Australia Day 2017 - Heading to Sydney

Thursday 26 January, 2017. A relatively early start but not too bad. We need to be at the Coach Terminal by 7.35am to get the coach to Wauchope Station. The terminal's only a couple of minutes drive away so dad's going to drop us off before he heads to bowls. The train leaves at 8.44am so we'll have a 40 minute or so wait at the station. Been there, done that, got the photos to prove it :-)

It's the beginning of our holiday and getting closer and closer to seeing (and cruising on) Ovation of the Seas!! But first we must endure the XPT from Port Mac to Sydney. ;-) We've done this trip a few times now so know what to expect and how looooooooong the trip is. At least this time we are only doing the XPT to Sydney and at the beginning of our trip and not at the end, we splurged and have booked a flight home - woooo!

We are planning on taking our own lunch with us and tea bags (we're cheapskates, if you bring your own tea bags you only pay $1 for hot water instead of $3.50.) You do get it free if you bring your own mug with lid but that just takes up precious room in our bags!

I'll update and add photos once we've actually done the trip but thought I'd get a head start :-) also this will help remind me of the dates and where we were. It's easy to lose track of days when you're on holidays!

Everything went smoothly with the bus and train and surprisingly the train trip wasn't too bad at all. We relaxed and talked about our cruise, read our books, watched the scenery wizz by and arrived in Sydney right on time. After collecting our luggage we head off in search of our hotel. A very easy 5 minute walk from Central and we were checking in. Great little hotel. Close to Central, Paddy's Markets and Chinatown.

Valentine on George

After having a cuppa we headed out for the evening. First up dinner in the food court in Chinatown and then onto Darling Harbour for the Australia Day festivities. Dinner was delish as always and plentiful! We did walk down to Darling Harbour but for what ever reason it was all fenced off and we couldn't actually get in to the main part of DH. We hung around a bit to see if they were going to open the gates but finally decided to head down to Circular Quay.

Chinatown Foodcourt

There was a big concert at the Opera House so we sat by the water and enjoyed the music and harbour sights. Just as we were thinking about heading back to Central and our hotel the fireworks started, right in front of us! Very cool.

Opera House Fireworks Australia Day

We caught the train from Circular Quay to Central and headed back to our hotel and bed. Our holiday is off to a fabulous start!

Mum and I said we would both stay at Valentine on George again, great little hotel!