Meeting up with an old friend!
March 22, 2021
We arrived in New South Wales (where Sydney is) just before Christmas AND right as a COVID flare-up was happening there. So, the city was oddly empty for pretty much the entire holiday season.
Fortunately, Sydney had excellent contact tracing, and although we got caught up in the state longer than planned, there was never a lockdown or shutdown. Though we did miss the legendary Sydney fireworks show because they blocked off the entire portion of the city that made for a good viewpoint due to the COVID flare-up!
We had also made it down to Bondi Beach, and I see why it’s so renowned… but after arriving and realizing it was jam-packed during the worst of their flare-up, we opted to skip our planned day at the beach and go on a nice walk around it instead!
Sydney is a gorgeous city and a lot more tropical and green than I had imagined. We stayed in a neighborhood called Potts Point, followed by a stay in Darlinghurst. Both of which were pretty central and within walking distance to the heart of the city! We spent lots of time moseying around the botanic gardens and harbour, which is pretty much unmatched for city views!
Our favorite area in the city ended up being their Chinatown. They have so many AMAZING Chinese restaurants and markets… and we loved how vibrant and decorated it was around the lunar new year! We also enjoyed poking around their business district and exploring some of the further suburbs like Manly (which was absolutely gorgeous!) and Newtown (which had more amazing food!).
The absolute best part of our stay in Sydney was hanging out with my friend Kate, who now lives in Australia! (We went to high school together!) It was seriously a treat to reunite with a high school friend from California all of the way out here, especially in the middle of a pandemic!
She and her boyfriend had us over and treated us to our first actual Aussie meal, and I got to try pavlova for the first time ever! A couple of weeks later we also joined them and their friends for Australia Day (basically, their independence day)!
We all had a BBQ and went swimming in the harbor on a perfect summer day! A couple of weeks after that, we got to join them and their friends again for a little Valentine’s party. Thanks again, Kate! You really made our stay in Sydney memorable and extra fun!
😃 Aside from all of that, I don’t have much to update! I feel like we don’t tend to do as much unique stuff in the city as we just kind of walk and poke around the entire time… at least during these pandemic days where we end up staying for several months!
Check back real soon. Another update from our month in the Blue Mountains is coming… they’re still technically part of Sydney, but OMG they were amazing!!
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