As randomly mentioned, Kristy and Oscar joined me on Friday in Sydney for the Labour Day long weekend. Jason, Louise, baby Adam (who Oscar nicknamed “Ambo”) were our generous hosts.

Jason’s brother Richard is staying with them at the moment too, and he generously cooked all our meals for the weekend. It was amazing; his fajitas were a definite highlight! I’m told he does parties and weekends so long as you pony up for the airfares, and by my reckoning, it would be well worth it!

Whenever we go away with Oscar, his first night’s sleep in a foreign location/cot can only be (generously) described as “rubbish”, and consequently, we had a tired little boy on our hands on Saturday. To his credit, he did manage to stay pretty sparky for our morning visit to The Woo to meet Lisa and Damien’s new baby, Michael.

I’m sure that most of his spark came from the fun he was having playing with Damien and the fan, not to mention his excitement at being able to say Lisa’s name over and over again (“LEE-tah! LEE-tah!”).

Sydney is world renowned for dining, and not only because of Richard’s fajitas. We also enjoyed an amazing lunch at The Boathouse at Summer Bay Palm Beach, about an hour’s drive (hence an hour’s nap for the kids) from the city.

Their menu was so good that it was tough to choose just one thing, and every meal that came out while we watched from the queue made me change my mind! I finally settled on the fish ‘n chips though; it was a generous serving and deliciously prepared. Highly recommended!

Being Oscar’s first trip to Sydney, we figured we should get at least a couple of photos of him with some of Sydney’s famous landmarks, so on Sunday we took a boat ride from Kirribilli (where the PM lives) into Circular Quay. Ben’s awesome photo of Ted with the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in the background convinced us that Mrs Macquarie’s Chair was the vantage point that we were searching for, but time was working against us; there was no way we were going to make it all the way around Farm Cove before sunset.

To save ourselves a bit of time, we decided to catch the choo choo train instead of walking. Asides from the speed advantage, this was beneficial for three reasons:

• We got to have a (brief!) tour of the botanical gardens, and learn a bit of its history;
• Kids under two ride free; and (most importantly)
• The kids loved it!

We jumped off the train on the other side of Farm Cove and did our best to get a photo to signify the occasion.

As predicted, the sun had well and truly set by the time we got back to Circular Quay for our return ferry ride across the harbour. Our best option for getting back to the cars was to jump off at Luna Park and then walk, which was a huge bonus for me as it meant I could take a photo of the city lights.

The rest of our three days seemed to fly past in a blur of chasing kids, parks, and just chatting with the Lowes (who we hope to see in Brisbane sometime soon – hint, hint!). It was a great weekend though, and I have to admit that I could easily see myself living in Sydney… if only I could convince all my Brisbane friends to relocate, and the real estate down there wasn’t so tooting expensive!

Photos in the Labour Day in Sydney album on Google+

Aubain and Ingrid decided that they couldn’t come all the way to Australia without seeing Sydney, and so on Monday and Tuesday of their visit, I did my best to show them around a city that I myself am pretty unfamiliar with. Here’s some highlights from our trip:

The Pylon Lookup

I first heard about the Pylon Lookout from a work colleague of Kristy’s in the UK, who said it made for an excellent value visit when time and budget are limited (in comparison to the Bridge Climb). As it turned out, the lookout entrance was not where I had thought; rather than going to the bottom of the pylon and then walking up from there, you actually have to walk along the bridge then enter from about half-way up the pylon. The views from the top were well worth the $9.50 entrance fee!

And, since we had to walk a third of the way along the bridge to get to the entrance, we decided to finish what we started such that we can now all cross “Walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge” off of our bucket lists.

Fish ‘n Chips at Manly Beach

Our timing for the 30 minute ferry ride out to Manly beach couldn’t have been better, as the weather over Circular Quay had started turning very “Sydney”. We were glad to be escaping towards the coast where the sky looked much more “Brisbane”!

We all enjoyed the view from the boat, though after a long day of walking we all also enjoyed a brief kip in the afternoon sun.

