G'day from Sydney!

This past weekend, we took our first trip outside of New Zealand to visit Sydney, Australia! 

It was a quick, 3-day trip so it didn't help that we spent a ton of extra time in the airports due to ticket complications! First, our flight was booked through Virgin Australia but operated by Air New Zealand...which we learned after waiting in line with Virgin for 15 minutes. Then we got to Air NZ and they told us we had to have Australian visas in order to get in the country for more than 8 hours. Once we got those taken care of, I couldn't check in because whoever made our booking in the Virgin Australia system put me in as a Mr. instead of a Mrs....womp, womp! They fixed it and we thought our troubles were over...until we tried to check in in Sydney yesterday and had the same issue. Long story, short...after an hour and a half and 6 different people, we got it changed and made our flight back home.

But on to the fun stuff...

We arrived early on Friday morning and took a train to our hotel...which was, of course, a Marriott! Drew was so excited that I think the only thing that could have made it better was if Raleigh had been waiting there for us :) We checked in, got a free bottle of champagne & cheese plate (because of Drew's baller platinum status), then hopped back on the train into downtown Sydney. It was a gorgeous day, but the 35 MPH winds deterred us from going on the Jet Boat cruise we had planned. Instead, we went on a behind the scenes tour of the Sydney Opera House which was super cool!

Drew representing PwC in Sydney!

Then we hopped on a ferry and got to see the city from the water before heading down to Darling Harbour and walking through Wild Life Park which is a zoo of sorts right in the middle of the city. There, I got to check something off of my bucket list...petting a koala!! Drew was so accommodating and didn't even make fun of me and my childish giddiness!

We found a delicious Italian restaurant right on the water and then took a cab back to the hotel and relaxed for the evening. 

Saturday, we woke up and delighted in a delicious Australian McDonald's breakfast then heading back into the city. We really enjoyed walking through the Sydney Aquarium...although the shark exhibit did freak me out quite a bit...

We walked through the middle of downtown to the Tower Eye so we could get an aerial view of the city. It was pretty cool, but the elevators to get to the top were shaped like pie pieces...so if you got stuck at the back you were pretty wedged in! I made my way towards the door to avoid complete claustrophobia!

Next, we walked through the shopping district where we were completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stores to choose from. We grabbed burritos from a yummy Mexican place, then went and sprawled out in the middle of Hyde Park and watched the people and birds fluttering around us because the weather was so perfect!

One of the biggest department stores in Australia had a sign that caught both of our eyes so we couldn't resist...(not sure anyone is surprised by this!)

Last on the list, we embraced our tourist status and bought a genuine pair of UGGs for me and a Crocodile Dundee hat for Drew. After that we were so exhausted and our feet were throbbing so we decided to take the train back to the hotel. We ordered room service and Drew got...wait for it...a turkey sandwich!! We enjoyed our bottle of wine, ate dinner and watched a movie.

Sunday, we got up, got some breakfast at a German bakery and walked through TARGET!!! Granted, it's not at all the same as the Target back home (even though they swore that they're part of the same company), but it quenched the thirst for the time being! We had lunch back in the Darling Harbour area and then headed to the airport.

It was definitely a whirlwind trip, but we are glad to be home in New Zealand and will look forward to visiting other parts of Australia in the future!

Cheers!