96 Hours in Sydney
We landed in Sydney 22 hours after leaving the oasis that was Babylonstoren, jetlagged, discombobulated and bursting with excitement to finally be setting foot in Australia, a place that has been on our bucket list for as long as either of us can remember. On the plane ride over I started re-reading Bill Bryson’s “In a Sunburned Country”, a brilliantly hilarious novel about Australia that reminded me that we were entering perhaps the most venomous, toothed, naturally vicious continent on the planet and to not let the easy access to oat milk flat whites, avocado toast and Acai bowls trick us into letting our guard down after South Africa! Damn. 🤣 (As a total aside, I have started reading a book set in or about each country we are visiting as a way to ground and bring context to our travels, and have absolutely loved the process and insight it delivers along the way... If anyone has advice for New Zealand, Ecuador or the Virgin Islands, I’d love suggestions!)
As our plane made its final descent into Sydney, our steward came over the PA welcoming us to the native lands of the Gadigal people and thanking them for sharing their country with us…let the homeschool deep dive into Aboriginal culture and history begin! Education around colonization and European domination of native peoples has become incredibly resonant in many of the places our travels have taken us this year and a constant point of discussion. Australia certainly seems to be making a real effort, starting with that Qantus announcement. While there is no way to amend for the horrific wrongs of the past, it is nice to see a country that is so clearly trying to make reparations. I was also excited to deep dive into the rich culture of aboriginal history with the boys as we started discovering this new country.
In general, we’ve found cities hard with kids, especially jetlagged kids. Our boys tend to thrive in smaller settings where nature dominates, less so in classic museums, fancy restaurants and grown-up boutiques and shops. That being said, Sydney could not have been a more beautiful and welcoming city to land in, especially when filled with the perfect sparkling light of spring and endless trees and plants in bloom. We checked into our hotel down by the Quay and set off for an afternoon preamble in the direction of the opera house. The Sydney Opera House is truly a beautiful sight to behold, glistening like a sail or a seashell above the water, drawing you in from miles around. Even the boys found it pretty cool to explore. After taking in its shimmering beauty, we wandered into the neighboring Royal Botanical Gardens where Sydney really came into its own for the boys 😊. A shockingly beautiful, expansive park with gardens wrapping the lower edge of the city along the harbor, the RBG happens to house the most impressive collection of good climbing trees we’ve discovered not only on this trip, but I dare say in in the boys’ sweet little lives. For two boys who love climbing trees more than most things in this world, it really doesn’t get much better. The remainder of our 4 days in Sydney were spent in constant negotiations with the boys as they tried to get back to the gardens after every museum, shop or restaurant stop so they could climb more trees. I must admit, I couldn’t really blame them as it was a wonderful place to make the hours disappear.
While it would be easy to have a week vanish in the clean, beautiful, wonderfully walkable city that is Sydney, we did our best to cram in as much as possible in 4 days, balancing our jetlag and the main attractions, averaging about 7 miles a day of walking, fueled by consistent stops for croissants and delicious coffee. Coffee culture is Australia is quite on point and there is no shortage of scrumptious cups to be found. We discovered a bakery called Banksia, halfway between our hotel and the Royal Botanic Gardens, and would start each morning with a mission there for croissants, morning cakes, cookies and flat whites before heading off to explore. We took the infinitely long lift to the top of the Sydney Eye for a quite-beautiful panoramic view of the city, explored the Australian Museum to begin our education of Aboriginal culture, dove into the Aquarium to learn about the oceans and animals on this entirely new continent, and wandered the Quay where the first fleet landed so long ago. We ate at some delicious restaurants, gorging on Mexican food and sushi after months without, and made the pilgrimage to IN BED, my absolute favorite linen company, that happens to be Australian. For the life of him, Huxley couldn’t understand why on earth we traveled all the way across town to look at sheets and pillow cases that we couldn’t buy as they wouldn’t fit into our carry-ons….I guess he has a point 🤣.
On our last day we ventured across the harbor to Luna Park, a Coney Island-style amusement park with a giant laughing-face gate beckoning you in to come ride roller coasters and make yourself sick on cotton candy and fried, doughy cake. The boys have never been to an amusement park before and it was so Australian and wonderful I’m sure they are ruined for life. It was perfectly clean and, being a school day, virtually empty, which meant we didn’t have to wait in a single line for the entire 3 hours we were there. The best part was that it was designed toward smaller children, which meant no shortage of rides and adventures suitable for someone of Huxley’s height. We rode roller coasters backwards, forwards, and upside down. We plummeted down tall towers, free-falling toward the ground. We flew through the air and over the water in swings, and took the Ferris wheel up, down and around savoring the view. There is no denying that it was pretty damn fun! We left Sydney slightly less jetlagged (the 10-hour time difference from South Africa was brutal for Will and me and had us waking up at all hours of the night, tossing and turning, and generally not sleeping, although the boys proved complete champs and after one restless night settled back into their normal solid 11-hour sleeps) and excited for the adventure of exploring Australia to come.
RANDOM RECS
We didn’t have enough time to fully delve into Sydney and as such don’t as many recs to share as we wish!
If you love linens a pilgrimage to IN BED is in order.
Croissants, pastries and coffee at Banksia.
Bar Patron for a delicious Mexican fix.
Fun, modern, very well executed sushi at Saké
When we visited the Sydney Tower Eye, we skipped the introductory video and just went straight up the lift which meant we had 20 minutes completely to ourselves to quietly walk around and relish the completely empty views. It was the best accident ever!
All three boys got a nice freshen up at Grand Royal Barbers.