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
Did not realize we'd be here on Australia Day when planning the trip, but so we were. Encountered parts of the parade in the morning, bands at Martin Place, and very brief fireworks shows several times. With everyone celebrating Australia Day, we walked across Darling Harbour and the Pyrmont Bridge to the Sydney Fish Market, which is beautiful and very busy in its new location.
Took our time and walked around the entire market before settling on Fish Market Cafe, along with some fresh oysters from Musumeci Seafoods. The two person meal ended up being a ton of food, and as much as we were tempted to order more, we were too full!
Took one of the ferries back from Pyrmont to Circuluar Quay so that Diana could get her sailing-under-the-bridge moment, then decided on a tour of the opera house since we were there already. Sydney Opera House's history and architecture are both quite interesting, and the whole experience felt well worth it-- made doubly so in that they had taken down much of the Australia Day setups already by the time we finished our tour at sunset, and we could get more photos, this time on the steps, without all the fences and stages in the way.
Dinner wasn't rough per se due to the holiday, but we definitely did some wandering before we found it. Primi Italian is top-rated but we found it more okay than exceptional. Food came out warm instead of hot, which was odd (maybe an Aussie thing?), but the quality was not bad, and on our return to the hotel that night, we got a brief (very brief) fireworks show.