After heavily talking up all the merits of chicken salt to Aubain and Ingrid, I was disappointed that the fish and chip shop we ordered from used plain salt instead. Plus, they didn’t even have any bread for me to make a chippy sandwich! What gives?

Drinks at The Opera Bar

I have to admit, I can’t think of too many places better suited to enjoy a sunset than at The Opera Bar.

We arrived just as the sun was considering its descent below the horizon, and secured ourselves a good spot for some beverages. We also met up with a gaggle of Sydney locals – Charlie (who used to work with Aubain and I in London), Lisa (of New York fame), and Jason and Louise (who need no introduction).

Taronga Zoo

We had a number of recommendations to check out Taronga Zoo, not only because it’s an awesome zoo full of animals from all over the world (including this weird hybrid giraffe camel thing), but also for it’s spectacular views back over Sydney harbour.

We were not disappointed! Those animals are on some prime real estate! Favourites for me were the platypus (because they always seem to be hiding in zoos, but the one at Taronga was happily doing circles in his tank), and the koalas (because they’re so lazy and yet so cool).

Food and Drink

Sydney often gets rated as one of the best places to dine in the world, and though we weren’t exactly seeking out world-class dining, we thoroughly enjoyed the food that we did eat (save for the chicken salt disappointment mentioned earlier). Our favourites were:

• The coffee at Chrysler – specifically, the one at the bottom of the Pitt Street mall.
• Modern Australian dining at Bills Surry Hills. Charlie and I had the chili prawn pasta, and it was excellent; The gingersnap biscuits with ice-cream dessert was also a total winner.
• Brunch at Blackbird Cafe in Darling Harbour – a top recommendation from the concierge at Aubain and Ingrid’s hotel.

All in all, it was a busily wonderful two-day tour of Sydney, and it was a number of days before my feet finally recovered from all the walking!

A huge thanks especially to Jason and Louise who so kindly let me crash their spanking new house in Rose Hill Roseville… what I hadn’t realised when I called them up and told them that I would be staying with them, is that they themselves hadn’t even stayed in the house yet! It was like a proper hotel soft opening!

Photos in the Sydney photo album on Picasaweb or on Facebook.

Just when we were starting to believe that the sun never shines in Sydney, we woke up on Saturday to a glorious blue sky and warm sunshine. We took advantage of the weather by heading down to Balmoral beach to meet up with various members of Jason and Louise’s family, including Loui’s dog Chloe, and Jason’s adorable little nephew, Max!

By the time we finished our coffee’s and walked back to our respective cars, it was time to eat again. So after driving back to Hotel JAL, we walked down the road to Loui’s favourite cafe for lunch. I thought a chicken ceaser salad would be good (and wasn’t disappointed); but it’s a good thing I was hungry!

Sometime after lunch, we headed in to the city to try and squeeze as much value out of the great weather as we possibly could. We positioned ourselves in Circular Quay around sunset to take photos of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and the Sydney Skyline, and our efforts paid off with some fantastic shots.

We met up with brother Jason at the Opera bar, as well as Rebecca, or “Bok” as she’s known by the locals. Loui’s twin brother Paul also joined us, with his lovely (and new!) fiancee Dani. Dani’s engagement ring is the size of a small planet! Anyway – sitting at the Opera bar (effectively on the “outer deck” of the Opera house), enjoying some drinks with family and friends, and watching the sun set, was the perfect way to round off our Sydney holiday. Well, that’s not entirely true – watching the Broncos (our home team) thump the Manly Sea Eagles (Jason’s home team) was really the perfect way to end our holiday .

We were very sad to be leaving Jason and Louise the next morning, but were very thankful to have been able to see them again! Hopefully we can find a way to get them to move back to New York!

Kristy and I have booked in to Palace Dahl to undertake a Sydney shopping spree right before Christmas this year. We’ll be down there from the 3rd to the 5th of December, shopping up a storm for all the good boys and girls back home. (Note: no presents for the people on the naughty list). With any luck, Team BAM will also be joining us on our adventure too!

If you’re feeling inspired to take a trip somewhere around Australia, make sure you take advantage of the Million Seat Sale that Qantas are currently offering. But be quick – the sale is only on for a week!