Sydney Part 2

   Friday morning Andy woke up first as usual. He and Aliya headed out of the hotel, and came back with groceries for breakfasts and a large skinny flat white (yes, that's a coffee) for me. Breakfast in bed! We cleared out the mini bar to store our milk, yogurt, and fruit. Then it was time to head off on our first adventure.
      From the very beginning of planning, Andy knew what he wanted to do in Sydney: a bike tour. We'd done them in Munich and Barcelona and felt they were a great way to get an overview of a new city. After a bit of Googling, we booked the four-hour Sydney Classic Tour  for Friday morning. Given that we had a lot of bike-riding ahead of us, we opted to take a taxi up to  "The Rocks," an area of Sydney near the bridge and the Opera House where the Bonza Bike Tours was located. We got our bikes and helmets, and waited for the other five tour members to arrive.

    Once everyone was ready, we walked the bikes down a steep, narrow laneway and found a nice spot near a huge cruise ship for a briefing. That's when we discovered that Aliya's hand brakes were too far for her hands to comfortably reach. While we'd checked to make sure she could comfortably reach the pedals and handlebars, she hadn't actually tried braking. Fortunately, Andy used to work in a bike shop, and the guide had a backpack with some tools, and they were able to make the necessary adjustments.

   Our first real stop had a great view, so of course we had to get our picture with the iconic Sydney Opera House. What I didn't get a picture of is the Japanese tourists taking pictures and videos of Alanna and Aliya! They are apparently fascinated with other children, especially when they are of the blonde-hair, blue-eyed variety.

We rode around Dawes Point, and eventually looped onto the Sydney bridge.

   You can see from the picture below they wanted to keep us separate from the train tracks next to us. It was a bit freaky when the train went by, shaking the bridge.

We rode halfway across, then stopped for a group photo...

...and to admire the fabulous views. We could actually see the famous Blue Mountains in the distance from here. 

   We truly lucked out on getting such a spectacularly clear and beautiful day. The day before it was absolutely pouring rain.

    After all that riding, it was time for Andy's favourite (when in Oz, spell as the Aussies do) stop: a pub! 

 Yes, it's named the Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel. Australia can be confusing that way, because hotels are really pubs. Andy found this out before while trying to book accommodations for our Mt. Buller trip.

Suitably refreshed, the group continued on, as we still had a lot to see and do, including: biking through Darling Harbour, a very touristy area.

We rode to, then walked through, Chinatown.

We biked through Hyde Park,

and saw the Anzac War Memorial,

 took our photo at the Archibald fountain,

 

goofed off at the fountain (and decided to visit St. Mary's Cathedral--seen in the background--at a later time,)

walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens (bike riding prohibited, but walking on grass encouraged)

 viewed the Opera House and bridge from Mrs. Macquarie's Point:

 took another family photo:

 flexed our muscles:

and took a group photo. Would you believe one of the couples was from Pittsburgh? Small world!

 

    The kids were pretty tired by the end of it, but they made it. We replenished our fluids at the Lowebrau Keller. Actually wasn't our first choice, but we needed somewhere to sit after buying food from the street vendors--yummy Turkish flatbread concoction with chicken, cheese, and spinach for the grownups, and meatball sandwiches for the kids.

We took a taxi back to the hotel for a short break. A couple of hours later, the kids had revived and were eager to go swimming. We loaded up our swim bag and set off for the Cook and Phillip Park Aquatic Center, which was just on the other side of Hyde Park. The mom of one of Aliya's friends used to live in Sydney, and had given us a lot of tips and suggestions on kid-friendly places to go. This was one of her ideas, and it was a great one.

   After a nice swim, we walked back to the hotel. Had dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant, and by the end, the kids were completely exhausted. Back to bed to rest up for another exciting day ahead!