Sydney, NSW, April 2024

Back in September 2023, it was announced two of mine, and my Dad’s, all time favourite bands (Incubus and +Līve+) were going to be coming to play in Australia, in one show… what better timing with coming up to Dad’s 60th in December! He was pretty quick to say yep, I’m keen, so tickets were booked, and accommodation was locked in for April. Of course, the bands then announced they’d be playing in our home city of Christchurch, but hey, it’s way more fun to have a wee trip away, isn’t it!

We departed for Sydney on the 10th, with a quick transit in Auckland (cheaper). Pumped for the next few days, we thought we’d order a gin to get the party started. Technical difficulties saw us end up with a gin mixed with water, and a separate can of tonic. We drank our water and gin (not for me) and kept our tonic aside for our next one. Take two. This time we got gin mixed with lemonade. We also had a bit of a character sitting next to us, who ordered herself three gins, in case we wanted a top up (she seemed to be having a great time messaging other people via seat chat and drinking her gins). We will have another attempt to get our order right on the way home.

Arriving into Sydney at night was spectacular – beautiful lights from the high rises, and a great view of the harbour bridge. After an easy arrivals process, we made our way out to the rideshare area and were picked up by a lovely and chatty young Chilean man called Daniel, who told us all about himself and how excited he was about the rain repellant he had recently bought for his windscreen.

Our arrival at our Wynyard hotel, A by Adina, was a real experience – for a start, the concierge is completely in the dark (not so sure about working like that, but it definitely looked chic); after talking to them, we were then directed to the very cool elevators (more about that shortly) and up to level 21 where the Sky Lobby check in desk is located. The doors opened into a very cool lobby with some very loud music and lights coming from above – there was a cocktail festival going on in the bar the next level up. It was like walking into a rave. The staff gave us our keycard (floor 19) and we scanned the card at the elevator (which had a touch screen to select common areas), it automatically selects the floor you are staying on, and tells you which elevator you’ll be using (A, B, or C)… it sounds weird to be excited by an elevator, but I have never seen another like it (and I’ve seen A LOT of hotel elevators).

Our room was perfect – a corner suite, with two decent sized bedrooms and bathrooms, and a lounge area with a kitchenette in between the two rooms. Smart curtains open when you enter the room. The hotel had kindly left a bottle of bubbles and chocolate in the room as a birthday gift for dad.

At 7:00 the next morning, we were woken by what turned out to be our own special alarm for the three mornings we were there – the deconstruction of a building nearby ours. Ah, the sweet sound of metal on metal. It was fine though, it was actually, weirdly, an okay way to be woken.

Included in our accommodation rate was breakfast at Dean and Nancy – the restaurant/bar on the 22nd floor. Such a cool space with great views; we really enjoyed looking out at the surrounding streets and buildings while we enjoyed an a la carte breakfast and coffee, and planned our day ahead. We enjoyed this all three mornings, and it was top notch, with great service.

After breakfast, we walked down to Circular Quay, about ten minutes downhill from the hotel, and found the departure point for the Manly Ferry. We wanted to go on the iconic yellow and green ferries (as opposed to the modern fast ferry), so we tapped on for that (you just hold your credit card on a payWave type thing) and off we went for $8. It was a stunning day and the water was sparkling, we sat outside and enjoyed the views of the multimillion dollar houses dotted all around the harbour.

After about 30 minutes, we docked at Manly and headed out, with a quick stop for an obligatory photo with the wharf sign in the background. Walking up through The Corso (the outdoor mall) we got to the other side, where Manly Beach is. Absolutely stunning… tree-lined, golden sand beach with dozens of surfers out. We walked around the bay for a couple of kilometres, round to Shelly Beach where there’s a cool restaurant called The Boat House, where we stopped for a well deserved pint (it was a hot walk and I did wish we brought togs, especially as the saltwater pool along the walk looked very inviting).

Walking back around the bays, we saw a mama and baby lizard of some kind, just chilling on a rock. A reminder of all the different creatures that live in Australia, that we don’t have in New Zealand.

On our way back through the Corso, we stopped for a gelato at a shop we had noticed on our way in – Anita Gelato (which has several locations around the world, including New Zealand). It was hands down one of the best gelatos I’ve ever had (sorry Rollickin’, I still love you). A nice little treat to cool us down before we headed back to the ferry.

Arriving back to Circular Quay, we walked back to our hotel, with a few navigational errors along the way (my husband won’t be surprised), and went back to our room to get ready to go out for our early dinner and the big show!

We had dinner booked at Pasta Emilia, in Surry Hills, and when I looked at the map at the time of booking it (several days earlier) I figured we’d get an Uber, but what we realised on the ground is that Sydney has an incredibly easy to use tram system… in fact, I would argue it’s easier to use than the Melbourne one! The network probably isn’t as big as Melbourne’s, but it was more than sufficient for what we needed. There are multiple kiosks on poles at each tram stop where you can ‘tap on’ – to do this, you either use your Opal card, or just your credit card; we did the latter. Then you do the same at the other end when you get off. The fact it’s not on the tram itself makes it so much less stressful, with less urgency required. The tram took us to the Surry Hills stop, and then we walked about ten mins along a street lined with old houses, which were so interesting to look at.

Pasta Emilia was really great, an authentic Italian experience in a fantastic setting. The food was delicious, as was the Italian red wine we picked, and we were finished with plenty of time to grab an Uber to Horden Pavilion.

The Pavilion is 100 years old, but has been modernised on the inside, and it is definitely among the cooler venues I’ve been to. A great size holding 5500 people, and interesting in that your GA ticket is just best in best served as to where you sit or stand – there are no seated/standing tickets. We arrived at 7pm and joined the long merch line, which took us right down to the wire before we got to the front at 7.30pm, grabbed our super cool tees, and rushed in and managed to find two seats together.

