Sydney - Saturday, 22 June 2019

Today was a free day in Sydney. We had breakfast around 8 and headed out to catch one of the Hop On Hop Off buses to see some more of the city than we had yesterday and also to travel to Bondi Beach. It was a cool morning after the rain overnight.

 It was a short walk to the pick-up point. We did get to see some different views of the sites, plus hear some good commentary about those sites. 

Captain Cook

El-Alamein Memorial Fountain

,

The Sydney Library

 We traveled the whole route and then went to the 2nd stop where we got off to go to the top of the Sydney Tower. 

It was a clear day and the views were spectacular.

After the tower visit, we walked to where we could pick up the Blue Route tour for Bondi Beach. By the time we had left the CBD and headed out toward the Paddington section, it had started to drizzle. Who knew that we would be on Oxford Street in Paddington? It is the site of the Gay/Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. Leaving that area the rain became harder, but we knew there was sunshine somewhere since we saw a rainbow. 

The drops on the windscreen of the bus hampered photographs, but we managed a few as we neared the beach. There were so many marinas and very many expensive homes. As we headed back toward Sydney the views of this skyscraper filled city were awesome. Our tour ended at the Central Terminal where we hailed a taxi to return to the hotel. It was a great day. Our only regret was that we didn’t have time to explore the Queen Victoria Building. 

 Back at the hotel we got things ready for the morning departure.

At 4:30 we met the rest of our Collette group in the lobby to depart for the sunset dinner cruise. It was fairly dark as we departed. Dinner was a choice of salmon, chicken, or a vegetable entreé. The cruise was very short, basically dinner. But the city presents itself beautifully with all the lights.

Bed at 8:30 since we need to depart at 5:00 a.m.