Sydney!

Our drive to Sydney took a bit longer than expected as we hit some traffic for the first time this entire trip. We arrived in Manly around 11am and decided to get some lunch before hitting the beach.

Manly is like a nicer, cleaner version of Surfer's Paradise and we immediately liked it. The weather was gorgeous (though Bernard thought it was too hot) and the water was warm. The beach was still pretty crowded, but nothing like SP. Unfortunately, we forgot to grab the camera before heading to the beach, so no pics :-(  It's too bad too, because the waves were decent and there was a really good surfer weaving his way in between the many swimmers. It was very impressive.

We spent about 2 hours on the beach before heading to the airport to drop off the rental car and grab a taxi to our hotel. We are staying at the Marriott in Sydney Harbour, which it turns out, is an excellent location. The hotel is close to everything and the view from our room is awesome.

Night view of Sydney Bridge from hotel room

After checking in, we walked around and got acquainted with the area. The city is beautiful and everything here is open late! We decided to get some sushi for dinner, then headed down to Darling Harbour and Cockle Bay.

Great water sculpture for kids

There is so much to do, we wish we had more than just one day.

As luck would have it, our last day in Australia just happens to be Australia Day! There is a huge celebration all day long at Darling Harbour, with a fireworks show as the finale. We are very excited!