Monday 01/01
We wake up around 10:30am. Jules and Ludivine are already on their phones/tablets since 8:30am…
I go to Woolies to buy some chocolate breads. It has been quite a while we haven’t eaten chocolate bread but Ludivine nevertheless doesn’t take any to keep her good resolutions. During this world tour she has become more and more health conscious and since she has a very strong willpower she really eats as healthy as possible, which is not always easy when you travel.
We leave around noon to go to Manly, a beachside suburb of northern Sydney. It takes 1h30 to arrive there (walk to Central station, train to Circular Quay and 30′ ferry to Manly). It’s always a pleasure to take the ferry on this superb Bay. Manly has a relaxed holiday vibe.
Once in Manly, we go and see the ‘Sashimi Bowl’, which is bigger than the one on Crown street. We eat our picnic while waiting for the bus to Fairfax Lookout, in the Outer North Head. Nice viewpoint on the Pacific Ocean and on the (2 km) wide entrance to Sydney Harbour.
From the spectacular Fairfax Lookout, we walk (downwards) through bushland to the crowded Shelly Beach before reaching Manly Beach by a nice path. Nice walk. We’ve walked much during our stay in Sydney (today is our last day): 16 km per day on average!
We have no time for a swim on the (also overcrowded) Manly Beach; we take the ferry back to Sydney. I indeed have booked tickets for the opera tonight, for Isabelle and I. We arrive home at 6:45pm and the performance starts at 7:30pm at the Sydney Opera House. Just the time for a quick shower and to change clothes and here we go again, back to the quays. We have no time to prepare something to eat for the kids. I think it’s the first time of the trip when we leave them one evening alone just saying “check what’s left in the fridge”…
We reach the Opera 5′ before the beginning of the opera. Tonight it’s a concert of the ‘Great Opera Hits’ (see picture for the programme). It’s obviously quite popular but we much enjoy the performance in this great setting. The public was also quite “popular”; there were even people in shorts…It’s quite exciting to attend an opera in this mythical place!
We come back home around 10pm. Kids were not yet sleeping!
We sleep around midnight.
