Royalty takes a sightseeing bus tour of Sydney, Australia!‏

When the King & I arrived in Sydney we booked a sightseeing bus tour for Thursday, March 27th. After we ate another hearty breakfast at the DeVere Hotel in Potts Point, we wound up taking a city bus to Circular Quay where we met up with the Sydney Explorer which is the official sightseeing tour of Sydney & Bondi. We decided to purchase a 24 hour ticket for $40. We passed up the other option that we were offered. That was a 48 hour ticket for $60. It turned out to be the right choice for us. In retrospect, we wound up using the bus tour as a reinforcement of what we saw on foot and/or by city bus over the time we were there earlier in the week. 

Sydney Explorer

We started at the first stop which was Circular Quay. That's where the Wharfs are at Sydney Harbour. We showed our receipt to the people who were there representing the company & we hopped on the double decker bus & we rode around ‎for a while. Since mother nature didn't cooperate for us, we decided to sit on the lower deck of the bus. They gave us a set of headphones so we could listen to a narrated version of the different stops & sights we would pass along the way. Once the rain let up a little, we decided to go upstairs so we could get a better view on the upper deck of the bus which was really cool despite the fact we did get wet. 

During the tour, we got to see Town Hall & Kings Cross aka the red light district as it's called especially at night when you have to turn a blind eye as the narrator said. ‎In addition, we went by Woolloomooloo Bay, Sydney Opera House & the Royal Botanical Gardens. Furthermore, we saw the Parliament House, NSW Library  & the Australian Museum before we hopped off the bus so we could take the other part of the sightseeing tour that covers Bondi. 

Harry's Cafe de Wheels in Bondi

Chubby Checker in 1995 & Elton John in 1986 eating there

Brooke Shields eating there in 1989

My Chips & Seafood Pie

We did have to wait a while for that bus to show up.‎ Once it did, we hopped aboard. When we got to Bondi Beach, we got off so we could see the beach again. Before we did so, I noticed another Harry's Cafe de Wheels there. The King said he had to go to the rest room. I waited for him. While I did, I decided it was a good time to get myself a pie. This time I got a seafood one that consisted of prawns, scallops, salmon, whitefish & a creamy white sauce. It was outrageous to say the least. It came with chips aka fries which the one in Woolloomooloo didn't have. It came made to order. With that being said, it was nice ‎& hot. The King came back after he lost him because there was an apparent misunderstanding. He wound up getting an order of fries along with a plain hot dog.

Bondi Pavilion

Bondi Beach

View of boats in the Harbour in Bondi on Sydney Explorer Bus

View of Sydney from Bondi on Sydney Explorer Bus

View of Sydney Harbour Bridge from Bondi on Sydney Explorer Bus

When we got done, we walked over to the beach. The King said wanted to dip his feet in the water so he did. I put my hand in. After we had our fun, we walked back to where the bus dropped us off. We waited for the next one to come then we continued our ride around Bondi. It was an amazing view as we got to see some more beautiful scenery out there as we rode around the surrounding area on the bus. 

Central Station

People walking through Central Station

 After we got back we got off at Central Station which is the other starting point for the Sydney Explorer bus. That's their version of Penn and/or Union Station here in the States. It's their main railway station‎ & it's the largest one in Australia. They had a Greyhound bus terminal there too. We wandered around there before we decided to take a walk to the Sydney Tower, which is the tallest building in Sydney so we could take a ride up to the observation deck. 

Sydney Tower

View of Sydney Harbour Bridge from observation deck

After walking for a while, we finally found it. We went up to the top so we could see an aerial view of Sydney before we left to go to Melbourne early Friday morning. It was nice to see all the different places we actually saw on foot and/or bus. 

When we got finished we went back to the hotel. We took a train ride from Circular Quay to Kings Cross. We then walked to the hotel from there. 

Stay tuned for a special post that will go into detail about the late dinner‎ I had before I went back to the room.

Thank you for reading ‎& following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman