Sydney, Australia

Arriving in Australia (Thursday evening) was so exciting!  I couldn’t wait to see the lights of the Opera House and all of Sydney and its anticipated glory–hoping to from the plane but things aren’t close enough to do so. Anyway let’s just say Sydney is a gorgeous! You know how I love comparing the different cities–You can count on it that it was one of my favorites! So many little pockets of European inspired architecture, beautiful palms right amongst all of the immaculate buildings, and of course the classic pier and harbour surrounding everything with breathtaking views of the Opera House.  Sydney is extremely well-kept and really just picture-perfect!

Accommodations
After grabbing our rental car we headed for our hotel, The Langham! Wow, this place definitely didn’t disappoint and was better as the hours went on. We arrived in our airplane attire (not a problem except when you roll up to valet and check into a sophisticated–London inspired scape wearing your Daintree Rainforest attire it’s a bit sketchy😂) but I guess you’ll have that.  Let me take you on a tour of the The Langham Sydney.

The hotel customer service went above and beyond curated to everything you could want and way more!  • Would you like a morning espresso with your wake up call? • What international newspaper can we have delivered for you?  • Pillow Menu to best suit your needs • Nanny services • Complimentary bedside treats {Were just a few of the many!}

They loved Grayson

and we loved their welcome candy bar!

The fellow Brit🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 that greeted us each and every time we went through the front doors was extremely helpful in planning and recommending non-touristy places for dinner. {Probably why we ended up in a sweet gated harbor that felt like we were VIP.}

Wow, did I adore the interiors– all things classy!! Walls lined with fashionable art work, Parisian furnishings and Pink for days!

{Langham Sydney was featured in Australia’s Vogue check it out here!}  • All Marketing materials–Pink  • Boutique gifts bound in all Pink • The iconic taxi out front that let’s you know you are indeed staying at the Langham–Pink 😍

The pool and spa area👌🏼 Seriously how dreamy is this?!

Restaurant and bar all of the feels!  {We had a credit to spend from switching our nights around in Port Douglas–so we had a delectable evening in their world renown Palm Court lounge!}

and our room:

The Langham Sydney, you truly are stunning!

Friday
Our late morning started with a quick drive getting our first glimpses of Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House🙌🏼

We found brunch nearby at Pancakes on the Rocks.  Sounded like a fun name for a breakfast eatery so we went but was nothing as expected😂 Which made it all of the more fun! #dineresque

Next was a walk around Darling Harbour.

The Opera House is stunning but again not what I had pictured! I thought it would be secluded (maybe on an island like the Statue of Liberty) a place you viewed in the distance or ferried out to– nope you can stroll right up to it and through it! {Probably should have known this, but you’ll have that💁🏼‍♀️} Other great views of the Opera House are at Mrs. Macquarie’s Point, near the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Grant working that #dadlife

We strolled through the gardens–even if you don’t enjoy that sort of thing, well they are gorgeous!

Back to the hotel–Afternoon views from our suite!

Our evening consisted of walking back to the harbour to see what Vivid Sydney was all about! (The locals were talking it up, so of course we had to check it out.)  It’s apparently a huge festival of lights (every May thru June) where they light up the Harbour and Opera House with an array of scenes and colors!  Music, lights, and food. #fordays

Grayson loved the music😉

We had planned to do a late dinner after Vivid but couldn’t pass up a little appetizer at the food trucks!

We headed back to The Langham for dinner at Palm Court, which looked a little like this…

Saturday
We started our morning with a classy breakfast at Bistro Remy another fabulous choice right inside The Langham.

Grayson enjoyed his babyccino☕️

Next stop, The Sydney Zoo!  {I’m going to just stop right there and say yes we did visit the zoo while in Sydney–per Grant’s request. He said Grayson would love it, which I didn’t disagree but I will say that it was really just an excuse for him to go.  This picture sums up the entire day… Grant loving every minute while Grayson’s really thinking seriously dadda this is boring?!😂}

The Zoo was really pretty and the views of the Opera House across the water were amazing!

I’d say for a 1.5 hour zoo trip we did pretty good…

We even saw a kangaroo! #inthezoo🤦🏼‍♀️

After the zoo, we ventured to another site that was on our list-to do, Bondi Beach. Driving here was exhilarating getting to take in all of the sites, shops, and unique features of the city!

