A whirlwind trip to New South Wales for a friends hens weekend in the Hunter Valley was the big plan, but first; a night in Sydney to see the bright lights of Vivid!

…but as it turns out, things don’t always go to plan.

I landed in Sydney at sunset, after a 4 hour flight with Qantas I was ready move about! I love flying Qantas from Perth to Sydney; good space, good food, decent entertainment. I had a chicken salad and white wine on the flight over for lunch. It was actually really good! I also scored a free seat next to me. Winning!

Qantas Flight over Sydney

But it was still a plan, and I’m full of beans, so I was super ready to move about. Once we landed and I could turn on my phone, I checked the time it would take to catch an Uber from the airport to my hotel. It said 20 mins. I was meeting Matt’s cousin for dinner and drinks before exploring Vivid. Easy peasy – I’d jump in an Uber rather than catch the train. That way I didn’t have to figure out the Opal card system. I’m super lazy with public transport, and Sydney trains suck so much.

Turns out I’ve already forgotten how bad Sydney traffic could be. 50 mins of stop and starting in traffic later I arrived at the hotel – the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth. We checked in, dropped off our stuff and power walked down to Circular Quay. We thought we’d catch a ferry to Darling Harbour, to our desired restaurant. It was longer, but more scenic. We bought a ticket and ran for a ferry, quickly checking on the ferry timetable screen on the way past that it was stopping at Darling Harbour. Full confirmation; Darling Harbour was the second stop.

Vivid Sydney

After 2 stops we realised that it wasn’t stopping at Darling Harbour. We asked one of the staff; apparently the electronic timetable on the wharf was broken. After at first getting annoyed at the silly bimbos for not listening to their announcements on the wharf (we weren’t even there for the announcement) and then becoming friends with us (because lets be honest, we’re adorable), they made a special stop at East Balmain and told us to take the next ferry going in the opposite direction. We sat and waited for about 20 mins, but nothing was turning up. Eventually we gave up and got on a ferry that was heading back to Circular Quay. As soon as we got on the ferry we saw the wharf had 2 sides, and the ferries going the opposite direction were behind us. Fail. Turns out we are bimbos.

Vivid Sydney

Vivid Sydney

We ended up heading to a Mexican restaurant called El Camino Cantina on Argyle Street. It had music pumping, fun pop culture on the wall and good service! Things were looking up – and then unlimited free corn chips and salsa happened! We ordered some food and a couple of jugs of sangria and started enjoying ourselves… until we realised it was 10.30 pm, and Vivid finished at 11.00 pm. Too much gossiping and corn chips! We packed up and headed back down to Circular Quay to take some pictures.

Vivid Sydney

Vivid Sydney

Vivid Sydney

Vivid Sydney

Vivid Sydney

Vivid Sydney

Vivid Sydney

And then the lights turned off…

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Opera House

After a night of rushing around and pushing through all the crowds, we decided all that was left to do was to have a drink at the Opera Bar and enjoy the view. It was good to sit down, fully relax, and get back to gossiping!

Opera Bar

At 12 am the Opera Bar closed and we walked back to the hotel. There was a function at the lobby bar so we had a few more beverages. We had fun watching the people in the function be totally wrecked, and enjoy the awesome service that comes with being an platinum Accor hotel member. We kicked into overdrive and decided to party on a little bit more at the Star City casino. The good news is that we both won a decent amount of money on Blackjack! The bad news is that we got back to the hotel at 5 am. Poor choice the night before a huge hens weekend! Never mind, party on!