The City of Sydney, Australia

After a 4 hour plane ride from Auckland, NZ, we fly over the Australian continent.

The Sydney airport has trains that take you into the city. We were able to figure out the logistics and after a currency exchange, we were soon on our way to downtown Sydney.

This was our train. It was a comfortable ride with plenty of space due to the two tier configuration.

The orange sign in the top, right designates the red chair as a courtesy seat. If the train is full, it should be relinquished to the elderly, moms with infants, etc.. It's nice to see that common decency is being established in the "land down under".

The large sandstone colored hotel, Adina, was our home away from home in Sydney

Our hotel suite was very nice and spacious.

The view from the balcony.

The other view from the balcony.

Despite being in another hemisphere, it became clear that the world is keenly aware of U.S. developments. As one New Zealander put it, U.S. decisions impact the global economy. They watch because it matters.

We were really impressed with the knowledge and understanding that Australians and New Zealanders had of U.S. politics. In some cases, I think they have a better grasp than some American citizens. Based on the small sample of those that initiated political conversations, there's a  lot of fear and concern internationally regarding Donald Trump. It was embarrassing as an American to travel abroad and have your "dirty laundry" aired.

We only had 3 days in Sydney so we had to hit the ground walking. We found a really good free walking tour which disproved the "you get what you pay for" adage.

This was our tour guide, Rachel. She's lived in Sydney her entire life and was very friendly and knowledgeable about the city. The free tours are the city's cost effective alternative for tourists to enjoy the city. At the end of the free tour, you could opt to tip any amount or none at all. It was a very professional tour and we learned a lot. She made the experience so enjoyable that you wanted to pay her by the end of the tour and we did.

Sydney Town Hall. About a block from our hotel and our meeting spot for the tour. The exterior is sandstone and boasts a high Victorian architecture

St. Andrew's Cathedral shares Sydney Square with the Town Hall. It is the country's oldest cathedral and has a Gothic Revival design. Originally, this was the front of the cathedral, but it's now the back because the main entrance was moved to another end of the building. This is quite possibly the most ornate rear of a building that you'll ever bear witness.

The QVB is a former produce market that has been refurbished into a grand shopping gallery of 190 shops and boutiques on four levels.

This wishing well incorporates a stone from the Blarney Castle in Ireland. It's purported to bring good luck. We got one as a souvenir when we visited Ireland so that was a cool connection. This monument depicts Islay, the beloved dog of Queen Victoria. This dog is incorporated into numerous monuments around the city.

A dominant feature of the Romanesque building is this central dome. It's sheathed in copper and allows in natural light.

An impressive tree for Crystal outside of Hyde Park.

Game in progress on a giant chessboard in the park.

The Ibis bird population is starting to flourish in Sydney after near extinction. We saw a number of them in the park.

Gothic revival style architecture of St. Mary's Cathedral in Hyde Park.

Auckland lays claim to the tallest tower in the southern Hemisphere, but Sydney claims the highest observation deck. The locals call it the "bucket" for obvious reasons. I thought Auckland's sky tower was a lot cooler.

Australian Commonwealth coat of arms atop the Bank of Australia. The kangaroo and emu are prominently incorporated into the design. Our tour guide pointed out that both animals can be found on restaurant menus throughout Australia despite their reverence in the coat of arms. We didn't try either during our stay.

This fountain and the plaza surrounding it are famous as a backdrop for the memorable "woman in the red dress" scene in the movie, The Matrix. 

The Woman in the Red Dress Matrix scene. 

A local news studio was located in the same plaza.

This is the entrance to a public art display that pays homage to our winged friends. As you walk down the alley, you hear bird calls and songs.

As you listen to the bird sounds, you see the empty birdcages overhead. It's a powerful display. The plaque has this inscription. These recordings are from bird species that once sang in central Sydney, before Europeans settled and gradually forced them away. Some of these birds can still be heard on the city margins where they find food and shelter in native vegetation.

We saw some interesting vending machines in Chinatown. I never knew there was such a market for flip flops. Who among us has been out and thought, "you know, I could really go for a nice refreshing pair of flip flops right about now."

Sydney is a very walkable city. I guess these vendors are catering to the woman that starts out in a killer pair of heels and ends up with them killing her feet by the end of the day.

