Day 1:
We arrived at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport early in the morning. After immigration and customs we lined up for the taxi line for a cab to the hotel. We were staying at Sheraton on the Park which is located right opposite of St. James station by Hyde Park. I had researched that we could take the airport train straight to St. James station but it would be cheaper to take a cab for the 4 of us and also avoid having to carry around our luggage. In fact throughout our Sydney trip, for short distances it came out very close between renting a cab rather than take public transport like trains/metro. Also if you are planning on visiting Featherdale Wildlife Park, before leaving the baggage claim don’t forget to pick up the brochure advertising discount coupons for the park. I have written more about this below.
After checking into the hotel and freshening up, we took a cab to the Opera House. It was so surreal to finally stand in front of the iconic Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and see it with our own eyes rather than watching it on TV.
We walked around the Opera House taking plenty of pictures. Right beside the Opera House is the Royal Botanic Gardens. We decided to walk along the water by the gardens all the way to Macquaries Chair.
Ideally you want to arrive at Macquarie’s chair and then walk along the water towards the Opera House so that you are approaching it rather than the opposite direction. The walk took only 30 minutes at a leisurely pace. When we reached Macquaries Chair, we took some more pictures of the Opera House with the Harbour Bridge behind it.
By the time we walked back to Opera House it was close to noon and time for lunch. I had researched Indian restaurants for my parents and due to its reviews and high ratings we opted for The Spice Room (Indian restaurant by Circular Quay). Here is my Tripadvisor review for The Spice Room, Sydney.
After lunch, we took a cab back to the hotel for some afternoon rest. We also bought an Opal Card for all 4 of us from a convenience store nearby. Late afternoon, we took a cab back to Circular Quay. We wanted to visit the Manly Island on a ferry and used our opal card for the trip (round trip: $15 AUD). The ferry ride to Manly takes about 20-25 minutes and it was nice to see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House again from the water.
After reaching Manly, we exited the wharf and crossed the street and walked a couple of minutes to Manly Beach. Don’t get confused by the beach next to the pier – that’s not Manly Beach.
Water was pretty cold and we weren’t planning on getting in the water anyway. We decided to walk from Manly Beach to Shelly Beach (walk to the right when you are facing the waters on Manly Beach).
Shelly Beach has less waves than Manly beach because being at the end, partially surrounded by land. We spent some time there people watching. Shelly Beach must get its name from all the broken shells that make up the beach, there is hardly any sand.
We walked back to Manly beach and did some souvenir shopping on the way back to the ferry pier. By the time the ferry was approaching Sydney again, it was just past sunset and we got to see the Opera House looking gorgeous in the dark.
After getting off the ferry, we walked back to the Opera House and walked around for a while.
It was time for dinner by now and we took a cab to Mamak Restaurant (Malaysian chain restaurant). Here is my Tripadvisor review for Mamak, Sydney.
Day 2:
We originally had plans to visit Bondi Beach this day but it started raining from early morning and we changed our plans and decided to visit the Featherdale Wildlife Park instead. Karen was very keen on seeing kangaroos, koalas and wallaby’s up close. Here is an easy way to get to Featherdale Wildlife Park from the city.
* Take T1 North Shore, Northern and Western line to Blacktown Station.
* Exit the station looking for signs for bus stand E.
* Take bus 729 from bus stand E to Featherdale Wildlife Park (10 minute bus journey, bus stops just opposite of the park).
If you are planning on visiting Featherdale Wildlife Park, don’t forget to take the brochure that is available for free on the baggage arrivals hall past immigration in Sydney Airport. Each brochure has a 20% Featherdale Park discount coupon on the back. The discount is per person and you can use one coupon for up to 4 people in your group.
We spent the next 3 hours at the Featherdale Park. We got to see a variety of birds and mammals. We saw wallabies, kangaroos, koalas, wombats, tasmanian devil, dingos etc. We both got to feed a couple of wallabies up close and it was one of the most precious moments we ever had in visiting a zoo.
We also had picture taken next to a koala, although he was sleeping (they do sleep 18 hours a day!!).
The Featherdale Park also has a reptile area where we saw both the most venomous (Inland Taipan snake) as well as 4th most venomous snake (Tiger snake) in the world.
By the time we returned back to city after visiting Featherdale Park, it was way past lunchtime and we were all hungry. We took the train to Kings Cross Station where I had planned on having lunch at the Malabar South Indian Restaurant. However, the restaurant was already closed for lunch and we walked around and found this Thai Restaurant called Darlo 199 Thai Restaurant. My Tripadvisor review for Darlo 199 Thai Restaurant.
After lunch, we took a a cab back to our hotel for some rest. In the evening, we crossed the street opposite our hotel and explored Hyde Park for a few minutes.
Then we walked from Hyde park past some busy shopping malls to this lesser known artistic street called Angel Place, located between Pitt Street and George Street. The artist work involves empty hanging birdcages called Forgotten Songs. When you walk below it you hear sounds of birds chirping and the sounds change from day to night.
Next we took a cab to Darling Harbour. We wandered around Darling Harbour for the next 2 hours just people watching, checking out shops and restaurants.
Day 3:
This being our last day in Sydney, we wanted to visit Bondi Beach. We took 333 bus right by St. James station all the way to Bondi Beach. Being a weekday, we were not that surprised to see the beach kinda empty compared to the pictures I had seen.
Bondi Beach, Icebergs Poolhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fowAZuLrcI
While my parents decided to just relax by the beach, we wanted to do some hiking. I had read good things about the Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach walk and although neither of us were in any shape to do the whole walk (and also had time constraints), we decided to only hike to the end of the cliffs by Bondi Beach.
We walked back to Bondi Beach and picked up my parents and had lunch by Bondi Beach. Karen picked up some Fish & Chips at The Fish House by Bondi Beach while me and my parents had some pizza at Il Puntino. After lunch, we took the 333 bus back to our hotel and checked out to take the cab back to Sydney Airport where we were staying the night for early flight to Queenstown next day.