Beep, beep , beep. 9:00 am in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It’s my second day (15th Jan 2011) in this beauty of city. It is time to explore Sydney! After the usual morning things (showers, clothing ,…) I was at 9:37 in the lobby. I decided not to eat breakfast at the hotel because I in my opinion the price is not adequate. I took out my smart phone and looked for the nearest Starbucks Coffee House. I already knew where it is approximately, but I wanted to be sure and prefered to view the route. I went to Elizabeth Street, on the edge of the CBD. As I studied the menu, I noticed that it differs slightly from the European menu. They offer Dark Chocolate Mocha Frappuchino. Yeah!. I took also a bagel and a Australia Country Mug.

Downtown / CBD Sydney

Sydney is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Downtown you will find old houses like in New York City, but also modern skyscrapers. In addition,

Sydney has a monorail that runs through half the city.

I wandered through CBD just following my feeling. My destination was the harbor. On the way, I made also a short stop at an ATM. It was the first that displayed the actual transaction fee for a withdrawal.
I walked across a pedestrian bridge at Cockle Bay, in front of me I saw the Australian National Maritime Museum and an old sailing ship. Monorail above me drove to the other side. I wandered for a few more minutes and saw a covered area near the harbor edge. Here were several roofed benches and tables. From here you could see some certainly high-priced apartments with views to the bay. Nice place to live 🙂

I sat down and pulled out the Free Sydney Guide from Sydney International Airport. While leafing through, I realized that the Sydney Aquarium is pretty much praised. On his way, I had seen it from the pedestrian bridge. I decided therefore to make my way to the Sydney Aquarium, especially because it was noon now, and the sun was already very “active” .

Sydney Aquarium

The Sydney Aquarium is really quite funny, but you should particularly during the lunchtime allow some time in the wait line. I arrived there shortly after 12:00 clock more than 30 minutes in the wait line. If you need Australian money , there’s one rediATM just before the entrance . If you already have a ticket,you can skipthe wait line, because you can also buy tickets online. If you have no tickets yet, then you’ll have the choice of different packages with typically “Australian prices” . One-time access costs $ 35 AUD, an annual pass costs $ 80 AUD. There are also packages like e.g. a

Combined ticket for the Sydney Wildlife World. I opted for the General Admission Ticket. Tomorrow I’m already going on tour with the Contiki Beaches and Reefs Summarized it can be said that in Sydney Aquarium are many small and large aquariums with fish and turtles, as well as : Shark-Tracker, a large shark area with glass tubes, a huge “Great Barrier Reef” tank. At the end follows a large area that looks like the burger fast food chain with the big M. They offer e.g. Burger with chips (French fries) for $ 9 AUD.

Let’s take some time to do a city tour and see some other parts of Sydney. I already knew, that’s at Circular Quay is a starting point for sightseeing tours. Circular Quay is just 1.5 km from Sydney Aquarium. The tour has certainly points for Hop-on, which are closer, but I want to see more places in Sydney 🙂

City tour in Sydney

After about 30 minutes I was standing for the first time at Circular Quay in Sydney. The big red buses from city sightseeing can’t be overlooked;-)
A day ticket with unlimited hop-on hop-off costs here $ 35 AUD.
The Tour of city sightseeing tour is unfortunately only a tape recording.

After a relaxing sightseeing tour, I ate a pizza at Pizzahut and then I continued my the way to Potts Point, because tomorrow starts my Contiki Beaches and Reefs tour.