Ok its story time, as we were nearing Bondi Beach we pulled over to make sure we had our location correct (remember we are still doing that left side of the road/right side of the vehicle driving) and Grant happened to look across the street and this is what he saw. {Look closely😉}

Once we figured directions out we were ready to go, but before we could leave Grant proceeds to say “Wait, I’m going to take a picture of those bro-skis.” 😂 I’m peeing my pants instantly because seriously Grant randomly saying he wants to snap a pic of this was hilarious. If anything it would be me taking the pic!! So then we did a u-turn and came back past them.  This time I wanted better pics of the action so he pulled over near the fitness sess😂😂

Not only did he pull over (me beside the curb) but he drilled the curb as he was parking!  So now I’m dying even more because 1. Grant calls them bro-skis and 2. he is so flustered that dudes are working out on the street that he drills the curb! He then tells me to get out and check the rental to make sure there was no damage, nope I said you get out! (I’m now pooling tears of laughter.) So Grant gets out and checks the vehicle–of course I’m going to snap a pic of him too😂

Maybe you just had to be there, but I was still laughing hours later😂 Ok so off to Bondi Beach we went!

This Icebergs Club that I wanted see supposedly had a pool that looked right out onto the beach. Sure enough…

As always, we snapped our pics and went on our way! Later that evening we had reservations (where the concierge had recommended) and wow was this place incredible! Flying Fish was on the edge of a random pier and through a gated off warehouse– we weren’t sure where we were headed but again it ended up being a beautiful twist on a your typical seafood restaurant–delectable! The perfect way to end our Australian and New Zealand vacation!

Sunday
We packed up while Grayson enjoyed himself in the mini fridge😳

Then we were off to the airport✈️ We had given ourselves enough time to arrive 2 hours prior to our flight departure.  What we hadn’t planned for was the accident traffic that we got stuck in! #woof  At 1 hour till we were still in traffic with a rental car that needed to be returned, bags to be checked and no airport in site.  (I guess it wouldn’t be all that bad getting stuck in Sydney for an extra day😂)

But on a serious note, Sydney airport requires bags to be checked 45 minutes prior to departure or you’re not allowed to board (plus our tickets were non-refundable).

We were cutting it close for sure! One minute we were at a stand still and the next we came in hot and bothered to departures.  Grant helped me and Grayson get through the doors with the luggage and then just sprinted off to return the car.  The lady at the ticket counter was like, WAIT, he can’t leave, you guys aren’t going to make your flight if he doesn’t come now!! But he was gone.  Grayson and I got the bags checked in with 1 minute to spare😅 and then were given fast-passes through customs–but Grant still wasn’t back! We waited a few minutes and then finally he came running through the terminal.  {Apparently he had jumped a few curbs, taken a wrong turn, and chucked the keys at the attendant.😂}   We trucked through customs, skipping the normal lines, they stamped our passports and we were off to our gate! Once again we walked right onto our flight, making it just in time for last call! 12.5 hour flight to LA here come.

It was a 10:00 am flight, so Grayson was wide awake and slept maybe 3 hours. Which meant Grant and I slept even less!  We arrived at 6:00 am Sunday morning in LA and we were zombies! (A little behind schedule as there were a few computer problems in Sydney.)  If Grant didn’t have to be back at work on Monday I would’ve spent the night right there in LA.  I could barely walk and needed tooth-picks to keep my eyes open!😂  After a series of bag changes, getting through customs, and security in LAX we sat and waited and waited and waited! Our flight to Dallas was later since we had missed our early flight out.  This also pushed back our FWA arrival time which was originally 4pm now the ETA was 11:00pm.  We did indeed arrive safely in Fort Wayne and finally found a pillow to shut our eyes on around 2:00 am Monday morning!  34 hours of travel later. Phew!

Well this pretty much sums up our Australian and New Zealand vacation!! It was an amazing experience with my two favorite people💚💙 Thanks again for following along! If you missed out on any of the destinations here they are: Getting There & North Island • New Zealand Part 2: Queenstown • Port Douglas, Australia