Sydney Day 6 - Bondi Beach & The Aquarium

It would be a tragedy to come all the way to Sydney and not visit the famous Bondi Beach (pronounced Bond-eye). We make our way to Central Station and with our handy multi-pass (which is our all-access pass to the trains/ferrys/buses) find the elusive Platform 25 (thankfully not 25 ½) that goes out to Bondi Junction. Once we arrive at the station we jump on the next bus headed to the beach – again, very thankful for the extensive transportation system that someone had the foresight to design, because it’s a lot farther than the map would lead you to believe! It is a spectacular beach – I can see how it would be wall to wall people in the summer.

I’m trying to take lots of ‘people pictures’ but not surprisingly, the family is not co-operating. I try to bribe them by saying “This might be the last time you’ll ever be here”. The boys are pretty sure that it won’t be their last time.

We decide to grab some McDonald’s before we head back and I am pleasantly surprised -not by the quality of food but by the cost. It pretty much tastes the same as home but lucky for us it’s an Anniversary Celebration and its $1 cheeseburgers!

Once back in town we head straight to the Sydney Aquarium for our (only) encounter I want to have with a shark. One of the first displays is a platypus. It surprises me how small (and kind of cute) it is. Reminds me of an otter, except the poor thing can’t see, smell or hear underwater so he had an awfully hard time finding his food as he was bashing around into logs, roots and the plexiglass. There were underwater viewing areas for the dugongs (like a manatee), stingrays and a variety of sharks. Then we watched the penguin feeding. These penguins are the smallest in the world and live in Australia because they don’t like the cold (smart bird).

We met up with friends and relatives one last time before we head north to Cairns. Nothing like sitting and chatting in the shadow of the Opera House in Sydney Harbour. Once the sun goes down (around 5:30) it drops about 10 degrees and gets pretty cold pretty quick.

This might be the last post for a few days. We are heading to Cairns and I’m not sure when we’ll have internet again.