Tuesday 26/12
It’s Boxing Day today.
We wake up around 8am. Cereals breakfast. We also buy fruits in the hostel. I’ve always thought that youth hostels were for the young people but the guests range from all ages. This is probably because they not only offer dorms (with shared bathrooms / amenities) but also rooms with private bathroom. As I’ve already said, this kind of hotel is very convenient. The hostel organizes many activities (which is probably very attractive for people traveling alone) and offers many services, including the booking of many travel excursions / trips in and around Sydney.
I go and fill the tank of our rental car. We then go and return it back to Europcar.
We take a direct bus to Arthur Bryne Reserve, on Maroubra Beach, where Bram Gruwez, the GM of BESIX Australia and a friend of mine, organizes a barbie. It’s a great initiative. We’re happy to discover the Australian way of life of the expat community. Our 3 kids are very happy to spend an afternoon talking and playing with other kids of their age. What a great afternoon! Thanks a lot, Sylvie and Bram!
We then walk a trail to Malabar beach, recommended by my friend Alexis who also lives in Sydney. It’s a 2.5 km path from Maroubra Beach to Malabar Beach, along the cliffs. It takes about an hour. Nice views!
Both Alexis and Bram greatly helped us in organizing our trip in Australia (and in NZ).
We then take the bus back to the Rocks, the (very central) district in Sydney where our hostel is located.
There are 4 million inhabitants in Sydney (which represents roughly 20% of the Australian population). For info, out of the total 24 million inhabitants of Australia, 20% live in Melbourne and 10% in Brisbane.
We walk along the quay to enjoy the nice view on the Opera House. We stop at an Italian restaurant to eat a pizza.
We come back to the hostel around 9:30pm.
Isabelle works on the wish card and I book a guided tour of the Opera House, an evening at the same Opera House and a nice restaurant for an evening out for Isabelle and me. We work till 1am.
