At the end of May and the start of June, we were lucky enough to have 2 long weekends in a row. The first one (May 30- June 1) we went up to Sydney with a group of friends so we could see the Lion King. A show that none of our family had made it to yet. We had the bonus of a weekend away with friends and some lovely Sydney weather.
We caught the train up to Sydney on the Saturday afternoon after all the morning piano and swimming run around.
Vivid Sydney
It just so happened that Vivid was on during our stay. As we enjoy Enlighten in Canberra and hadn’t yet timed a visit to Sydney with Vivid, we thought we should go. After dinner in our apartment and catching up with all the group we head off to check out the lights. Sydney definitely does spectacle with the bridge and the Opera House and it was worth seeing them lit up!
We had been keen on the drone show, but alas no drones, as they’d already dived into the harbour twice by then. There was still plenty to look at though!
We ended up with a group of more than 20 of us wandering around at some points, and we manage to keep track of at least all the children…. the adults were another story!
Apparently a sustenance stop was required, and Gelato Messina was required. The line was long but it was worth it. Despite the fact that you can get it in Canberra we also had to have some in Sydney 🙂
We spent a couple of hours wandering around and enjoying the lights of Vivid. Definitely a bonus we didn’t originally plan but something we all enjoyed!
Circular Quay and The Rocks
We had a beautiful sunny Sunday in Sydney, so did our usual wander of Circular Quay, The Rocks and the markets with our group of friends from Canberra and then met up with our Sydney based long time friend Petti.
The kids made sure they tried and tasted as much as possible at the Rocks markets and we escaped with some of our bank balance in tact 🙂
Manly ferries and fish and chips…
A few of our group went to an afternoon show of La La Land and the rest of us took the ferry to Manly with Petti for fish and chips on the beach. I think every time we meet up with Petti we do the same things, but it’s always fun and we had a cracking day for it, sunny and fairly warm (at least compared to Canberra on the first weekend of Winter).
The ferry across is always fun and fairly cheap entertainment for the kids!
Fish and chips at the beach in Manly is a tradition and at least Soren ate his bodyweight in fish!
Zinnia was mightly annoyed we hadn’t bought our swimmers and we weren’t going to let her in the water. Apparently wandering along the beach chatting in the sunshine isn’t fun for 7 year olds 🙂
The Lion King
Sunday night was the main event of the trip – the Lion King! The weather continued to be excellent so we head up to the building rooftop for a group photo and then met up with the rest of the group (who’d been at Lala Land) for a pre show pub dinner.
The Lion King was at the Capitol Theatre, which we’ve seen several shows at. The Capital theatre is always a joy to see a show in 🙂
It was excellent. We loved the costumes and there were some awesome performances. Soren, despite knowing the story was on the edge of his seat and was helping to ‘conduct’ the orchestra. Zinnia and Astrid also thoroughly enjoyed the show. We always think it’s worth taking kids to the theatre and musicals.
Shopping and re-living Japan….
Our public holiday Monday (1 June) was another beautiful sunny day in Sydney. After breaky together and bidding farewell to our ‘Lion King weekend’ friends, it was off for a day of shopping and some lunch in the city.
The kids were keen on Japanese, which we accurately recreated the experience of our recent trips to Japan where Nic can’t find much to eat that’s vego (and dashi free), other than tempura with no dipping sauce… while the rest of the family had a wonderful feast! There was also minimal English in the restaurants, although slightly more than we got in most parts of Japan
We did have another round of afternoon gelatos (practicing for our upcoming Italy trip) before the train trip back.
Slow trips back to Canberra….
Also recreating the Japan experience, dinner was a convenience store egg sandwich for me…..
At central we ran into my riding buddy, Amanda, who was also heading back to Canberra after being in Sydney for the weekend. We’d been in all the same places based on our Strava and hadn’t crossed paths until now. Turns out we were on the train up together but in different carriages.
The train was running late leaving Sydney and then got slower and slower… we made it back to Canberra at 11pm!! Not great before school the next day. Luckily the kids are well-practiced at sleeping on trains
Definitely a fun weekend, with friends, tasty food and some awesome Vivid and Lion King 🙂