Sydney, Australia

This was a massive tick on the bucket list for me! Ever since I can remember I wanted to visit Australia to meet my cousins and see the wonderful city my family would always tell me about on the phone. My cousin and her husband planned to go over Christmas and New Year 2015-16 to celebrate her special birthday and invited me to tag along.

I started my journey at Glasgow getting the train from Glasgow Central to Manchester Airport where I met up with them to board the Emirates Airbus. Our travel there went without any problems, everything ran on time and the 22-hour flight seemed to go in reasonably quick. The journey back however was the exact opposite. We suffered turbulence for almost the whole flight from Sydney to Dubai, making this an extremely long journey. As if that wasn’t bad enough when arriving at Manchester I found out all trains were cancelled from Carlisle due to the severe weather conditions and I would be on a bus service from Carlisle back to Glasgow – not ideal. At least I had the amazing memories of my trip to think about and share with my friends and family back home who I hadn’t seen for 3 weeks.

Sydney Harbour

Like many tourists our first trip after meeting all the family and getting settled in was to the Sydney Opera House & Harbour Bridge. Both incredible to see and a must to visit if you are ever in Australia. My cousin took us to a quieter spot where you get a beautiful view of both the opera house and the bridge which makes a stunning picture. The Harbour is filled with various boats, ships and yachts and it was there we caught the ferry to Manly Beach.

Bondi Beach & Bucket List Cafe

Of course we were going to have some beaches day considering the weather was glorious and the beaches are gorgeous. First stop was Manly Beach. Manly is a lovely place and is filled with lots of restaurants and shops. We spent the majority of our day on the beach and grabbed some fish and chips for lunch but this low cost day was excellent. The second beach we visited was Bondi Beach. I really wanted to visit this and it was 100% worth it, it’s stunning and my picture of the beach is probably one of my favourite holiday pictures ever. We had a fab day, browsing in the local shops, walking along the beach, watching the surfers, seeing an episode of Bondi Rescue in the process of being recorded and enjoyed a beautiful view of the beach while tucking into some good food at The Bucket List Resturant/Bar. I would definitely recommend visiting both beaches but if I had to choose one it would be Bondi for me.

Day at Rosehill Races

Our family day out took us to Rosehill Races, which was a popular choice for all. Shame to say there weren’t many wins but everyone had fun and enjoyed the day.  Our other family days were spent by the pool and having a bbq – the Aussies certainly have a different lifestyle and one I could quickly get used too! We did spend one day/night out the city at to my cousins’ farmhouse. This was brilliant as we got to see some kangaroos right outside the house in their natural habitat.

Family Day

One of the highlights of my trip was attending the Space Ibiza New Year’s Day Party. This was held on the roof of the Greenwood Hotel and was a unique experience for me. I went with my cousin and his wife and we met 3 close family friends at the event. They attending this event every year and it was amazing being part of their tradition for a one off New Year in Sydney.

NYD Space Ibiza at the Greenwood Hotel

Would I go back? In a heartbeat, I would love to go back and stay for a longer period of time. Even with a friend and do some more travelling around and enjoy the chilled Aussie way of life.

#BondiBeach #ManlyBeach #Family #SpaceIbiza #TheBucketList #SydneyHarbour #SydneyOperaHouse #RosehillRaces #ChilledVibes #PoolLife #Emirates

The Stats!

Hotel; Stayed with family

Travel; Train - Glasgow Central to Manchester Airport & Aeroplane - Manchester to Sydney via Dubai - Emirates

Length of trip; 3 weeks

Month of travel; December to January

Est. Cost: £2000

Who did I travel with: My cousin and her husband. Met lots of family members when arriving.

It's back to the UK and a long weekend in London for the next post... watch out for the link!   😁