Our time in Sydney continued through early February, and our love for the city by the sea only grew stronger. We are so happy we decided to stay for a while and settle in more as a local (at least we like to think that). We discovered the more "regular" things we like to do in the city, but were still able to explore a lot of new stuff this month.
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| Where the city meets the sea... |
Maroubra to Malabar Headland Walk
One of the things we love about Sydney are the many gorgeous coastal hikes within a bus ride from the city. Bondi, Bronte, and Coogee get all the hype (and rightfully so), but just 10 minutes south of Coogee is another beautiful beach... Maroubra. It looked even bigger than Bondi and less crowded, so win-win!
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| Maroubra Beach |
We spent some time on the beach then headed to the south end of it to start the Malabar Headland walk. Our airbnb host had left a deck of cards with different walks around the city on each card... so I got a lot of ideas for things to see from that. This hike was on one of the cards and it did not disappoint! I just didn't read the fine print in that it can take 2-3 hours :) So worth it though!
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| Other side of Maroubra |
The views were stunning - facing north we could see the cutouts in the coastline for Coogee, Bronte, and Bondi. I will never get tired of this coastline!
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| Views all the way to Bondi and beyond |
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| Where's Waldo?!? 😝 |
The path itself was really diverse... it started out as a well formed path, then in parts crossed the rock itself, and at one point it was more of a desert like I imagine the outback looking. This hike is lesser-known than the Bondi to Coogee walk... we only passed a handful of people along the way. I love that in a city as large as Sydney there are so many places where you truly feel you are just surrounded by nature (except for the skyline in the distance hehe).
We really enjoyed this hike and made it all the way to Malabar Beach :) From there we caught the bus back to Bondi Junction.
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| Malabar |
Taronga Zoo to Chowder Bay Hike
Another hike that was inspired by the deck of cards :) This time we took a short bus ride to Circular Quay where we hopped on a ferry to Taronga Zoo. But, instead of going to the zoo with everyone else on the ferry we took a right turn down a path leading to Bradleys Head.
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| Awesome view of the harbour! |
The trail continued east winding it's way along the harbour and taking us past Taylors Bay, Clifton Gardens, Georges Head, and all the way to Chowder Bay. With glimpses of the bay and some lizards along the way, it was a fun walk... although it was a very hot day. We ended the afternoon with a few toasties and relaxing on a beach in Middle Head. Then took a very sweaty bus ride back to the city :)
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| I loved the trees in this section |
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| Clifton Gardens |
Cronulla to Bundeena
Originally we had planned to stay in an airbnb west of Cronulla and explore that part of Sydney and Royal National Park. That airbnb ended up just not working out so we turned it into just a day trip from a different airbnb in the city. Just an hour and a half train ride and we were in Cronulla :)
Our airbnb host had suggested taking the ferry to Bundeena from Cronulla, so we decided to do that first. It was quick 25 min ferry with pretty views across the bay.
From Bundeena we began a little coastal walk through the very north end of Royal National Park. The walk begins at Jibbon Beach, and winds it's way along the rocky coast to an outlook called Jibbon Head. We saw a few spidey friends along the way... at one point running under a web as that was the only way forward! I think the cloudy day made it eerier to see them.
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| Oh hey there... |
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| View from Jibbon Head |
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| This is the one we ran under! |
One of the highlights of this walk was seeing aboriginal carvings in the rocks. This seemed to be a sacred place for the aboriginal tribes, and there were several carvings of different animals in one area that the locals still maintain.
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| Seen on the ferry back... um I guess it's propped up?? |
This is a bit of a side story... but I found it so sweet and inspiring. While I was waiting for Justin to use the bathroom I heard a woman ask an elderly man if he was ok. He had stopped to take a break from walking with his luggage and looked a little tired. The woman asked if she could help him with his bag, he said oh that's ok, but he still sounded winded. She insisted and said it was no trouble, it was a hilly path and she was going the same direction as he was. She took his bag and they started walking back towards Cronulla when Justin came back out. As we followed them along the path I could hear the woman talking to him and continuing the conversation to not make him feel weird about her carrying his bag.
It just really warmed my heart to see how thoughtful the woman was, and the man reminded me of a sweet grandfather who would've had trouble asking for help even though he needed it. The woman even waited with him near the train station just to make sure he was ok. It really touched me... and it's always a good reminder kindness goes a long way <3
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| Cronulla Beach on a cloudy day |
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| Nice to have filtered water available at public beaches! |
We wrapped up our little train trip to Cronulla with a stroll along the beach and of course, acai bowls! If you're wondering the Gold Coast still has the winning acai bowl in our opinion :)
Sydney's Northernmost Point & the Central Coast
This was such a fun day... nothing better than a good road trip! We rented a car and drove north from the city, passing tons of beaches along our route to the northernmost point of Sydney - Palm Beach and the Barrenjoey Lighthouse.
