Heaps Fun in NSW

After our stunning visit to Fraser Island, we had a relatively traffic free drive back to Brisbane from River Heads, in the dark, and then spent a short night at one of the airport hotels. Today we’re doing a short flight down the coast to Newcastle. The first attraction is this Fokker F-100 that’s going to take us there. After KLM retired these birds about 12 years ago I didn’t think I’d ever fly on one again!

On arrival in Newcastle, we had another luxury car service waiting for us – my old friend Chantal, who moved to Australia from Canada about 8 years ago. We also met up on my previous visit to Sydney in 2023:

https://travelwithfamily.ca/2023/08/13/the-emerald-city/

We went down to the harbour for lunch. I had another schnitty – this time with a little flair.

At water’s edge, the seagulls certainly didn’t waste any time cleaning up leftovers from departing patrons – including us when we got up to leave.

Our accommodation for the night is out in the wine country of the Hunter Valley. We had this cottage and only a minute’s walk to the right was a nice outdoor pool!

Later in the evening, we all went to see what the huge Christmas lights setup at the Hunter Valley Gardens was all about. It did look very nice. We didn’t go in however, as none of us were too excited about it and it wasn’t cheap.

The following morning, before Chantal dropped us at the train station, we stopped to check out the views of Merewether Beach. It was pretty windy this morning but was still a beautiful spot.

Ellie surprisingly warmed up quickly to Chantal’s best friend Ruger. He was super chill for a big dog.

Our quick stop in Newcastle is over – thanks Chantal! Here’s our train that will take us down to Sydney.

I picked up some delicious chips for the ride down.

Although the railway runs more or less along the coast, at most points it was far enough inland not to see any water, but there were a few places north of Sydney where it crossed some of the inlets, like here at the Hawkesbury River.

A couple hours after leaving Newcastle, and my friend Vicki, who was on the trip to Antarctica with me almost 2 years ago, picked us up at a suburban Sydney train station. We had a quick late lunch and then she took us out to the Northern Beaches for a scenic tour.

We went to the northernmost point of Sydney, North Palm Beach, and hiked up the steep hill (most sections were stairs) to the Barrenjoey Lighthouse. On the way up the trail there was a very interesting rock formation that looked like an oyster!

After that trip up the hill, we felt we’d earned dinner – and we had a delicious one at one of Vicki’s favourite Italian restaurants in Five Dock.

For our final full day in Australia, we headed out reasonably early and caught the ferry from Huntleys Point to the city.

The ferry is such a pleasant and civilized way to get around – not to mention scenic.

We disembarked at Circular Quay, and headed over to the Sydney Opera House for some photos.

Here are the three of us just outside the Opera House.

Ellie couldn’t resist doing some gymnastics in front of the iconic landmark.

Although it was looking a bit blustery, we continued on with another ferry ride over to the Taronga Zoo.

It was definitely good for a long stay – I think we spent about 4 hours there.

I wonder if the gorillas eat Hungry Jack’s.

One of the stops near the end is the giraffe enclosure. These guys have one of the best views in town.

The lemurs were certainly playful.

We couldn’t miss a stop at the penguin pool right at the exit to the zoo, just after the seals.

Once we were done at the zoo, we caught an Uber over to Manly. We’d planned to have fish and chips there on the beach as is the tradition. However, the weather had other plans as a very angry set of clouds started to roll only moments after we got out of the car.

We ducked into one of the hotels to escape the first downpour, and when it broke we headed over to The Corso for ice cream as Ellie had been promised hours ago. It started to pour again when we were in the ice cream shop, and became quite windy.

So much for fish and chips on the beach. We enjoyed a consolation prize of fish and chips on the beach front, but inside at a proper restaurant.

The beach was deserted as the undertow with the waves was just too rough and we’d heard lifeguards telling people to go to the harbour side if they wanted to go in the water.

We walked back down to the ferry terminal on the other side of the peninsula, and said goodbye to Manly.

The purpose of being over here at this time was to enjoy the sunset on our ferry ride back to the city, and well, it certainly did not disappoint. The Sydney Harbour is just such a beautiful place.

Down at Circular Quay again, the storm of the late afternoon was a distant memory.

We passed under the Harbour Bridge with a stop at Barangaroo on the other side of the Sydney CBD. Barangaroo is recently gentrified area which was redeveloped from industrial port facilities to commercial office spaces, condos and hotels.

Crown Sydney is the tallest building in Sydney at 890 ft and 75 floors and hosts condos, a hotel, and casino. What a nice day out we had despite the short lived storm.

Well, hard to believe that it’s already time to go home. Vicki dropped us at the Sydney airport the following morning, and after check in we had a bit of time to rest in the Air New Zealand lounge.

Which had excellent barista made coffee.

Ellie enjoyed some juice with her new friends from Australia.

Curiously, there was an alpaca wearing warm gear in one of the shops. Seemed a bit out of place.

We’re ready to go.

See you next time, Oz! We will definitely stay for longer on our next trip!

Spectacular views over the Sydney Harbour as we depart.

The hammerhead shaped point at the upper centre of the photo is where we hiked to the lighthouse 2 days prior!

Even with a few glasses of bubbles to pass the time, it was hard to get much sleep due to the flight being mostly during the day.

The flight is almost entirely over the ocean and the view was only broken by a few islands in the South Pacific.

We had a short (too short – our luggage didn’t make it) stop in Vancouver, and before we knew it we descended over the Rockies and were back home again. That is it for 2025!