Southerners in Singapore: Australia Here We Come

Stamford American International School, where the kids go to school in Singapore, has a 4 day weekend every month. Since our stay in Singapore is limited and there are so many places we want to visit while here, we didn't want to let a 4 day weekend pass without taking advantage of it. Drayton was working in Australia the week before and after this holiday weekend so we decided to join him there and take in the sights of Sydney.

Since we have been spending money traveling so much I decided to try to save a little money by using AirBnB to find our accommodations. More about that later. Drayton's work friends had recommended we stay in Manly which is on the beach across the harbour from the city of Sydney. Manly was a cute beach town with lots of character. We were able to take the ferry over to Sydney each day - this was the most fantastic way to view the beauty of Sydney and it was so much fun to be on the water twice a day.

We arrived to find our much-anticipated condo and were a little surprised to find it above the Manly Denture Clinic but it was just a block from the beach as promised and an easy walk to the ferry station as well. What I did learn was that you need to read the details about your rental very carefully. For instance, I didn't consider "air conditioning" in Australia in the summer to be something that would have to be specifically noted in order to have it. Our 4th floor apartment had no air conditioning and was quite toasty (no ceiling fans either and only one little ground fan). The main problem with this situation was the fact that there were no screens on any doors or windows - so the only way to get any air and not cook to death in your sleep was to leave the doors and windows open and let lots of creatures inside to feast on you. For some reason the boys were the main targets of said bugs and had red bites all over them by the time we finally left. Was only thankful that there were no larger animals coming in to our rooms as we slept!

The final straw in our botched apartment rental was when we walked back from dinner our first day and took the elevator up to the 4th floor. It made it up about half way and then just stopped - no movement, no anything. We pressed the emergency button and was connected with a service company that informed us that they would send a technician out to rescue us as soon as possible. At this point, Sumner absolutely panicked (as did we once we realized we were stuck in an elevator with a panicking 10 year old boy!). Luckily about 10 minutes later the elevator started to move and we quickly spilled out door once it opened. Needless to say, Sumner and I never used the elevator again - Drayton, Ella and Henry chanced it a few times I think just to prove that they could. What a mess.

Regardless of our less-than-stellar accommodations, we had a great time taking in the sights. Taking the ferry from Manly to Sydney gave us a beautiful view of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge both of which were wonderful. Even better, we climbed the stairs in the Sydney Bridge Pylon which gave us amazing views of the bridge up close as well as down on the Opera House (and some fun pictures too). There was the opportunity to climb the external skeleton of the bridge all the way to the top of the bridge - a climb that is supposed to be breathtaking but quiet nerve-racking - and we had finally convinced some nervous kids to do it with us when, to our disappointment, we learned that only kids older than 10 could participate. Once we were in the pylon and realized how high the Bridge Climb was and how scary it looked, we decided it was probably a good thing that we hadn't tried to get our kids to do it!

Ferry ride over to Sydney

First glimpses of the city

Naval memorial

Checking out the sites

Enjoying the breeze and sun

First view of the Opera House

And first view of the bridge

Atop the Pylon at the Sydney Harbour Bridge

View from the bridge down to the Opera House

Family pic from the Pylon on the Bridge

Those little blue spots are people in harnesses climbing the bridge skeleton all the way to the top - they are strapped in so that the wind can't blow them off the bridge. Probably a good choice to not try and get all three to the top of that!

Our only brush with the "outback" was the guy on the sidewalk selling his CDs

One of the "sails" of the Opera House

Walking along the water

Trying to balance Henry in our arms ......

.... he's lucky we didn't drop him or throw him into the Harbour!

Probably safe now that he is standing on his own two feet (although not as much fun!)

From here we decided to walk through the Botanical Gardens - there was a beautiful path along the water's edge that we followed for a couple miles around through the gardens and then we ended up at the GovernmentHouse which was closed but we were able to walk around the grounds.

Mommy trying to catch a few Zzzz's

Easier sad than done with two boys to bother her!

Botanical garden views

The most amazing trees were in the gardens

Enormous ones that had to be several 100 years old we guessed

Vines grow from branches dropping down to the ground where they take root and then give support to the expanding branches and trunks

Climbing rocks

A natural rock chair

View across to the navy yard

This is Mrs. Macquarie's chair is a sandstone rock that sits on a peninsula in Sydney Harbour. It was carved in 1810 by convicts for the governor's wife, Mrs. Macquarie. She used to sit in the seat and watch ships come in from Great Britain.

Mare and foal statue in the garden

Government House which the currently New South Wales governor resides.

Gardens by the Government House

Relaxing on the terrace

In front of a tree planted when the Government House was first built.

Manly beach, where our apartment was, is a beach well known by surfers and was definitely a popular place. Unfortunately, the surf was very rough while we were there and the life guards were not letting people go into the water except at specific areas due to the undercurrents and big waves. Nonetheless, Drayton and Henry and Ella enjoyed some boogie boarding and body surfing - they abandoned the boogie boards quickly in favor of just body surfing since it was so hard to get back out through the waves with the boards. Sumner had a great time designing some amazing sand castles on the beach. Dinner was at a cool bar/restaurant on the water that had ping pong tables for us to use while we waited and then an intense ping pong tournament after we had finished. Pretty night for a walk home to our apartment.