Welcome to Sydney!

Wednesday, March 18th, 2015 at 3:09pm

Hey peoples! You know you live in north Queensland when you're relieved that you need long sleeves to keep warm in Sydney. Also it's only 88 degrees F today which is a nice change of pace. I actually was able to use the sheet on my bed the past two nights without over-heating! It's all VERY exciting... Now to the real reason you're reading this:

Sydney was amazing! I'm not a big city person by any means but I absolutely loved traveling around Sydney for the weekend. Fun fact Sydney has 4.576 million people living there which is still only about half the size of New York but it's larger than our second largest city, LA, by almost a million people. Anyways, just some perspective there. I stayed at a hostel while I was there. Another fun fact, hotels are ridiculously expensive there. The hotels that I would consider middle of the line back home were around 400-450 AUD a night to be near the city center. It was a nice hostel though. I have never stayed in a hostel before but in the end I didn't really mind it all too much. I was rooming with three other women and the bathrooms were community bathrooms by gender like they are in most college dorms. It was clean and comfortable and the best part was it was only 50 AUD a night to stay in the city center right across the street from the central train station. I met some very nice people as well. One woman was from Holland but moved to Australia when she was young and then she moved to somewhere in Asia to teach English. Another woman was from Melbourne. I didn't get a chance to talk to the last two women because they came in late at night (only the woman from Melbourne was there both nights).

On Saturday I got up at 4am to catch my 6am flight to Brisbane and then to Sydney. Because of the time change I arrived in Sydney around 11:45am. I hopped the train to central station and checked into my hostel. Another fun fact, transportation in Sydney is really expensive. $17 AUD for a 15min train ride from the airport to central station. After that I walked over to Darling Harbour where the aquarium was. Turns out that Sea Life, the same company that owns the aquarium in the MOA, has locations worldwide. When I got there I saw that the dugong exhibit was closed which was the entire reason I wanted to go to the aquarium but I decided to go anyways cause why not? The first thing I saw was a platypus!!! I've always wanted to see one! So cute! And they had little penguins (actually called little penguins) which you don't see very often in the states. Anyways so I'm walking through the aquarium and get to the place where it looks like the dugongs would be and guess what? The dugongs were out!! Another animal that I really wanted to see and I was super happy that I decided to take the risk of not seeing them. After the aquarium I walked another 20mins or so to Circular Quay also known as Sydney Harbour. There I spent around two hours or so walking around and taking pictures of the Opera House. The entire area was so beautiful. At 5pm I took an hour long tour of the Opera House which was very enjoyable. My guide was really great. I will say the inside was a little more plain than I thought it would be but the theaters were stunning none-the-less. After that I found a spot along the water to watch the sun go down and see the color reflect off of the white pannels of the Opera House. They had wi-fi there so that's where I was when I posted that picture on Facebook. I hopped the train back to my hostel and had dinner at the cafe there then went to bed.

On Sunday I woke up at 6:45am to catch at 7:25am bus tour. It was a FANTASTIC tour. To start, the bus had a glass roof which was really cool and the guide was awesome. In the morning we went to the other side of Sydney Harbour and took some pictures there. Then we stopped at a national park that overlooked the entire bay area to take some pictures. After that we stopped at Manly Wharf/Beach for about an hour to grab some morning tea and walk around. It was there that a girl from India about my age who was on the tour with her older brother came over to where I was sitting along the beach and we talked for a little while until the bus was ready to leave again. After that we went to King Street Wharf/Darling Harbour where most people had a lunch boat cruise. The few of us that didn't had two hours to walk around on our own before the afternoon tour started. I had lunch at a sit-down Italian restaurant by myself which I have to admit was an odd feeling but I really really wanted Italian food and they were having a lunch special. They seriously do not eat enough Italian food/pasta in general here in Australia. After that I spent the rest of my time walking around and playing with my camera. The afternoon tour consisted of a stop near the Royal Botanical Gardens from a different side of Sydney Harbour for some pictures, a 45min stop at Bondi Beach to walk around and driving through several different districts throughout the city. I got back to the hostel around 6-7pm, had dinner at the cafe again and then took some time to talk to my hostel mates before going to bed. The next morning (Monday) I got up and caught my flight back to Townsville, took a cab back to JCU, ate some lunch and caught my 2pm lecture (busy busy).

Overall I really enjoyed Sydney and even more so I enjoyed doing everything on my own. It was a bit intimidating at first I will admit but once I got my bearings and found my own rhythm I felt like I was on top of the world. I got to take so many pictures which is something I have a passion for but don't always have the time or opportunity to do. Traveling alone also made it possible for me to meet heaps of different people from all over the world. They all were very nice to me and seemed to really respect me for traveling alone at this age. The bus tour guide was especially kind and offered to take pictures for me (of me) if I wanted them seeing as I didn't have anyone else in a group to do so. I highly recommend taking a trip by yourself at least once in your life. It's such a fantastic experience and you learn a lot from it. I wish I had more time in Sydney. There was so much more I wanted to do. And I've decided that I want to see a ballet in the Opera House at some point. I think that would be an amazing experience. On a last, kind of separate note, I was amazed by how clean the city was, especially the beaches. They were pristine! Not a single piece of trash to be seen. I'm really hoping to go back some day and spend some more time exploring the city and maybe taking a day trip to the Blue Mountains that I heard so much about while I was there.

That should be plenty for now. If anyone would like to know where I stayed or which tours I took, etc. I'd be happy to send links and recommendations. Pictures have been posted. Warning: there are a LOT. Later peoples!