Our Girls Weekend in Sydney

Many months ago, a friend and I decided to take our girls to Sydney for a couple of nights. After months of anticipation, last Sunday finally arrived! It was a chance to get away and escape, and for me a precious opportunity to spend some time with my eldest girl without the distraction of her younger siblings.

It was so exciting to wake up before the sun was up. I crept quietly into Maddy’s room and shook her gently awake. She was up and out of bed before I could say Good Morning, and headed straight to a dimly lit corner of the house, where we dressed while whispering and giggling and tripping over each other and our luggage.

When we arrived in Sydney, it was an absolutely GORGEOUS day! We dropped off our bags at the Swissotel on Market St and headed straight to Circular Quay for a ferry ride on the Harbour. It was an amazing sight to look out the back of the ferry and see this view!

We hopped off at Watson’s Bay – famous for the legendary Doyles seafood restaurant.

There is a little Doyles takeaway at the end of the pier, so we picked up some lunch and found a warm patch of sunshine in the beautiful park. I can HIGHLY recommend the BBQ Seafood pack – some of the best seafood I have ever tasted!

And sitting in the park, looking back over the harbour and the city, it was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable lunches I could imagine. I was even feeling so happy that I invited some seagull friends to share our scraps!

On the ferry back home, we were given some of the most incredible photo opportunities of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. This really is the best way to play tourist as you get to see all the landmarks at every possible angle.

The girls were pretty tired after a big day on the water and playing in the park, so we found a City Circle bus which was free and took us back to the top of the street where we were staying. Unfortunately we never got to go up the Tower as it would have cost us $75 and the day we had planned to go up it was raining, so there was little point. But we got to enjoy it from ground level and see how HUGE it is!

The next morning we were blessed with another beautiful clear day. It was f-f-f-reezing so we decided to head to the Opera House for some breakfast and to bask in the sun. However the walk down to Circular Quay through the city streets (a.k.a wind tunnels) was sooooo cold. Poor Maddy just about turned blue, and I was cold to the bones!

Oh it was so nice to finally hit the sunshine, and we couldn’t wait to get our hands on a hot drink for our frozen fingers.

You know those moments where you feel absolute and pure contentment? After a yummy breakfast, a warm coffee, the sun shining, and the water lapping behind me as I stared up at The Opera House – this was one of those moments. Possibly THE moment of the holiday!

As we walked back towards town, I turned around to see the sun perfectly placed above the Opera House – such majesty!

The original plan was to head over to Luna Park for the day, but after some quick advice from a lovely old lady, we thought we might take advantage of the beautiful day and check out Darling Quarter at Darling Harbour. We had heard so many great things about the playground and the girls were keen to “do something”! The park did not disappoint!

Darling Quarter is massive and also has a fantastic water play section.

Boy, it was such hard work watching the children running around and screaming with delight as they jumped from swings to slides and all around. So we really thought is was quite necessary that we have a bite to eat at the Guylian Cafe. Pancakes with bananas and strawberries, and smothered with chocolate sauce? Don’t mind if I do!

For some strange reason, after our little feast, we felt compelled to go for a lazy walk, so we headed back to Darling Harbour and admired the city from a new perspective.

On the way back to our hotel we came across this incredible artist. He was drawing these amazing scenes with nothing but a black biro. No sketching with pencils – just slowly and painstakingly colouring in one tiny bit at a time.

After a little rest back in our room, we all frocked up for a night out on the town!

What a fantastic place to take kids! There was so much to look at! And the girls were given their own kids menu which doubled as a big sheet of activities and colouring in.

The servings were enormous! These are entree sized Nachos!

My friends will tell you that I will NEVER say No to a photo booth. It is a weakness. Tell me these photos don’t make you think of Beaches and those two little girls! (Or am I just a wee bit crazy???)

The next day we woke up to rain, rain and more rain. Yuk. After a rather indulgent buffet breakfast at the Sheraton, we weren’t quite sure what to do. That’s where the fabulous Mamas on the Mummy Smiles Facebook page came in very handy as I begged “What can we do???”. One suggestion was The Powerhouse Museum, so we found our way on to the Monorail and off we went. We found the Wiggles Exhibition on Level 1.

While the girls are almost 8 and a little bit old for The Wiggles, there was PLENTY to keep them occupied for almost two hours. One activity was to make some tissue paper roses for Dorothy the Dinosaur.

And then Maddy wrote a Postcard to Wags the Dog. She showed me only when she had finished. It said, “Dear Wags, Live Life. Eat favourite food. Have fun.” I think that about sums it up really.

I really like the Wiggles (well I did before all the hoo-hah of the yellow skivvy), but there is only so much Wiggles you can stand before your brain starts to explode. I had to escape from The Fruit Salad, Wake Up Jeff, and Rockabye Your Bear. I can’t hear anymore Wiggles again. Ever. Again. It had been a big couple of days, so I snuck out and made a phone call… in the QUIET of some random corner!

There was just one thing left on our to-do list. And the weather was JUST right for it…. let me just say…. yum!

What a great way to end an awesome few days in this beautiful city – afternoon tea at The Lindt Cafe, Darling Harbour.

It all seemed to go so quickly but we saw so many things and the girls had so much fun. I know for certain they will look back on these photos and think how lucky they were to have been able to share this experience with each other. And I loved being able to spend some quality time with my big girl, before she hits those scary tween years!

What a beautiful country we live in to have all of this on our doorstep. Love you, Sydney!