The show was brilliant. It felt fairly intimate, and had a great vibe, with the venue being sold out. Both bands have still got it, despite having been around for 30-odd years. It was exciting. Incubus did a couple of cool covers, with our favourite being Come Together by The Beatles, which Brandon Boyd told the crowd he wished he had written. Ed from +Līve+ still has such an incredible voice, and I sung my heart out, even though most of the time nothing was coming out, thanks to Laryngitis.

After the show, we realised there was tram stop right across from the venue, and we made our way across a field of grass – we were about halfway across when Dad pointed out we were crossing grass in the dark in Australia… fortunately we made it across unscathed, and got the tram all the way back to Wynyard… perfect!

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Friday morning, after brekkie, we trammed up to Haymarket, looking for Paddy’s Market, going one stop too far and again getting navigationally confused… I blame Google Maps… but we got there in the end . It’s not how I remember it though, the markets are just row after row of the same thing – mobile accessories, fake designer bags, sexy costumes, and Australia souvenirs. We did wander around the fresh produce though, and bought a couple of Jujubes, a Chinese Red Date – we had to decide between the different advice of two Chinese women – one saying to peel it and one saying not to.

After the market, we walked down to Darling Harbour, where we came across a game of Aqua Rugby, which neither of us had heard of before. It was basically tackle on a small floating field, and to score a try you either have to kick it over the goal post, or dive into the water. It was quite fun to watch.

Heading further around the harbour, we found a bar with outdoor seating and umbrellas, and sat down for a pint and fish and chips. It was a great people watching spot, and we worked out on my old friend Google Maps where we needed to go to get to Aēsop, where I was keen to pick up some things. Again she let me down and we walked over a bridge that we didn’t need to walk over, but it was interesting to see some different views. Once we were back on track, we made it to The Strand on George Street, an Arcade-type building pretty similar to the ones you find in Melbourne. A lovely many named George consulted with us on what we needed – I wanted some things for my husband, some things for myself, and Dad ended up buying something too. George was so good at consulting, and figured out which products best suited our skin types, and he was genuine and lovely… he also went over how we could most easily claim back our tax, and told us a bit about visiting ports in New Zealand when he worked on cruise ships. We were impressed.

After Aēsop, we were ready to head back to the hotel to chill out for a bit before getting ready to go out to dinner. We enjoyed our bottle of bubbles before heading out again, and tried the jujubes, which we discovered were not ripe and therefore not super delicious… they tasted a little bit like an apple and not at all like a date, but it seems they become date-like when they ripen.

Dinner was once again in Surry Hills, at the famous Chin Chin – somewhere I have booked (in Melbourne) many times for my clients, and knew it was really good. We arrived to find a very funky, very loud, very crowded giant warehouse style building. It had a great vibe! Dad, with a fair bit more knowledge of wine pairing than I have, chose a bottle of (New Zealand) gewurtztraminer to go with the, probably too much, food. Pork roll ups (probably my favourite thing), king fish sashimi (a first for me… great flavour, strange texture, which is just because I’m not used to eating raw/cured fish), rotisserie pork belly, massaman curry, and a roasted baby head of cauliflower with pomegranate. It was all incredible, but so much food… I didn’t finish my curry… sorry Dad!! If it wasn’t curry, I would’ve taken it back to the hotel.

Too full to have dessert, we made our way back to the tram, which was quite full, thanks to a rugby game on that night, and enjoyed some banter with locals on our way back to the hotel, where we then went to sample some of the cocktails Dean and Nancy had on offer. A completely different vibe to breakfast, the bar was so sophisticated, and with all the lights of the skyline, we could’ve been in New York. We sat at the bar, which was fun as we could watch them being made. I couldn’t resist ordering the ‘Rocketman’, which was actually a cocktail ice cream inside of white chocolate, presented in a glass dome with dry ice… super impressive presentation. We made friends with the super friendly Cantonese barman, Andy, who told us a bit about himself and gave us each a glass for a tap cocktail, telling us to blindly pick a tap each. Mine ended up being watermelon, and Dad’s was lemon. They were really nice, but personally, if I’m going to pay cocktail prices, I want the fancy process. It was so lovely that he gave them to us for free though, and then we asked him to make something up for us, which he did and it was really nice. I was quick to close my eyes once I jumped in bed, after a busy day with lots of food and drinks.

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For our final morning, we decided to go and check out The Rocks market – a super well known event that happens every weekend, and is based in Old Sydney… such a beautiful area with stunning historical buildings, and the quality of the products is top notch. I bought a couple of wee things, and after looking at all the stalls, we headed to the Musuem of Contemporary Art – I enjoyed the one in Melbourne so much that I thought we could give Sydney’s one a go, seeing as it was on our way. It was cool – it didn’t have a patch on Melbourne, but cool nonetheless.

Our final destination was back to Paddy’s Market so that Dad could get some boomerangs, and that’s when we got a notification that our flight had been delayed, so we decided to stop for some lunch at a restaurant nearby our hotel that we’d noticed was very popular, Bar Totti. There was a half hour wait, but we ended up with a street side table (perfect for more people watching) and we had the most delicious pastas. The people watching did not disappoint.

After lunch, we grabbed our bags from the sad concierge (the only person lacking in friendliness that we’d come across the whole time, but I don’t blame him when working in a cave all day), and Ubered to the airport.

We didn’t have to make another attempt to get our drink right, as there was a free drinks service to say sorry for the flight delay, and we were able to ask the flight attendant directly for what we wanted, and finally got our gin and tonic.

Home Bob, back to reality. It’s been so nice spending some time away with my Dad, it’s not something you get many opportunities to do as an adult, so it’s been special.

See you again in October, when we are heading back to Fiji.

Love, Laus ❤