Last days down under

Tuesday: In the morning Fiona and I went for a coastal walk intending to reach Manly for Lunch. Not Quite. We took the cliff path from Dee Why to Curl Curl which would usually take around 30 minutes but with Fiona took an hour! The route itself was really cool and gave some fantastic views of Dee Why and Curl Curl. As I said the plan was to reach Manly and meet up with Kev, Isla and Connor for lunch but we only made it as far as Freshwater, which was a lovely and quiet beach about 20 minutes walk up the hill from Manly. We grabbed lunch there and synced up with Kev and Isla in the car park (they grabbed lunch in the flat) to go to Taronga Zoo

Taronga Zoo was brilliant. The zoo overlooked Sydney and the animals were terrific. We got very close to Kangaroo's, Koala Bears, Giraffes and were able to look at many more from a distance (although they were usually sleeping in the head). Connor was in top form and was loving every minute. We went to the bird show which was set in a mini theatre with no trees blocking the views to the opera house and harbour bridge. These birds were well trained and what I liked best was that the bird keepers would really try and interact with the audience by making the birds fly over our heads. It does not sound to impressive in text but when you consider that one of the birds was a giant eagle, trust me it was really cool.

Wednesday: Fiona and I headed into Sydney and went on the free walking tour which was really interesting. It talked about the history of Sydney (bunch of criminals) and pointed out a revolving restaurant in Australia Square which we would visit later for Cocktails. Very similar to the one in Times Square but a little bit cheaper :). That day we also went shopping for Christmas presents which was a horrendous experience for me but an enjoyable one for Fiona.

Our last full day in Sydney was epic. In the morning we headed down to Dee Why beach, played with Connor at his favourite play park before heading onto the beach to soak up the rays and munch on some delicious pizza. After another stop at the playpark we (Isla, Connor, Fiona and myself) headed into Sydney and had some Champagne by the Opera house after which we met up with Kev to see the Christmas tree lit up in St. Martins Place.

Our leaving day was very sad. We did not want to go! We said our goodbyes and gave Connor a Koula bear teddy which he hugged to sleep. We miss him already! A very big big thanks to Kev and Isla for allowing us to stay and we hope to visit the 4 of them next year!

After a very turbulent flight we arrived in Dubai, blog coming up about that later!
Photos:

Sydney

Byron Bay

Jervis Bay