Day one of exploring Sydney and the sun was finally shining!!! Our flight back from the Gold Coast didn’t land until 10pm which included the time going an hour forward too and by the time the Uber picked us up we were at the hostel at 11pm. It wasn’t long before we fell asleep to wake at 10am Tuesday when we got up pretty much straight away to go exploring.
Our hostel, Home Backpackers, was situated in Surry Hills, which was a perfect location to exploring.
Our destination was Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. It was pretty much one straight road all the way up. The first part consisted mainly of hotels but then we came to Hyde Park. 
Situated within Hyde Park was the ANZAC memorial, a tribute to the Australian Imperial Force who fought in World War One. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Anzac Cove for the Battle of Gallipoli in 1916. 
It reminded us of the Abraham Lincoln memorial in Washington DC with the water and the towering structure at the end.
As we came to the middle of the park we saw St Mary’s Cathedral through the trees.
As we got closer we could see it had lakes of water in front of it and steps too.
The area was full of people taking selfies and as we walked further up the road past it there was an incredibly drunk man spouting off some religious nonsense as people were giving him a wide berth.
There were numerous statues of Captain Cook scattered along our route and as we left Hyde Park. He was an English explorer who mapped the coast of New Zealand as well as the south east coast of Australia and the Great Barrier Reef.
From St Mary’s Church we stumbled upon the state library of New South Wales. It was huge and comprised of several different buildings.
On our way to the bridge we also passed through the Botanic Gardens, which, despite the fact I’m not a ‘flowers sort of person,’ were incredibly pretty.
It was from here that we had our first glimpse of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, peering out from between the buildings. Standing the other side of the gardens enabled us to also see the Sydney Opera House. As we walked along the last bit of the road towards the magnificent structures, I found myself a bit in disbelief that we were actually there. It’s somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for so many years and now we could sit and gaze upon these two pieces of structural beauty. 
It was stunning it really was. We sat at the Opera Bar and had a drink whilst soaking in the sights around us and googling the boat tour companies that passed us on the water.
It was pure bliss. Once we’d finished our drinks we headed in to the gift shop at the Sydney Opera House and then walked all around the outside.
The views all around were just beautiful. It helped that it was hot, the sun was shining and the sky was blue! There was a huge cruise ship parked up in circular quay too.
After snapping away we headed round to circular quay but not before drifting in and out of all the souvenir shops along the way. Circular quay is where all the ferries leave from and also where we got our opal card, which will be our key to public transport in and around Sydney. 
As we stood by the water trying to figure out where we were going, I peered down only to find there were hundreds of jellyfish swimming around!
Honestly there were loads! We decided to follow the path round to try and get up to the bridge. Instead we got lost.
We found Sydney’s oldest pub, but no matter where we turned we couldn’t find steps to take us up to walk along the bridge. Instead we were stuck underneath it! The maps didn’t help nor did google this time! So, we settled for a view of the Opera House and the underbelly of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The views of both never got old throughout the day. They were just magnificent. From our ‘lost’ location, we walked along the waters edge and around the observatory towards the central business district and darling harbour.
All of a sudden it went from what we deem as quite touristy to everyone wearing suits as the days work came to a close. We eventually located darling harbour and it was beautiful.
We stopped inside the mall for a quick bite to eat before locating our way back to the hostel.
We had walked to and from our hostel in Surry Hills, passing the famous landmarks of Australia. It was epic and more bucket list places ticked off!
Until next time…