There are moments as a parent when you realise you’ve accidentally built something up so much that there is almost no chance it can live up to expectations. For me, that was Sydney.
My six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter have been begging to visit “the big city” for what feels like years. It’s my fault. I love Sydney. I lived there for a decade, and still regularly travel down for work.
But living in a regional town in the Northern Rivers, Sydney now occupies a mythical place in my kids’ imaginations. There are trains, ferries, escalators, skyscrapers, endless playgrounds, dumplings, more trains.
And so, I decided that this June long weekend would be our first trip away solo as a family since becoming a single-parent household.
I wanted it to feel special and for them to have the experiences they’d been dreaming about. But I also needed it to be manageable.
Any single parent knows that travelling with young children isn’t exactly a holiday. It’s parenting in a different postcode, with fewer toys, more hyperactive energy and significantly more snacks required.
From the moment we arrived at Pullman Sydney Hyde Park, though, I felt myself relax.
On arrival, my daughter squealed at the rainbow-coloured walkway leading into the hotel and immediately declared it “the unicorn parade”. A magical start, according to her.
Check-in was warm and easy. One staff member discreetly mouthed “lollies?” at me from behind the counter. After receiving my nod of grateful approval, he returned with cups of sweets for the kids. It was a small gesture, but one that immediately made us feel welcome.
Our room overlooked Hyde Park, and throughout the trip the view became part of the experience. Every morning, the kids would race to the window to see what was happening below before we’d even discussed breakfast.
Our first adventure was catching the train to Circular Quay before jumping on a ferry to Taronga Zoo.
If you’ve grown up in a small town, you forget how exciting public transport can be. My kids spent most of the journey pressed against windows, narrating every tunnel, bridge and passing train carriage with hilarious enthusiasm.
Taronga Zoo, as always, was amazing.
The gorillas were an instant hit, while the seal show had both kids completely captivated. Watching seals launch themselves into the water on their bellies sent my daughter into hysterics. The zoo’s conservation work is also impossible to miss, woven throughout the exhibits and experiences in a way that’s genuinely educational and engaging.
After meeting a friend at the zoo, we made our way to Manly for dinner, where my son’s ongoing love affair with dumplings continued. By the end of the trip, I estimate dumplings accounted for roughly 90 per cent of his food intake. (And I think he was bummed it wasn’t 100).
The following day was museum day. Pullman currently has a partnership with the Australian Museum, making it an easy addition to our itinerary. It’s also just 300 metres down the road from the hotel. The Bloodsuckers exhibition, which explores nature’s vampires, from mosquitoes to vampire bats, was exactly the sort of creepy-but-fascinating experience that six-year-olds dream of. (35 year-olds, not so much).
The combination of taxidermy specimens, interactive displays and accessible science (even for me) kept him engaged for far longer than I expected. We also spent plenty of time with the dinosaur exhibits, which remain every bit as impressive as I remembered from childhood.
One of the joys of travelling with kids is revisiting places you’ve been or seen dozens of times through entirely new eyes. It was also a good reminder to take the time to just be present in the moment. I travel to Sydney regularly for work but I rarely get the time to stop, breathe and take in anything meaningful – except a delicious banh mi between meetings.
Later that day, we met friends from my mother’s group for yum cha at Sky Phoenix in the Sydney CBD. There’s something wonderfully relieving about sitting around a table with families whose kids are exactly the same age as yours and the exact same level of chaos. Nobody notices if someone spills a drink or makes a cubby house under the table. Everyone’s in the same boat. Food at Sky Phoenix was also 10/10.
The next day we headed to the Harry Potter exhibition at Sydney Olympic Park. While my kids are only just beginning to discover Harry Potter, the exhibition definitely sped up their interest. The interactive experiences, costumes, sets and immersive elements managed to entertain both of them for two solid hours, which frankly deserved 100 points to Gryffindor.
By that evening, we were ready for a slower pace.
One of the unexpected benefits of staying somewhere central was being able to retreat back to the hotel rather than continuing to push through exhaustion. We had dinner downstairs at the hotel bistro with friends before simply taking the lift upstairs to bed. There’s no greater luxury than that.
The kids’ meals were yummy and affordable, the other dishes were great, (special mention to the barramundi) and I didn’t have to navigate public transport while persuading two overtired kids to just “keep going”. We cosied up in one of the two plush queen beds watching a kids’ baking show after dinner, at a supreme level of content.
Some of our favourite moments were actually the quieter ones.
Ordering room-service ice cream and churros after a busy day. Taking in the view at the rooftop pool. Watching the sun rise over Hyde Park. Exploring the park itself, where my children spent ages floating leaf boats through the memorial fountains and inventing elaborate stories about the statues.
Winter in Sydney often gets overlooked, but the crisp sunny days felt perfect for exploring.
On our final day, we walked to Darling Harbour and spent hours at the playground. A kids’ dreamscape of climbing structures, slides, swings, a carousel and approximately one million ways for children to burn energy. At one point my six-year-old became stranded halfway up an enormous climbing frame, requiring me to scale it myself while several amused parents watched from below.
Humility, it turns out, is free.
After a Japanese lunch overlooking the playground and one final ice cream, we wandered back to the hotel, collected our bags and headed for the airport.
As we boarded the train, both children were already asking when we could come back, which was when I realised the trip had been exactly what I’d hoped for.
It was definitely not Instagram perfect. There were tired moments, sibling arguments, a tired mum losing her cool at irrational tantrums, and at least one emergency search for a public bathroom.
But there were also ferries, a rooftop pool, seals, dinosaurs, dumplings, playgrounds, ice cream and countless small moments of joy and gratitude.
And importantly for me, there was the quiet confidence that comes from doing something that initially felt daunting.
As a single parent, it’s easy to second-guess yourself and to wonder whether travelling alone with young kids is worth the effort.
This trip reminded me that sometimes the best family adventures aren’t the biggest or most extravagant ones. Sometimes they’re just a long weekend in Sydney, a room overlooking Hyde Park, and two kids who still think escalators are the greatest invention of all time.
This trip was provided on a hosted basis by The Pullman Hyde Park, Sydney. Women’s Agenda maintains full editorial independence, and all views expressed are those of the author.