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| Barrenjoey Lighthouse... now to get up there |
We chose the smuggler's route which was quicker but involved more stairs up to the lighthouse. The views as we climbed higher and higher were incredible... it was such a clear day with no clouds in the sky.
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| Made it! |
The views were just breathtaking from the lighthouse... looking north we could see parts of the Central Coast beyond Sydney, and south we could see Palm Beach and the beautiful coastline of North Sydney.
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| View North | |
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| View South |
After the lighthouse climb we stopped at a couple northern beaches, just kind of checking them out and not hanging out. One was Whale Beach in the left photo and Turimetta Beach in the right photo. There are way too many beaches along that coastline to be able to see them all! I definitely want to go back to spend more time here.
We continued our road trip north and into the Central Coast of New South Wales. What we discovered were practically deserted beaches and more stunning coastline. After a relaxing afternoon on the beach, we caught the sunset at Birdie Beach and began the trip home in search of dinner. Dinner ended up being at a Chipotle type restaurant... but man... Australia has a lot of things except good Mexican food. At that point on the hunger scale anything tasted good but things just aren't as spicy here and the flavors are a bit different for Mexican style food here.
To get back into the city we took the tunnel under Sydney Harbour, which we thought was pretty cool! Justin took a photo of where we were on the map, while I tried not the think about the fact we were underwater :)
Australia Day in Circular Quay
On Australia Day, January 26th, we decided to brave the crowds and head to Circular Quay to see what this celebration was all about. It really was a scorcher of a day though so lots of warning signs for sunscreen/covering up.
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| Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat, mate! |
The party at the harbour included food trucks, a stage, and lots of market stalls in The Rocks area. But before long, we were sweating and ready to head home.
Harbour Dinner Cruise
To make our last week in Sydney (for now) extra special, we decided to take a dinner cruise out on the harbour. It was a really nice ending to our almost 9 weeks in the city by the sea... and you can't beat the harbour views especially at sunset.
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| Our ship coming in! |
Are we smiling about the views or the free booze?? :)
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| Views of the Anzac Bridge |
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| Luna Park |
It was a special night reminiscing about our time in Sydney and how much we have fallen in love with this city. It's surprised us both how strongly we feel about it, but traveling has a way of uncovering truths about yourself and making you really think about what's most important to you. Apparently for us it's beaches and kangaroos... wait I'm mostly joking ;)
Other Fun Things
Outside of all that hiking we had some other random January highlights!
It's always a great idea to head to a karaoke bar in Chinatown, and this night was no different. It was so much fun introducing our new friends to the Sydney karaoke scene! (Although we missed you this time though Christopher!!). The pitchers of beer were a flowin' and good times were had by all... until the next day LOL.
Another afternoon we were kindly invited to a friend's house for a barbecue, he makes game tools like we do which is how we met. They had also just gotten a puppy!! It was another scorcher of a day so the barbecue was had indoors with lots of wine and puppy kisses :) Doesn't get much better!
His house backs up to the bush so lots of species of birds stop by their porch. We fed the birds and threw blueberries down to the lizards by the pool. Who knew lizards like blueberries?
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| Hanging out for their turn |
Another evening we attempted to watch Aquaman in the thunder and lightning... I feel like this would not have been allowed in America haha. I thought this theater would cancel the movie at any point... but no, it started pouring and people just pulled our their ponchos and umbrellas. It got to the point where we just couldn't do it anymore and walked home. Lesson learned - wait to book until the day of when you can check if the weather will be nice!
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| It did thunder at a very good point in the movie though, so plus? |
We loved being near Centennial Park and Queens Park... we spent many mornings running the loop around the park and afternoons walking through different sections. Again, it feels like you're in nature in the middle of a huge city.
In case it isn't obvious enough, we absolutely loved our time in Sydney. I still can't believe we were there for 2 months... it really flew by. When we left in early February the weather was still summery and the beaches were less crowded as all the kiddies went back to school. It's always hard for me to say goodbye to each place we've been to, and especially to ones that are extra special, but we know this isn't goodbye for Sydney... just see you soon <3
After Sydney we headed south to Jervis Bay so I will blog about that next. We are currently in Melbourne which we've enjoyed exploring more in depth this trip. Working on catching up the blog!
As always, thanks for following along with our crazy adventure! Sending love back home!
Sarah
"May you always pursue a life that calls for something more.
And not perfection, but fullness...
Something deeper, beyond the shore."
~ Morgan Harper Nichols
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