Index
Days 1/2: Flying
Day 3: Great Ocean Road
Day 4: Great Ocean Road
Day 5: Yarra Valley
Day 6: Melbourne
Day 7: Sydney
Day 8: Sydney
Day 9: Sydney
Day 10: Sydney
Day 11: Return
Australia
Unlike our packed schedule in Melbourne, we had a much more unstructured trip in Sydney. Decided to visit Bondi Beach today, taking the train from Sydney's central business district to Bondi Junction, then walking down to Bondi Beach. Bondi Junction itself felt quite dated, like an old school beach town, while Bondi Beach itself felt like, well, a slightly less old beach town.
With the weather seeming to alternate between clear and kind of hazy/overcast days, today was more hazy, so we spent less time at the beach than is generally recommended. Bondi Icebergs is clearly a tourist trap, but it's a famous (and unique) tourist trap for a reason, and is worth a visit, even if the pool is salty and the food is expensive. Perhaps if it was clear, we might have done the Bondi to Coogee Walk, but instead, we hopped on a bus back to Sydney proper after a few hours.
We got off the bus a few stops short of where we got on the train that morning, instead checking out Hyde Park, the Anzac Memorial, Archibald Memorial Fountain, and Sydney Tower Eye, including Bar 83 in the Sydney Tower Eye itself. Bar 83 seems to aspire to a high-end experience but ends up being more of a casual one, which to be fair, worked out well enough given our mid-day timing.
Did a leisurely stroll down to Chinatown for dinner, stopping a few times for beverages, ranging from fancy bars to downright casual ones, and found a massive line at Taste of Changbai Northeastern Cuisine. All the local kids (at least that's how they looked to these old eyes) packed in there; after they'd packed in, they said it was an hour wait. We instead walked around Chinatown til we settled on Canton Cafe, which hit the spot with beef chow fun (beef hor fun?), roast pork and roast duck clay pot, and of course, more noodle soup.
Being a Friday night, saw quite a few bars and cafes packed on the walk back to the hotel. Not quite sure what was going on at all of them, but being a Friday alone is reason enough to be out enjoying yourself.