My Australia Itinerary

My Mom’s childhood best friend lives in Sydney Australia and usually flies to the US to visit us and then to Canada to visit her family and for as long as I’ve known her she has asked us to fly to Australia to visit her. She finally gave us her ultimatum to visit her. She wants to be able to take us around (before she gets any older and can’t be our tour guide) so my Mom, Dad, Sister (Yuntiha) and I finally made the long trip to Australia for 2 weeks to see her, Sydney and Melbourne (we have relatives and friends in Melbourne).

17 Days in Australia; 8 Days in Sydney, 5 days on the road traveling, 4 days in Melbourne. Australia is just so far, and everything is so far apart! I had an amazing 17 days in Australia, and my list of things to do and see was long. I made it to almost everything on my initial list, but now I need to comeback to see everything else.

Day -1: Leave San Diego

We booked a redeye flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne. We all worked half day, picked up our rental car and drove north for 3 hours (thanks to traffic) from San Diego to LAX.

Work
Pick up rental car
Drive to LAX (drop off rental car)
Fly to Australia

Day 0: Lost a Day in the Air

We crossed the international date line and a whole day basically vanished as we headed west.

Day 1: Arrive in Australia

We arrived in Melbourne bright and early in the morning (6:30am) to transfer and take a domestic flight to Sydney. Arriving in Melbourne meant that we had to go through customs before flying out to Sydney. It was a nice little break where we could do everything (like exchange money) before arriving in Sydney and made it easier on our Aunt who did not need to wait for us to go through customs, just a little wait for us to get our luggage.

Arrive in Melbourne and go through customs
Transfer flight to Sydney
Arrive in Sydney
Lunch in Cabramatta: Binh Dan
Stay awake and get settled in at home
Dinner in Canley Heights: Grand Chateu

Day 2: The Sydney Bridge Climb and the City

On our first full day in Sydney, we drove out to the “City” and checked do the “Sydney Bridge Climb” off of my bucket list then had lunch at Pancakes on the Rocks. This was also our only day in Sydney where we walked everywhere. From the Pancakes on the Rocks, we walked along Circular Quay for views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.

Sydney Bridge Climb
Pancakes on the Rocks
Walk Circular Quay to the Sydney Opera House
Free City Bus to Chinatown
Walk to the Star Casino and Gelato
Sydney Tower Buffet

Day 3: Seafood and Beaches

9/8 – Auntie was always telling us about the amazing seafood in Australia (and how much better it is compared to the seafood in Southern California). She took us to the Sydney Fish Market for brunch and the seafood was rather amazing! Auntie then checked beaches off on our wish list off as soon as she could. I simply dipped my feet in the water at both Bondi Beach and Manly Beach, each were uniquely different from each other. Oh! And we stopped at Luna Park for a few pictures since they’re closed that day. For dinner we headed back into the suburbs (Canley Heights), and found the 2 restaurants Auntie wanted to take us to closed. We ended up getting Korean BBQ which was ok, but not my favorite.

Local coffee shop
Sydney Fish Market
Bondi Beach
Outside of Luna Park
Manly Beach
TK Something BBQ Restaurant in Canley Heights

Day 4: Taronga Zoo

9/9 – We left the van at home and hopped on public transportation. Auntie made it a point for us to try almost every type of public transportation in Sydney. From the suburbs, we took a train to the city, then a ferry to Taronga Zoo and back. From there, we headed into Chinatown via light rail and then we hopped back onto the train to the suburbs.

Day 5: Drive to Melbourne

9/10 – Australia is big and Melbourne is not close. Although it’s only a 1 hour flight it was still an 8 hour drive. The scenic drive was stunning with rolling green hills, sheep and black angus but it was a long drive. We arrived, and ended up at Aunties friends house for a few hours waiting for her friends to get home. Auntie rested, but I was getting a bit irritated. I wanted to rest at our accommodations. We did get a decent meal at Vinh Ky Restaurant though.

Cabramatta to pick up lunch
Drive to Melbourne
Visit Aunts friends in Sunshine, Melbourne, Australia
Dinner at Vinh Ky Restaurant

Day 6: Koalas, Kangaroos, Wallabies, and Penguins

9/11 – Our first full day in Melbourne was the highlight of Melbourne. It was another long day. We started out by wandering around CBD Melbourne for a few hours and then joined a half day tour (pre-booked) to go see Koalas, Kangaroos, and Penguins. It was pretty late in the evening by the time we made it back to our accommodations.

Day 7: Slow Day Wandering the Streets / Laneways of Melbourne

9/12 – After a long day out, we started the next day with a much slower pace. We went to Victoria Market, and then strolled CBD and the many laneways of Melbourne. And then for dinner, we met up with some of my Moms friends relaxed along the Yarra River at the Crown Casino and then headed to dinner in Chinatown.

Day 8: Eureka! and Relatives

9/13 – We walked pass the Eureka Tower everyday. After breakfast, we finally made our way to the observation deck for views of all of Melbourne. We sent out some obligatory souvenir postcards from the observation deck and then headed to lunch in Degraves Lane. We then drove out to visit some relatives and had a nice dinner in Docklands.

Day 9: Mis-Communication Beach Day

9/14 – There was a lot of mis-communication with Auntie. After having Dim Sum with our relatives (without Auntie), we bought some train tickets and made our way to Brighton Beach (without Auntie). As we arrived in Brighton Beach she was worried wondering why we hadn’t returned to our Airbnb apartment. Instead of heading to St. Kilda we waited for her and her friend to pick us up. She didn’t take us to St. Kilda!!! Instead we went back to her friends house and sat there for a few hours….

Day 10: Driving back to Sydney then Lobster Dinner

9/15 – And that was the end of our stay in Melbourne. We headed back on the road and made our way back to Sydney. Of course not before stopping in Cabramatta for an amazing Lobster dinner. She promised this to us long before we even arrived in Australia. Yumm!

Drive back to Sydney
Rest at home
Dinner at Iron Chef in Cabramatta

Day 11: Hunter Valley

9/16 – We were pretty much on the road everyday during the 2nd half of our trip. I’m really the only one in my family who drinks wine and my auntie was not drinking wine as our driver. So Hunter Valley was more of a scenic afternoon (though I did buy a couple bottles). Auntie also took us to a few of her favorite spots along the way.

Drive to Hunter Valley
Wine Tasting Constable Estate
Wine Tasting Scarborough
The Entrance
Terrigal
Drive back to Sydney
Dinner Temasek Singapore and Malaysian Cuisine

Day 12: Canberra

9/17 – Canberra wasn’t really on our original itinerary and was planned after we arrived in Australia. Auntie said that our stay in Australia coincided with Floriade; a big flower festival. So Auntie knowing how much my Mom loves flowers took us on the 2 hour drive to the capital of Australia (she has allergies and couldn’t even go inside, I guess that’s just what best friends of 40+ years will do).

Drive to Canberra
Parliament House
Floriade
City Centre
Australian War Memorial Museum
Canberra Art Gallery
Drive back to Sydney
Dinner at Broken Rice

Day 13: Blue Mountains

9/18 – We waited for a day with good weather to head to the Blue Mountains, and it took all the way to our 2nd to the last day in Australia. Once again another road trip out into the mountains to go to a place called Scenic World then another long drive to the Jenolan Caves.

Day 14: Last Full Day

9/19 – Tired of all of the driving and eating out, we did our final souvenir shopping ate some of Aunties local favorites and then ate at home and got all packed up. Oh! And then Auntie took us out to “party” at a club…Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club that is. It was more of a club for my Mom and Auntie.