So I finished my first 6 months of work in Australia therefore it’s now time to travel and explore!
My mum landed in Sydney on the 1st February after a few days in Singapore. Little did she know I was waiting for her at the airport!
I think it’s safe to say she was surprised! After a tearful reunion (most of the tears from her…) we made our way back to the hotel and got ourselves a early night ready to explore Sydney the next day.
We did the typical touristy stuff. I took her to see the Opera House which is pretty impressive to be fair. Such an iconic building and it’s easy to see why, even if you haven’t seen the building in real life. Later on L sent me a picture that was taken of him stood in front of the Opera House when he was travelling around Australia last year and next to that picture was a picture of me stood in front of the Opera House (looking as joyful as ever!) and it warmed my heart.
My mum has had a few friends mention places to go or things to do whilst in Sydney like going to The Rocks Markets (which we did) and climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge…which we did. Surprisingly mum was well keen for this, until we got into our harness’s and went through all the health and safety. That’s when the nerves started kicking in. I was feeling fine by this point…till it came to the ladders. I have a fear of ladders. I just don’t trust them and I don’t feel safe on them. We went up and down a couple of practise ladders in the building before we headed out so we had an idea of what to expect and what to do. I was somewhat alright with that. I could just about cope with that. After about 45 minutes we headed out onto the bridge. We had headphones on so we could hear our guide talking about the history of the bridge (which was actually really fascinating) and we walked along these narrow pathways.
We arrived at our first set of ladders. I was expecting around 8/10 steps at a bit of an incline but no. There were a lot more and it was a vertical climb. As I went up I could see the roads, parks and people walking by below me. I just kept repeating to myself to look forward. My mum was behind me and I wanted to look back to see if she was okay but I daren’t because I knew the fear would set in. After 4 sets of ladders I made it to the top (or the top of the ladders at least) and I was very proud of myself. Pretty much conquered my fear in my eyes!
From here it was a gradual walk up a lot of stairs to the top of the bridge. We weren’t allowed to take cameras or phones up with us so sadly I didn’t get to take any pictures myself but about half way up we had a picture taken of my mum and I, along with the Opera House in the background. Sydney at night is beautiful! Sydney is always busy but there is just something about seeing it from a different angle and at a different time. You see the city from a different perspective. In my personal opinion, Sydney doesn’t do anything for me. I’m happy to say I have been but I can’t say I’m in any rush to go back. It just doesn’t give me that buzz, however the image I have in my head of Sydney at night will stick with me forever.
Once we reached the top we stayed there for a short while and took in the sights then we began our decline down the bridge. We stopped again about half way and watched the traffic going to and from Sydney below us (and had yet another photograph taken of us…). The ladders on the way down, well I will admit I was scared of them way before I even got to them. Going down you kinda have to look where you are going and I really didn’t want to see where I was looking. It’s strange because I don’t have a fear of heights, it’s just ladders. Ladders are just untrustworthy. I began my decline and I well and truly took my time. I was that slow my mum actually caught up to me! I reached the bottom and had jelly legs. After about 10 minutes or so I had composed myself and a feeling over achievement overwhelmed me. I had not only climbed the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge with my mum but I had also conquered my fear of ladders! What a successful day!
Although the Harbour Bridge climb was a pretty good highlight of our stay in Sydney, my best highlight was going to the Choc Pot. I found these guys on Instagram waaaayyy before I had anything booked for Australia. It’s pretty much like a dessert place filled with waffles, crepes, chocolate and more chocolate. Whilst in Sydney and not being 100% sure if I would go back I just had to go. I ordered a white chocolate and strawberry smoothie along with their infamous Choc Pot. It’s basically a brownie around the outer edges of the mug and the whole inside is warm melted chocolate! Holy fuck I was not disappointed! Along with a couple of strawberries dipped into the chocolate it was like heaven in my mouth! That was the highlight of my Sydney trip!
Sydney is a great city and it’s definitely a city you need to have on your bucket list but for me I’m happy to have spent a couple of days there and I’m ready to move on however, my return to Sydney will definitely be to explore more of their amazing food places.
Sending my love,
Emma xo
The Life Of Emma 