We began our second day in Sydney with breakfast, joined by these super aggressive parrots. They would hop up right next to you and steal packets of sugar off the table. It sounds fun and exotic, but it was really quite annoying! 

We then caught this hop-on-hop-off tour bus. There were about 20 stops throughout the city and buses came by every 20 minutes, so you could get off at any point and rejoin the tour later, hence the "hop-on-hop-off" name. Our tickets were good for 24 hours, and we rode the bus for most of the day. 

Peter listening to the tour bus commentary. We rode on the top deck, even though it was quite chilly and windy in the morning. 

My mom and me! Somehow she and my grandparents weren't jetlagged. I couldn't function for a good 3 days after moving to Australia, so I admire their ability to adjust quickly! 

We stopped at The Strand, a shopping center downtown. We didn't buy anything (other than coffee and cake, of course) but we enjoyed looking at all the shops. 

We then took the bus to the Opera House, one of the coolest buildings I've ever seen. The pictures don't do it justice; it really is an amazing sight and has to be experienced in person to be appreciated. We considered taking a tour of the inside, but it was quite expensive and involved a lot of stairs (not ideal when traveling with grandparents), so we opted to admire from the outside. 

The Harbour Bridge from the steps of the Opera House. 

A cruise ship in the harbour and a portion of the Sydney skyline. The sun finally came out! 

We then hopped onto the second section of the tour, which included a trip to Bondi Beach. I was really excited about seeing Bondi, and it did not disappoint! The sky cleared completely and we had a great time watching surfers and exploring the beach. Sydney definitely beats Melbourne in terms of quality of city beaches. 

I was most excited to see the Icebergs, the famous swimming pools on the beach. Apparently you have to swim there every Sunday for some ridiculously insane number of years (I think 4) to become a member of the club. 

We returned home from the tour at about 6 pm and played a few card games before ordering a pizza and going to bed!