Sydney and Perth Australia

This gallery chronicals a visit to Australia in January of 2024 that I took with Kim Sheridan, a long time classmate from high school. We visited both Sydney and Perth enjoying a fantastic taste of Australia's diverse offerings, from bustling city life to stunning natural beauty.

The orange icons on the maps below represent the places that we visited. The Sydney area is depicted on first map, and the Perth area is displayed on the second map.

Heading west we visited Falconbridge. It is the area of the blue maintains where Kim’s great uncle lived and found his renovated house on the Great Western Highway. We drove along the highway and saw the iconic 3 sisters buttes. From there we continued west into the Blue Mountains National Park, known as the Grand Canyon of Australia. This was by far one of the most stunning picturesque areas of Australia. From this park much like the Grand Canyon in the US you could see for miles and viewed trees that looked like scrubs when in fact they were over 100’ feet tall. We traveled back to Sydney, and wandered around the area near our hotel. We stayed the 1st week at the W hotel in Darling Harbour and later, the Four Points Sheraton, in the Chippendale sector. From the W we headed to Circular Quay and the Rocks, where we saw the iconic Sydney Opera House and strolled around the Sydney Harbour Bridge. At sunset, the Sydney Opera House was absolutely stunning.

We took a ferry to Manly Wharf, where we had lunch on the Beach, and watched the surfers and people enjoying the beautiful beach. We later traveled to Bondi Beach, another picturesque beach where many people enjoyed a clear sunny afternoon.

Rounding out our trip toward the end of the 2nd week, we visited the Taronga Zoo to see native Australian wildlife with the backdrop of Sydney Harbour. We walked among the kangaroos, emus, koala bears (who were sleeping in the trees), and dingos.

Mid-way through the trip we flew to Perth. We had 2 guides in Perth, 2 business associates of Kim’s, Abdy Taminsyah and Dinesh Somasundram. We started off at the Australia’s State War Memorial. Then, Abdy took us for lunch in Fremantle, south of the city where we strolled around the Fishing Boat Harbour. The harbor and surrounding area are very picturesque.

We visited Elizabeth Quay, where we saw the First Contact Sculpture, which welcomes visitors to the area. There were many sculptures, including the 29 meter tall Spanda on the Swan River. We walked across the unique Elizabeth Quay pedestrian bridge to The Island Elizabeth Quay.

Our itinerary offered a balance of iconic landmarks, outdoor adventures, cultural experiences, and relaxation time, making the most of our visit to both Sydney and Perth.

Many of the photographs are "geo-tagged" and may be located on Google Maps. If the photograph has a "Map" link (a small folded map), clicking the link will open up a new window showing where the photograph was taken. You may need to zoom the map to get additional detail. Simply close the new window to return to browsing the gallery.