The Best Day Trips from Sydney, Australia – Two City Get-Aways

While visiting Claire’s mission in Australia, we took two day trips from Sydney. Of course, there is so much to see in Australia. It is vast and wide, and holds so much beauty. But since our main focus was where Claire served her mission, we stuck to day trip places to visit near Sydney. And they were well-worth the drives. Each trip unfolded a different side of New South Wales.

Before and after these day trips exploring beyond the city, we experienced Sydney’s multicultural side, including attending the Mandarin-speaking church congregations where Claire served. We also crammed in as many Sydney tourist spots as we possibly could.

The city plus day trips was a pretty great combination.

Day Trip 1: A Road Trip to the South

After our introduction to Sydney itself, we headed South.

The land where Carson served most of his mission.

Royal National Park – Eagle Rock Hike

We drove to Royal National Park and took the Eagle Rock hike.

It was so cool how the winding path was laid out with these raised metal grates to help you walk through the thick bush.

THIS is where we had our snake adventure I mentioned in the last post. As Dave was walking along a giant snake slithered across that walkway right in front of him and I’ll just say that sucker added some good adrenaline to our morning.

Can you see the “Eagle Rock” behind us below:

As you can tell, we were excited to get to that destination.

Stanley Tops Lookout

We were so close to the spot where Carson spent much of his mission and the “golden area” where everyone in Claire’s mission yearned to serve: a town called Wollongong.

So we continued our drive down South to see it.

We did as many of Carson’s recommendations as we could, and the first stop was Stanley Tops Lookout en route to the town.

Sea Cliff Bridge

We had the best view of the ocean and the Sea Cliff Bridge, which is a road on stilts jutting out over the ocean to navigate that part of the coastline. I couldn’t get a great photo of that bridge, so here’s one for you:

Pretty cool, right?

After seeing it from afar, we drove that bridge to get to Wollongong. Can you see it from above and from below?

Wallongong

Wallongong really is a cool little surf town. I was sad we were short on time, so we didn’t get to see some of the things on our list, but we did get to hang on the beach for a little while and took a little walk-about to the two lighthouses down the beach and up on a hill overlooking the harbor.

Mount Kiera

We drove up Mount Kiera for the lookout, and took it all in:

And then made the drive back to our hotel, with a quick stop at the most delicious Japanese takeout spot for a late dinner.

Day Trip 2: Beaches, Coastline and Dear Friends Around Newcastle

Newcastle is one of the areas north of Sydney where there are all kinds of awesome beaches. So we set out on an overnight trip to explore them, and to visit the only English-speaking area where Claire served as a missionary. She was there for one transfer, which is six weeks. And that was clearly enough time to fall in love. She was so excited to head out on this adventure.

Palm Beach and Barrenjoey Lighthouse

Our first stop was Palm Beach where we hiked to the Barrenjoey Lighthouse.

We hiked up the way with all the stairs (there’s a ramp way too)…

…and got to the top where the lighthouse stands.

And where people apparently like to paraglide.

It was fun that Claire had been there on her mission, and was excited to show us the most beautiful view of the peninsula that stretches out from there.

A bay on one side, the ocean on the other of that small stretch of land.

Cool view of the lighthouse from there, too.

It was also pretty awesome that there was a gelato truck waiting for us when we got down from that hotness and beauty.

Dave took a little dip in the ocean while Claire and I sat on the grass above the beach talking. I got so much good time to talk with my girl and I’m so grateful.

Maitland – Claire’s One English-Speaking Mission Area

We made the long drive up to Maitland, Claire’s English transfer area near Newcastle.

I’m nerdy and was so giddy when we actually got to drive past Claires house where she lived while she was there.

I loved picturing her there, such an interesting contrast to where she had been serving in full Chinese areas.

Claire had two amazing companions and learned some pretty amazing lessons in this spot close to the end of her mission.

Oh she had the best companions in here other areas too, I just didn’t think to add them in the post. But missions are so cool since you get to really know your companions who teach you so much.

One of the most important things about this area is that it is where Claire met this family.

A family she got to work with who she adores so much, and who have the best story.

That story of theirs, as well as their faith and love, is a sacred story for another day. But they changed Claire’s whole mission for the better.

And when we met up it was obvious that she changed their lives as well.

We ran into Kmart to grab some flipflops for the beach for Claire, and had such a funny and fun time in there. Which cracks me up. I know that’s random, but needs to be included in this post for the mems.

Newcastle Beach

After that we headed the rest of the way to Newcastle, checked into our hotel and headed straight to Newcastle beach for sunset.

We forged our way through some bushes chasing the sunset. And took all kinds of stairways to walk along as much of that coast as we could squeeze in.

All the while talk, talk, talking.

Bogey Hole

Australia has all these interesting built in “pools” right at the edge of the ocean. This one is Bogey Hole and it was fun to see from above on our stair-stepping hike.

We explored the little town and sat out on the patio of Humble Thai in that perfect equilibrium evening.

Beach Day En Route Home from Newcastle

Ok, our beach day was pretty epic, starting with breakfast acai bowl and green smoothie at the “Kiosk” on Newcastle Beach.

Very good, I must say.

And throughout the day I swear the beaches just kept getting better and better.

Nobby’s Beach

Nobby’s Beach was a quick walk from our hotel on our morning jaunt.

Mereweather Beach

We stopped and sat on our Turkish towels we bought from a little corner store on every single beach.

And loved it all. We didn’t stay too long at this one, but could have easily spent a day here.

Lunch at The White Cottage 163

Yes, lunch deserves three whole photos. Because I’m going to be dreaming of this place for a long time.

It was that good.

Redhead Beach

We fell in love with our next stop, Redhead Beach. It had a towering cliff wall on one side, and the best people watching.

Caves Beach

Caves Beach earned it’s name well. So unique with the coolest caves you can wind through.

Like, a new cave around every corner.

Another Mission Family Visit

En route back to the city we visited another family Claire loves…a mom who’s three kids had been texting Claire all week to PLEASE come visit them. The hearts she made them as a missionary were still on the front door.

And their love for each other was once again, so evident.

So fun to see how Claire made them all feel like a million bucks and listened to all they had to tell her even playing the song duet she had taught them as a missionary together on the piano.

Back to Sydney

With all that goodness wrapped up in our hearts, beaches and good people alike, we raced to get to golden hour at the Opera House. Which I already talked about, but let’s have one more photo.

There we go.

On to the last full day in Sydney that I already talked about in the last post.

It was a wing-dinger of a trip and I’m forever grateful for that precious time.