Monday, August 1, 2016
After passing out last night
we all woke up feeling refreshed this morning.
Somewhat. The Holiday Inn-Sydney
Airport location is a pretty nice hotel that I’d recommend or stay at
again. Nothing to fancy, but I’ve slept
very well in both times we’ve stayed here now.
Mason scoped out a breakfast location, Pratchett’s Pies, that was within
walking distance, so we packed up for the day, loaded the car, and walked over
for breakfast. Theo and Mason led the
way, while Woodrow soaked up the 4 blocks which took us 15 or 20 minutes to
walk. Woodrow wanted to see every cement
mixer, truck, airplane, person, etc…that passes by. I may have been feeling ready for a nap at
this point. The breakfast was
surprisingly good, and I say surprisingly, because these small pies are quite
popular here. They have various breakfast
ones, meat ones, all savory flavors, but they are usually displayed in a way
that I find to not be super appealing.
They are like small little quiches.
Mason got a sausage one, I got a bacon and egg pie, Woodrow picked out
an orange chocolate chip muffin, and Theo had raisin bread toast. We were able to have a leisurely breakfast at
the outdoor café part of the restaurant which was relaxing and a nice reset for
me after Woodrow had to be carried the last little way and then was crying when
it was time to order. The boy gets
hangry and it becomes this morning battle.
He literally was running and skipping with Mason back to the hotel to
pick-up the car.
Our activity for the day
consisted of heading to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Mason was slick enough to download some
google maps which he could use to help us navigate some of the days and this
was helpful getting to the zoo. City
driving though, oy! After being out of
cities for so long it stresses me out, so I was grateful that Mason took it on. Some of the roads were super confusing
because it said there was a toll required, but there were no cash lanes, only
an option for a pass…we later realized that our rental car must have had a pass
because it was beeping through the end of the tunnels…confusing, but also made
me think a lot about what it’s like to be a foreign traveler in the US.
We got to the zoo a little
after 11am and what fun! We really do
enjoy zoos. The kids were excited
because they got their own kid maps and Mason planned out when we should be at
different keeper talks and shows during the day. We were able to buy our
tickets online which saved money and we didn’t have to wait in the long line to
get into the zoo, but instead couls go straight to the entry and just show the
pass on Mason’s phone. We quickly walked
to the Tasmanian Devil area since there was a keeper talk going on. Those are crazy little fellas. The keeper was
throwing huge pieces of chicken with bones into the cage and they were gobbled
up quickly.
We stayed until 3ish and saw
the zoo. Theo was most looking forward
to seeing the zebras and Woodrow mostly wanted to see the giraffe-es (that’s
how he said it all day long). We were
able to see farm animals up close, Australian local animals, elephants, large
animals, chimps, etc…we caught the keeper talks at the Tazzy Devils, Sun Bear,
and giraffes, and we were able to catch the seal show. At the end of the trip we were able to take
the Skyway ride back to the entrance for free which was fun for the kiddos and
a relieved trip for me. I think we
walked around 5 miles in the zoo alone.
The view was pretty amazing since it looked out over the Sydney Harbor
and you could see the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Since we didn’t eat at the
zoo, we were all pretty hungry leaving the zoo and we went to search for
food. Mason headed to an area we thought
would have lots of food, but it did not.
We passed through some fancy neighborhoods and did get to see a lot of the
local area. The houses are pretty old
looking, but fancy brick and facades.
The kids were getting out of school as we were driving through the
neighborhoods and they all seem to have very fancy uniforms. Lots of layers with matching hats and
accessories. I noticed there were lots
of Catholic/private schools and all girls schools, yet even the public schools
seemed to have uniforms. After hearing
from some kids on our Ferry ride it seems like the students go to school
year-round with a longer break around Christmas time.
Eventually we ended up
heading over the Sydney Harbour Bridge back towards our hotel where we finally
found a block with some food, so we parked and picked up an assortment of food
for our early dinner. Mason grabbed Thai
which he said was really tasty since the meat must have been smoked on a
grill. The kids and I had Pizza Hut, and
we parked behind a Cake Shop, so we had to get an assortment of treats for
later. Theo picked a pink and blue
macaroon, I got some powdered sugar cookies, and we got two different small
slices of cake…it was all delicious!
We were back to the hotel by
5:30pm and were staying put for the evening.
We were all happy to dig into some dinner and veg out to a tv show. Mason did the bath routine while I organized
luggage and bags for our flight. I’m
pretty sure the boys were all sound asleep by 8:30pm, while I stayed up to read
and browse Facebook a bit. And try to
prepare mentally for a day of flying-seriously no idea how people do this as a
career. Not sure if it’s pregnancy or
what, but flying is not as exciting as it used to be.
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