We spent four nights in Sydney which was the perfect amount of time to unwind from our road trip. From Sydney to the rest of our trip in Australia, we started to slow down a lot more. It could be the lesson of you don’t have to do everything that people recommend. Since we had been fitting in so much during our trip thus far, we took a handful of rest days here.
Here are some highlights from when we were actually out and about exploring Sydney.
Carrot Cake from Up South Bondi
Before we left on this whole trip abroad, Nathan’s sister (hi, Lauren) got us hooked on carrot cake. So it is fitting that every time we see carrot cake on a menu, we order it. I have been following Up South Bondi on TikTok for awhile and thought might as well stop in since we are in the area. Long story short, I highly recommend stopping by Up South Bondi if you have a chance. While you’re at it, order the carrot cake.
Exploring Bondi Beach
We actually went to Bondi Beach twice. Once while we still had the rental car from our road trip and the other to meet up with friends of a friend! It was a nice atmosphere with people out and about, enjoying the sunshine. Here you do what most tourists do: walk around and watch people swim in the classic Bondi Icebergs Pool. Meeting up with some new friends the next day was a plus as well.
Surry Hills
When we plan our trips, the majority of our time is spent researching what neighborhood to stay in for the city we are going to. Each city typically has its central business district, party area, family neighborhood, etc. Not surprisingly, Nathan and I have been straying away from busy downtowns and party areas. Instead we look for places that are at least walkable to main areas/coffee shops, quieter, and evolving. For Sydney, the suburb that checked all our boxes was Surry Hills. It lived up to the name with its hills that Nathan loved to run up and down. One of our best finds in this area was our Airbnb. It was a nice studio at the top of a town house with its own entrance. An added bonus was the two great hosts who lived in the townhouse below the studio. They had a lot of helpful tips for our last road trip to Brisbane and were super friendly.
Ferry to Manly Beach
While we knew we wanted to relax a little more during our time in Sydney, we also wanted to at least see the harbor and venture a little bit. The best way we found to do this was to take the ferry from Sydney Harbour to Manly Beach. When you start the journey, you get to see the quintessential view of Sydney with the opera house (smaller in person than I thought it would be) and bridge. From there it is a nice breezy ride straight to Manly Beach. While we were in Manly we walked around, watched the surfers and tried to avoid getting attacked from by the magpies while we ate our fish and chips. After hanging out there for the afternoon, we hopped back on the ferry to Sydney. Simple as that.
