Despite the great weather, many landmarks and picturesque beaches, Sydney has never been my family and my favourite travel destination. For this reason, we usually only stay for a few days if we travel there, or only stop for a short period of time when passing by to another city. This was also the case for the road trip this holidays. We stayed in the CBD for two nights before making our way to Melbourne, and then at Bega and Campbelltown on our way back to the Gold Coast.
Still, we had a fun time in Sydney, making obligatory visits to the Darling Harbour, Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, enjoying a surprisingly reasonably priced afternoon tea at the Opera Bar, blending into the ravenous crowd at Boxing Day sales in Pitt Street, as well as enjoying the city's night scene. Bega was by far the biggest surprise to me- everything about the small town exceeded my expectations. From the fully licensed restaurant at our motel (which served a delicious butternut pumpkin fettucine) to the Bega cheese factory (where there was a display of the old machinery used to make cheese, taste testing, and various cute cow/other dairy-related souvenirs and crafts), to the best $10 lunch special of a sweet chilli char-grilled chicken wrap I've ever had.
Along the way back to the Gold Coast, we also stopped at Lakes Entrance and experienced the locals' creative game of duck races, where rubber ducks are placed into an outlined portion of the lake and directed by the wind to the finish line. Prior to the race, names and numbers are drawn and members of the public are given numbers at random- those numbers are also on the rubber ducks. So at the end, for example, if rubber duck number 26 places first, then the person who was assigned number 26 wins. First, second, third and last place winners each earn a certain amount of money in addition to gift cards to local stores. It was really gratifying, actually, to be in such a friendly and easy-going atmosphere. Also in Lakes Entrance were surf board beach benches, glistening water, warm sunshine, delicious gelato and sorbet, and stunning black swans.
Still, we had a fun time in Sydney, making obligatory visits to the Darling Harbour, Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, enjoying a surprisingly reasonably priced afternoon tea at the Opera Bar, blending into the ravenous crowd at Boxing Day sales in Pitt Street, as well as enjoying the city's night scene. Bega was by far the biggest surprise to me- everything about the small town exceeded my expectations. From the fully licensed restaurant at our motel (which served a delicious butternut pumpkin fettucine) to the Bega cheese factory (where there was a display of the old machinery used to make cheese, taste testing, and various cute cow/other dairy-related souvenirs and crafts), to the best $10 lunch special of a sweet chilli char-grilled chicken wrap I've ever had.
Along the way back to the Gold Coast, we also stopped at Lakes Entrance and experienced the locals' creative game of duck races, where rubber ducks are placed into an outlined portion of the lake and directed by the wind to the finish line. Prior to the race, names and numbers are drawn and members of the public are given numbers at random- those numbers are also on the rubber ducks. So at the end, for example, if rubber duck number 26 places first, then the person who was assigned number 26 wins. First, second, third and last place winners each earn a certain amount of money in addition to gift cards to local stores. It was really gratifying, actually, to be in such a friendly and easy-going atmosphere. Also in Lakes Entrance were surf board beach benches, glistening water, warm sunshine, delicious gelato and sorbet, and stunning black swans.
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