train station then explored that area. There’s a cool market that we checked out first – they had a bunch of shops and restaurants so we had coffee and a snack and picked up a couple of souvenirs.
Then we walked over to the Sydney Fish Market and had lunch before walking around that area as well. We ended up walking 4-5 miles that day – which was great since we were about to get on a 13 hour flight to Sydney that night!
We really enjoyed our time in Australia and New Zealand but it was time to move on to Japan!
