My last week in Australia was spent in Sydney. My hotel(s) were in the Kings Cross area of east downtown. I got a good view of the opera house and the harbour bridge from my hotel room on the first afternoon there. So I set my sights on the Opera House, and took off walking. I found the Opera House was surrounded by the Botanical Gardens on the south and the harbor on the north. The city differed from downtown Melbourne in that it had spectacular views and water everywhere.

View from my hotel room window - I knew which direction I wanted to explore

Downtown shopping center - the renovated Queen Victoria Building

I spent my first Saturday at the nearby Bondi Beach, which is the closest beach to town. It was a gorgeous day. There was a very nice walking path that connected several beaches and communities together. I hiked along the coast for several hours to another nearby town and then got a bus back to Sydney.

Bondi Beach

The main ferry terminal is in the center of downtown. I took a ferry ride to another beach community, Manley Beach, and hiked around a nearby national park.

My last adventure in Sydney was a trip to the Blue Mountains National Park. It was a two hour train ride to reach Katoomba, one of the main cities in the park. The most famous rock formation in the park is called "The Three Sister", for the three pinnacles of eroded limestone on the edge of a ridgeline.

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