More Sydney Stuff!

Hey guys. Thanks for reading again.

A short entry is promised for you all!

2/10: Today we caught a train down to the Circular Quay (pronounced key), this is where all the cool stuff to look at is (i.e. Sydney Opera House, lots of boats, Sydney Harbour Bridge). We caught one of the ferries over to a place called Darling Harbour, which is a different section of Sydney. We went to the Sydney Wildlife World, which was really cool! They had a ton of different Australian species there, especially koalas and kangaroos!



They also had a really huge wombat, but he/she was sleeping. They also had a full-size crocodile which was pretty scary, I’m not sure that I’ve personally seen one before except on TV.

The croc at Wildlife World!

We then grabbed some lunch while watching the Ellen show with Justin Bieber on mute in the café, and then headed over to the renowned Sydney Aquarium. This is definitely a highlight of the trip so far. We got to see many fish (duh) but also saw some big sharks and some dugongs (which are a little manatees). They also had some pretty big lobsters, seahorses, and an octopus. We got to go out on this glass-floored boat and feed the fish in the coral reef exhibit, which is where the big sharks were.


After these two things, we walked up to the Sydney Tower. This is a big observation tower which is the tallest structure in Sydney, and offered great views of the whole city! Next on the list was a ferry ride back to the Circular Quay area, where we took some great pictures, and we boarded a huge old boat for dinner! That sounds really lame, but it is a big wooden boat with real sails and everything! It was pretty cool because it is the only ship like this in Australia, and was built in 1920 and still fully operational! We had some good grub whilst aboard this majestic ship, but I think I had more fun being on the ship! Afterward, we got back to our hostel via train and did some much needed sleeping, for we were to get up at 0530 the next day.



2/11: 0530 alarm rings! Man these are some early days. We boarded a train down to the King’s Cross area of Sydney around 0615 this morning. This area is notorious for its many strip clubs and such type of folk, but that stuff is all active at night, so no worries! We got on our shuttle and headed off on the Oz Experience tour that we had booked. This was to bring us up to the Blue Mountains area, where we had many things planned. We picked up some more people and took our drive up to the Blue Mountains! They are so pretty and we had two absolutely gorgeous hikes!


They were a bit quick for my pace, however, but I am getting some much needed exercise apparently! When we first got to the mountains, we headed into the Blue Mountains National Park, and we saw some wild kangaroos! We saw a female kangaroo and its joey, and when we approached them they jumped away separate. Usually the joey will get in the pouch of the mother before they take off, and that was a really cool thing to see! Our guide said that this is very rare. We also saw many cockatoos, which are native to Australia. These look like white parrots, but have yellow on their heads and under their wings. Example here:

A cockatoo! Not my picture, you can't really get this close.

We also had the opportunity on one of our hikes to see a couple black yellow-crested cockatoos, which are similar to the white ones mentioned above. Our guide says that he has only seen them a couple times, so that was a rare treat! Also today, I had this amazing apple cinnamon muffin from a little bakehouse on the trip that was the best one I’ve ever had, and we had some good laughs along the way: our guide was pretty funny. We got back and ate dinner at Hungry Jack’s (read: Burger King) and have spent the evening relaxing, which was much needed after today.

(blog is longer than planned, because Internet was uncooperative for too long :)

2/12: Today we had nothing planned. Woke up at 1100, which was AWESOME, and then we headed off to the Circular Quay area. We ate brunch at a place called Rossini's cafe, which is a gold mine because it is right next to all the action. Next we walked over to the Sydney Opera House, and after a lot of explaining and phone calls, we got tickets to a tour and an opera show tomorrow! I am really excited for that!!! After that, we walked around Sydney for a little while, then hit the Australian Museum. This place had a lot of cool things to see, like many dinosaur replicas, and an exhibit about Sydney's animals. They also had this great photographer exhibition called Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and there were some really amazing photos in there! I think that was my favorite part. After the museum, we hitched a train ride back to the hostel area, and it was downpouring! Not too much fun, because it had only misted a little earlier this week. We ate dinner at Subway, and bought some movie tickets to see "How Do You Know" at 2130 this night. Movies are a little slow to come out over here than in the States, and they cost a lot! Hoping to eat some popcorn at the movie tonight and relax a little. Tomorrow will be a big day!

Thanks for reading and God bless!