It was finally the day I was travelling to Sydney for World Pride, we woke up bright and early for our 7am flight to Sydney I was buzzing with energy and didn’t sleep much from the excitment.
We arrived around 8:40am Sydney time and the airport was alive and you could feel the pride in the air as bubbles past us apon leaving the airport into a drag show outside. Me and my friend getting a yass welcome and a glitterly necklass placed around our head by some iconic Australian Drag Queens!
We left the airport to the hotels in an Uber left the bags and went exploring, we hadn’t eaten much so we decided to get some brunch. We headed up to George street to check out the food options.
We found this quiet burger shop called Grill’d Galeries just off of George Street, the meal was cheap and we tried the world’s most sustainable beef pattie. With 67% less methane. We were feeling a lot less guilty eating it!
We then went to Westfield in George Street, we got legit lost in the mall. The malls in Australia are skyscrapers. This mall was huge one shop was a full building which is the size of a New Zealand mall. After hours of getting lost in shopping heaven we went back to our hotels to get ready for Sydney World Pride Opening Ceremony at the Domain.
The night finished with fireworks and a drone light show which was super amazing!
DAY 2
It was an early morning and I needed some brunch! got dressed and headed to find the closest coffee shop, Lucky for me I had a starbucks right outside the hotel and I was ready to find that much needed food.
I went for a walk around Darling Harbour with a friend and we found this awesome place I had some bacon, scrambled eggs on toast with smashed avo and a orange juice.
We then continued to walk around the harbour looking at the sights and admiring the tall buildings in Darling Harbour.
We then decided to go shopping and check out the mall again as we had a better idea of where we were this time, checking out the sights and shops along the way.
After a couple hours of shopping it was time to head back to the hotel and change for the Mardi Gras Parade.
The Parade was very long and we all had to get there early to secure a space with a good view, I was standing for close to five hours before I decided to leave and head back to the hotel.
My legs were falling off at this point! got back to the hotel and crashed.
DAY 3
I was starving this morning so the first thing I did was slap on some clothes and stroll down for a burger, I did wake up at 10am from all the walking and standing the day before I was abit in pain but we weren’t going to let a little pain stop us from having fun!
After eating brunch, I made my way to the mall to further explore the massive skyscraper like mall with over 20 floors of shops and food. After some much needed shopping I needed to relax so I headed to a massage and sauna resort. After a well needed full body massage I soaked up some further heat in the Sauna.
After a few hours at the resort I went back to my hotel to change and get ready for the Domain Dance Party, having a few shots of vodka and preparing for the long night ahead of music and lots of people!
I took the light rail for the first time and I have to say it was a huge wake-up call for how easy it was to get from A to B in a very short amount of time. All I had to do was tap my ApplePay or Eftpos card on the station and then tap off at the destination station. No need for a specific card to use the transport service which was amazing!
I arrived at the event and went and got a drink and met the rest of my friends, we had a beautiful night dancing and watching the performances on the main stage.
DAY 4
After a long night of partying, I wanted to go out to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Opera House. But first I needed to try a Cinnabon, I went and lined up in the queue for this world famous cinnamon roll. The queue for this place was around the block and there was close to 30 people waiting in line for this but can you blame them they look really good!
Once I was filled by the Cinnabons I walked to the train station and caught the train to Circular Quay and it was a short walk to the Opera House. It was a beautiful morning.
Continued to look around the Opera house before walking through the Royal Botantic Gardens and around Government House. The birds were everywhere and the park was alive with people.
After seeing the sights I went back into George Street for lunch and picking up some clothes that had arrived at one of the shops I went to, I then took the light rail back down to the hotel for a well needed rest.
DAY 5
Today was the day we went to Sea Life, Wild Life and Madame Two Swords got ready had some quick food before heading over.
We started at Sea Life, seeing all the fish and aquatic animals. It was amazing to see the Pengiuns at Sea Life and their same sex partners. They had a mini pride parade and rainbow flags were displayed around their enclosure.
We then went to Wild Life and got to feed some animals and see some creatures only seen in Australia!
We then finished the day with Madame Two Swords and seeing all the wax figures, it was a very fun day and seeing how realistic these were was crazy!
I finished the day off with some dumplings for dinner and visiting clubs.
DAY 6
Woke up very early for the day ahead at the Zoo we caught the train to Circular Quay to catch the Ferry across the harbour to Taronga Zoo,
It was a very long day seeing all the animals and watching the shows and experiences on the day, my favourite would have to be seeing the Lions and the Seal show.
DAY 7
This was my final day in Sydney, after a 3 days of exploring Sydney and catching up with friends in Australia and seeing other Content Creators. I woke up early to attend the Sydney Harbour Bridge walk were 50,000 people were expected to walk across the bridge in a massive display of Diversity and Inclusion, the walk took us roughly 30minutes to complete.
After getting home from this trip it was a huge eye opener for me because in Auckland we have a public transport crisis, it’s not good enough having just one public transport option over a bridge and then you have cancelled buses which adds to the extra stress of getting from A to B. no wonder people want to use cars and other means when our transport system just isn’t good enough.
The Food in the city was cheap and you didnt have to go far to find it, I went to several places and couldn’t complain the price of food was cheaper than New Zealand and you really cant complain with happy hour spirits for $4 a drink it was well worth the trip!
Overall the trip was exciting and I really cant wait to go back again someday.