This was great bronze sculpture that we encountered on our walking tour. It's titled "Waiting". The detail in the sculpture was pretty incredible down to the folds in his suit and the replication of an actual newspaper publication complete with ads and articles. You can actually read the paper that he's holding.

A cool plaza in a Chinatown mall. The staircase showcases revolving digital images.

A funny thing happened to us the first night in Sydney when we ventured out for dinner. We were in the middle of downtown so we figured we'd just walk the street to find a restaurant. Our only qualifier for dinner that night was that we didn't want Asian food. We started walking and literally all the restaurants that we encountered were Asian. We got so frustrated. I'm pretty sure we were at stage "hangry" where hunger begets anger. To end the story, we finally found a nice non-Asian restaurant with great food and survived the night. We learned the next day on the bus tour that the area that we ventured into was Chinatown so that explained the lack of diverse cuisine. In our defense, it wasn't clearly marked on the street or the map so....it could've happened to anyone.

Again, what's with the phone booths?

This was our "taxi" for our 2nd day in Sydney. The "hop on hop off" buses in large cities are a good, affordable option for navigating the city.

The Sydney Harbour bridge connects the city center on the south side to the residential north side. Also known as the "Coathanger", it was manufactured in sections and took 8 years to complete.

Ambassadors for Panther pride. We don't always rock our Panther gear when we travel, but when we do, we make sure it's captured in front of international icons so that we can make the  pages of the Carolina Panther's Roar magazine.

The famed Sydney Opera House. The bold, intricate design of this building proved to be such a challenging architectural and engineering feat that it was redesigned.

The roof inspiration is believed to have stemmed from a sliced orange. It's a breathtaking sight and has become a Sydney icon.

Tragically, the master designer, Jorn Utzon, of this now iconic building never saw it completed.  Halfway through the 14 year construction cycle, he was forced to resign and moved back to his home country. He never returned to Australia after the building's completion and passed away in 2008.

Circular Quay borders Sydney Cove where the Opera House and Harbour bridge are located. It's considered the "birthplace of Australia".This is where the First Fleet landed its human freight of convicts, soldiers and officials, and the new British colony of New South Wales was declared.

Darling Harbour is a revitalized complex that houses a maritime museum, aquarium, outdoor entertainment, shops and restaurants that overlook the bay.

This is the New South Wales state library

Cool tile mosaics on public benches lining the street alongside Sydney's famous Bondi Beach.

Streets within the Bondi neighborhood adjacent to the famous Bondi beach.

Bondi beach is popular with surfers year round. It was especially chilly the day that we visited, but there were still a number of surfers battling the waves.

We witnessed the filming of a television series and a model shoot during our brief visit. There was a lot of action on the beach especially for wind chill temperatures hovering around 40 degrees.

Aforementioned fake crime scene

Actors, horses and the television crew filming on the beach

A photo shoot for a young model. She put on a brave face when the camera was live, but she was shivering mercilessly from the cold during the down time. Who says models don't sacrifice for their craft?

This neighborhood has a pretty good view of Sydney's skyline.

The drinking age is 18 in Australia.

I thought this was a cool skyscraper. The designer incorporated wood panels into the usual glass, concrete and steel used in traditional buildings.

Somehow a visit to Vapiano has become a "tradition" on our international travels. Crystal slid this "tradition" in when I wasn't paying attention. I guess it's a thing now. We've visited one in Munich, Germany and Dubai so we can add Sydney to the list.

This monument is located in an area behind Circular Quay called The Rocks. It was named for the rugged rock cliffs that dominated the area. This monument was called "The Settlers" to honor the early pioneers that settled and transformed the area.

The back of the monument features  "The Soldier". It commemorates all Australians killed in wars.

We're back on U.S. soil with one more leg to go to reach Charlotte. New Zealand and Australia were a fun trip and worth the long flight. However, we only scratched the surface of what each country has to offer. Our short time in Australia and the size of the country especially left me wanting to return to experience life outside of the city in the outback and the Great Barrier Reef during warmer weather. Considering that I didn't even see a kangaroo this visit so I'll definitely have to head back to the land down under some time in the future.