Spending Time Down Under

By alantvuong on October 22, 2017

Always looking for flight deals and really wanting to visit my Australian buddies Tyson and Dean, I thought it would be a great time to visit down under. I booked the flight for February in 2015 and am all set for another adventure. So only Dean is able to meet up as Tyson is really busy travelling the world for his own blog. My first stop was to Sydney to meet up with Dean, then fly to Melbourne with my travel buddy Josh. Sydney is the capital of New South Wales and the most populated city in Australia. Since there was so many wheelchair accessible things to do in Sydney, I decided to separate my posts to things that cost money and things that are free to do. Here are the top things I did in this city that cost money:

fun times visiting my Australian buddy Dean

Sea Life Sydney Aquarium

I love visiting aquariums and this one was easily located in Darling Harbour. Sea Life Sydney Aquarium features 14 different themed exhibits including Jurassic Seas, Shark Walk and the world’s largest Great Barrier Reef Display. The aquarium holds over 2.0 million liters (0.53 million gallons) with over 13,000 creatures from more than 700 species. My favorite is visiting the underwater tunnel because I love being surrounded by fish and sea animals from all directions. There is an optional Glass Bottom Boat tour that is available for a surcharge, but we did not do that. Admission price is $42 at the counter or you can buy online for only $33.60. To save even more, you can buy combo passes to other attractions too. Really enjoyed my time here and can definitely spend 2 to 4 hours here.

love the underwater tunnel

Madame Tussauds

Something that is generally wheelchair accessible are modern museums. I always love checking out wax museums because if you can’t meet a celebrity in person, then their wax figures are the next best thing. Madame Tussauds is a famous wax museum with life sized figures of world famous celebrities that includes actors, singers, politicians and regional favorites. It is always great to learn about the regional celebrities who made a difference in their home country. The place was very accessible with ramps everywhere and it is always fun taking pictures with the wax figures and wearing the props available. Madame Tussauds is located in Darling Harbour and admission price is $42 at the counter or you can buy online for $29.40. To save even more, you can buy combo passes to other attractions too. Lots of fun to be held here for 1 to 2 hours.

picture with royalty

Wild Life Sydney Zoo

Wild Life Sydney Zoo is conveniently located right beside Sea Life Sydney Aquarium and Madame Tussauds. This zoo is very accessible and the main floor has over 75,000 square feet of enclosures. The upper level features an open-air concept and this allows the landscapes to be fully integrated with live plants and trees. This zoo is divided into 10 different sections that includes Butterfly Tropics, Devils Den, Daintree Rainforests and Koala encounters. I really enjoyed Kangaroo Walk-About which is an 8,600 semi-arid habitat with real sand and loose red kangaroos roaming around. Again admission is $42 at the counter or you can buy online for $33.60. This attraction is also available in the combo pass. A person can definitely spend 2 to 3 hours here.

at the Kangaroo Walk-About

Sydney Tower Eye

The Sydney Tower Eye is 309 meters (1014 feet) high and is the tallest structure in the city. It is located in the Sydney Central Business District (CBD) and is definitely a popular tourist attraction. There is also an extra observation deck and Skywalk that requires an additional ticket. The Skywalk is not wheelchair accessible but the main observation is. Like all towers that I have been to, a wheelchair person has to come right up beside the window and park sideways in order to get a great view of the city. I am actually surprised that there is no glass floor anywhere. Seems like a lot of towers have these now. Admission to the tower is $28 or you can buy online for $19.60. This attraction could also be bought in the combo pass. I thought this was a really cool thing to do and it can be seen in about an hour.

must get up close to the window to see

Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is very iconic to the city and is visited by over a million people annually. It is a performing arts center and is multi-use with different venues. They host operas, live theatres, symphonies and even have guided tours of this famous structure. Tours of the Opera House cost $37 at the counter or you can buy online for 10% off discount. They even have a restaurant inside too. While I was in Sydney I missed the wheelchair accessible tour that was offered so we just took pictures of the place and hung around outside in the surrounding area. It is located right by the Sydney Central Business District (CBD) and the Royal Botanic Gardens.

posing right by the Sydney Opera House

Taronga Zoo

Since I love visiting zoos everywhere I go and the Taronga Zoo being bigger than the Wild Life Sydney Zoo, I wanted to check this place out too. A 12-minute ferry ride is the best way to get to the zoo from Circular Quay. The ferries are fully wheelchair accessible and offers spectacular views of Habour Bridge, The Sydney Opera House, the city skyline and blue waters. Passengers disembarking at the wharf can enter the zoo via gondola or by bus. You can even buy combo passes for the zoo, ferry, gondola or bus. The zoo itself is quite big and is over 69 acres big and features over 350 species with over 4000 animals. There are so many animal exhibits, zookeeper talks and shows, sky safari, dining that you can easily spend 4 to 5 hours here. That’s exactly what we did. Admission prices are $46 at the counter or $41.40 online. Extremely highly recommended.

ready to board accessible ferry to Taronga Zoo

Sydney is a wonderful city to visit with great weather and great people. I really enjoyed my time here and got to see some exciting attractions. They can be quite pricy if bought individually but if you buy the combo pass, you can really save a lot of money. Check out my other blog post to see what my top FREE things to do in Sydney are. I would definitely come back and visit my friends again.