Australia - Part 2

So here's the second part of my holiday
I left off that myself and Colin were heading off to Sydney.
I was the most nervous (I'm a nervous traveller!) about going to Sydney as it was the only place where we weren't staying with anyone and were left to our own devices.  It didn't help when I was asked what part of Sydney we were staying in and was told that it was the red-light-district and could be a bit dodgy! 
Things didn't get any better when we arrived at the airport and Colin's suitcase didn't appear on the carousel.  We went to see if we could get any help and eventually discovered that it was still in Melbourne!  Luckily, there was a flight just about to leave from Melbourne and it was rushed onto it.  Thankfully it was that flight out of the 9 we were on throughout the trip that this happened as it was one of the shortest at an hour and a half.  So we had to hang around the airport til the suitcase turned up.  We put the time to good use though by have a coffee (my first of the whole trip!  Everyone we had been staying with before were tea drinkers so it was good to get a coffee!) and we booked a tour for the next day.  We only had 2 days in Sydney so we wanted to make the most of it.
We got a shuttle bus to our hotel and on the way, we drove around a corner to a view of the Harbour bridge all lit up and we drove under it and the Opera House, also lit up, came into view!  I nearly cried when I saw them both, I just couldn't believe I was actually there seeing them!
And then when we got to the hotel it turned out to be in a lovely area - there was a Lambourgini and Ferrari dealer just around the corner!  So I was a little giddy when we got settled in!

This shows the short flight from Melbourne to Sydney

Our tour bus collected us at our hotel at 7am and we were off for the day.  This is the first place we were taken to, what a way to start the day!

We then went to an area called Manly.  I think this photo says it all! lol!

This is Manly beach.  The story goes that when Captain Cook arrived at the land he saw two figures on the beach.  They were two Aborigine men and he thought they looked manly, so the name stuck!

This was our view of the Opera House as we drove over the Harbour Bridge.

We went on a lunch-time cruise and got some lovely photo's of the area's all around the water, which is most of Sydney!

This is the rest of the city of Sydney that most people forget about thanks to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge!

Ahh, back to the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge!

This picture is currently my desktop picture on my computer at work.  It's great when I'm bored at work I can have a quick peek and I feel so much better!

Then we visited the famous Bondi Beach!

Here are my toes in the water at Bondi Beach!

On our second day we decided to visit the grounds of the Opera House.  We ended up starting the day a little later than we meant to as it was Colin's birthday the day before and we had a few drinks in Sydney when we were dropped off after the tour.

It's hard not to take photo's every couple of steps as you walk around the buildings, every turn has so many new angles and views!  Here are some of them...

We went on a tour in the Opera House too.  You're not allowed to take pictures inside the theatres but these are a couple in the foyer's.

You are able to climb up the frame of the bridge (for a rather large amount of money!) We didn't have time (or money!) to give it a go but we could see other people doing it.

This is Luna Park, it's a state run amusement park located just beside the bridge.  We didn't get to it either but it's fantastic to look at from afar!

It's just across the water from the Opera House, so there's a good view from it as well!

The Botanical Gardens are beside the Opera House so we spent a couple of hours walking around them.  We hadn't intended on spending so long in there, but it was worth it!
This is a BIG tree!

I think it's roots and trunk look like veins or muscles!

Then we came across a flock of (relatively) wild Cockatoos!

There were also heaps of Ibis wandering around!  They're like their version of pigeons!

Colin just happened to look up into a tree and spotted this huge bat hanging from a branch!  I saw it flying around shortly after this and it really was huge!

Then we found an area full of these boyo's!  I took a few photo's and got out of there pronto!  Thankfully they were the only spiders we saw on our whole trip.

More Cockatoos.

And a tree full of Rainbow Lorikeets.  They were really loud!

Then I spotted a Possum, so we followed it as it passed another Ibis.

Isn't it so cute!

So we decided to make our way back to the Opera House to see it lit up at night and we had our dinner at the restaurant.  There's my steak and the Opera House all in one view!

The Harbour Bridge by night

The Opera House by night

The two together by night!

And I'll end this part with a smile and Luna Park by night!

We then had a very early morning the next morning to catch our flight back to Perth for the last part of the trip, which I'll share hopefully tomorrow night.

Thanks for looking!