Sydney and The Blue Mountains

After missing the All Blacks in Nelson, we caught the Black Caps (NZ Cricket Team) at the Christchurch Airport on our way to Sydney for our 6 am flight (at the time I didn’t know I’d be seeing them play in the World Cup the next weekend). Upon arriving to Sydney, we drove over to visit Steve and Emma Foster and their kids Leo (6) and Zoe (4). We dropped our bags and left all the kids with Emma’s (very generous) parents to make our way down to the Sydney Harbour (Rose Bay) to board a catamaran. It turns out one of Steve and Emma’s good friends, Tim, was celebrating his 40th birthday. After loading the boat with heaps of food and drinks we made our way out for an afternoon of cruising, boozing, eating, swimming, and sun tanning (this was the only really sunny day in a stretch of some pretty unseasonable weather). I can’t think of a better way to start travel to a new country!

The next day was a very important day – Mackenzie’s 10th birthday! Double digits! Mackenzie had one birthday wish – he wanted to see koala’s and pet kangaroos. Off to Symbio Zoo! We made our way an hour outside of Sydney to visit this very “Australian” style zoo which focuses purely on Australian animals. Mackenzie was absolutely thrilled to be able to get up close to pet and feed the animals!

After a weekend in Sydney we drove west towards the Blue Mountains. We were joined by our nephew Matias (Mel’s sister’s son) who moved to Sydney from Chile only weeks earlier. We were looking to kill a bit of time before we got to our AirBnb so we made a stop at Wentworth Falls. I hadn’t googled this place previously, so I had no expectations. When we reached the falls, we were all totally blown away! This waterfall dropped hundreds of feet down into a lush valley surrounded by sheer sandstone cliffs. We made our way along a path right over the top of the waterfall (it had a low flow) along a path that had been carved into the cliff during the early 1900’s. There was only a small waist high iron bar separating us from a 200 m shear drop to the bottom!

We had been researching on how to see the area’s famous glowworms. Unfortunately, it seemed as though the only way to see it was using a guide (very expensive) or by driving a fair distance over some bad roads. I stumbled across a website that had a Glowworm Guidebook along with all the spots to see them for a very reasonable price of $15. We set out that night to see them at Cataract Falls. We followed the very specific step by step guide (turn right after the second path, cross the metal bridge, make a left at the oak tree, etc.) and, to my surprise, the description was actually spot on. We arrive at the bottom of a small waterfall with a cavern adjacent to it. We waited for the sky to darken and sure enough the roof of the cavern began to light up like the night sky with hundreds of glowworms. Truly a very cool experience! Unfortunately I couldn't get any decent pics with my iPhone :(

Over the few days we toured around the area on foot checking out the Three Sisters and Katoomba Falls. We managed to get lucky with the weather and escaped most of the rain. At times when it was raining (which was a lot!) we stayed in our cozy cottage and played games, did crosswords, worked on the blog, and did some serious trip planning (we are officially off to Singapore on November 10). On the last day we awoke to more rain and fog so we decided to book it back to Sydney where we went to an indoor rock climbing gym. We all had an amazing time climbing so much so that I think we may join a gym when we get back to Barrie.

That evening we were in for a very special treat – we went to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to see Emma perform (she is an incredibly talented flautist!). It was such a beautiful performance of Mozart’s Haffner Serenade. After the performance we went for dinner nearby – we stopped by a really nice place, but after seeing the price tag of $56/glass of wine, we decided to move on to a local pub for a few drinks and shareables.

On Saturday, Steve had organized some tickets for the lads to see the Cricket World Cup match – Australia vs. New Zealand. The game was at 5pm, but we needed to meet at the pub a few hours earlier to go over the rules and to make sure I had a clear understanding of the way the game was played. Steve and I met up with Dan and Tim who I had met earlier on the 40th birthday cruise (Tim was the birthday boy). Since I had been in NZ for 10 days and had seen the Black Caps in the airport my allegiance for the Kiwi’s was well established. Steve, being birthed to Kiwi parents, was also rooting for the Black Caps, even backing it with cold hard cash at underdog odds of 2.86:1. This of course made for some fun ribbing between the four of us. Ultimately the underdogs pummeled the host 200 to 111. I must admit that I really enjoyed watching cricket and I picked up the rules fairly quickly, however, at the risk of offending cricket fans, I still think baseball is a better overall game.

We spent the last day in Sydney checking out the famous Bondi beach and were fortunate to catch the Sculptures by the Sea exhibits that were displayed all along the coastal trail. I was especially fascinated by some of the natural sandstone along the shoreline which looked like an art exhibit in its own right!

Overall we had an absolutely wonderful experience in Sydney – thanks again to the Fosters for hosting us and looking forward to seeing you guys in Canada in July 2023!