We started the day early. Olivia was excited to be sitting in her own seat, looking out the window. Maybe this won't be so bad after all. Then the bus stopped at the next hotel and waited to pick up other guests and after three minutes of waiting in a still bus, Olivia wanted to move. So we pulled out her crayons and brand new coloring book from Grandma Donna and let her color to her heart's desire. Or at least until the first stop on the Sydney City Tour.
Our first stop was across the harbor from the Opera House. It was a lovely lookout with picturesque views of the cityscape. While the rest of our tour was getting photos of themselves to post on their Facebook pages that evening, Olivia was running after a group of pigeons who had settled at the park under the bridge.
We continued on our way, stopping at various lookouts with different views of North Harbor, South Harbor and Middle Harbor.
Olivia was apparently still sleepy after our day of fun on Dec. 23, so she caught a cat nap when we had a 45-minute stop at Manly Beach.
On and on we went, riding the bus and drifting to sleep ourselves. Our Kiwi (New Zealand) driver had a calming voice that seemed to rock everyone to sleep. But if you could understand him (which was a bit hard at times with the accent), he was saying hilarious things that were not appropriate for a family bus tour. Benny wrote them down in a small notebook, chuckling to himself the whole time. If you're lucky, he'll post them later this week.
Finally it was lunch time and time for our harbor lunch cruise. We had to wear stickers to identify ourselves as part of the group. Olivia placed her sticker on her belly and proceeded to play peek a boo with her sticker.
We ate lunch in shifts since Olivia had ample energy after her Manly nap and wanted to run! While the rest of the guests were outside in sunny weather taking photos of the Opera House, Olivia was running back in forth in the cabin between Benny and I. We were working to wear her down before the afternoon part of the tour. I was impressed with how well she could run in the cabin. It turns out our little O has sea legs.
After lunch it was back on the bus and the first stop was the Botanical Gardens. Again there were birds to chase and dirt piles to play in. All in the quick 20 minute stop.
Then we went to Bondi Beach, one of the most famous beaches in Australia. It is where everyone in Sydney was planning to celebrate Christmas with sunbathing and barbecuing. It is also the first place where there were lifeguards (called lifesavers by our tour guide) were put in place, way back in the 1920s. There Olivia had a snack and attacked the playground. She ran and played with Aussie kids her own size, but at times it seemed like the little ones were confused by each other's unfamiliar accents.
More quick lookouts and drive-by photo shoots, then it was back at the hotel around 5 p.m. Olivia survived her first bus tour! And without a tantrum! Or screaming! It was a family dream come true.
But it was Christmas Eve, so while we were done with our daylong bus trip, we still had Christmas to celebrate.
1 comment:
Looks like an awesome trip! I can't wait to read about the rest of it! And, short sleeves .... I'm jealous.
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