Sydney - Day 2

Well Day 2 started out early for some of us. Jacob was up at 2:00 am local time. Everyone else was able to sleep in and get accustomed to the local time zone. On the docket today;  the Aquarium, Feeding the Sharks, Starbucks, Apple Store, Gelato, Sydney Opera House, and driving across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  Dad also wanted to get familiar with the location of the Westin Hotel and started planning our strategy for tomorrows trip to Cairns.

First up for Dad was of course, Starbucks! We walked through the Queen Victoria Building or QVB known by locals (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria_Building). It an amazing building with old lifts and historical architecture. Again, Starbuck in Australia is expensive...

Apple store is 3 levels right in the heart of downtown. Abey got a new iPad mini cover...

Sea-Life Aquarium - was good but didn't take many pictures since most areas didn't allow flash photography which scares the fish and it was dark....However, when checking in for the feed the Shark experience we were  advised that you must be 16 yrs old or greater which was not indicated on the advertisement. Kids were a little disappointed but rebounded with Gelato (Italian Ice Cream - Kristen was impressed).

Abey in front of "Carrington St.".  Abey teacher last year was Mr. Carrington...this ones for you!

We then got into the Rental Car and drover over the bridge where the world famous New Years Eve party occurs. Sydney's firework show is considered one of the best in the world. Only 206 days left to the 2014 celebration.  (http://www.sydneynewyearseve.com/fireworks/)

We walked around downtown Sydney and found the Westin. We will be staying there when we return from the trip to Port Douglas / Cairns.

Tonight, we had dinner at "Eat Love Pizza" overlooking the Darling Harbour and watched the Firework display that goes off every 1.5 hrs. We have included the 8:30 pm showing for your viewing pleasure, recorded from our hotel belcany.

We also had to make alternative travel arrangements to get to Sheraton Port Douglas the next day...the Challenge Cairns Marathon is an Ironman (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike and 42.2 km run - http://www.usmevents.com.au/Triathlon___Multi_Sport/Cairns_Adventure_Festival/Event_Guide/Ironman_Cairns.htm) instead of an 1.5 hr drive it will now be 3 hrs.