Hello everyone! After Melbourne I was on my way to Sydney. I stayed with a family friend (Emma) the first two nights, which was great to catch up with her. And to catch up on comfy, big bed sleep, skyping with people, laundry, and finishing up organizing things for Europe. I took a much needed day off on Thursday then Friday went into the city to book into a hostel. Marissa, who I met on the south island trip, lives about 3 hours away from Sydney and came in for the weekend to hang out with me!
The first thing I saw in Sydney and am now absolutely obsessed with are these purple trees, Jacarandas. Emma was telling me they only bloom for about two weeks then are bare for the rest of the year and I got to Sydney at the perfect time. When I have a house I'm going to try to see if I can get one shipped over because they are just stunning.
The second thing I saw in Sydney that was impressive is the Opera House. At first, honestly I didn't like it because it wasn't as big as I imagined and thought the white and cream tiling looked odd. Throughout my time there though I decided it is a very impressive building.
On Friday I had the day alone since Marissa had to work and drive over so I went to the zoo! It was perfect because I ran into two girls I had studied abroad with there, we didn't even know we were all going to be in Sydney at the same time! It was great to catch up with them and hang out. It seems to be a small world! My major goal for Australia was to see a kangaroo (other than the one on my plate haha) and although these are wild kangaroos I'm glad I got to see some!
Seals are just really cute...
I got to see a baby gorilla!
And elephants! Haha I just have to share all the cute animals with you!
This lizard thinks he's the coolest guy out there.
There were a couple peacocks just walking around the zoo and I got to see one with his feathers all open, very impressive.
Friday night Marissa and I just hung out, went to some bars and caught up. Then Saturday Marissa was my tour guide! We stayed in an area called Kings Cross where most backpackers stay and there are a lot of clubs. The Coca-Cola sign is a symbol of Kings Cross and Marissa had to pose with it!
There is a mixture of old building and new in Sydney, this is a beautiful cathedral we saw.
This wild bore is outside the old hospital and if you rub his nose you get good luck I believe.
There was a guy playing the didgeridoo on the harbor!
I decided I was in Sydney I had to take a tour of the Opera House no matter how much it was. We couldn't take a lot of pictures and none in the actual performance rooms. But you can google to see what I saw haha. After climbing a ton of stairs up to the main performance room there was a cool way to view the harbour bridge, by looking up at the bottom of the slanted windows.
Here is the extremely purple rug in the waiting area of the biggest performance room. When we went into the room there was a man tuning the organ so we got to hear a bit of it. The organ was the most amazing thing for me on the tour. You can see 165 pipes and then there are 10,000 that you can't see 10,000!!!!!!! It took 2 years to initially tune it because it is such a massive organ. The smallest pipe is the size of your pinky and the largest is 3 stories high and can fit a man inside! AHHHH IT WAS SO COOL! I wish I could have taken picture of it but I'll just have to talk about how amazing it was.
On Sunday Marissa took me to Bondi beach, a famous beach that has a few shows based out of it. There is Bondi Rescue, a show about rescuing people there, and some tattoo show since there is a famous tattoo shop along the beach.
These are the weirdest birds ever, they are all over Sydney and just look ridiculous!
After Marissa left I decided to go to the botanic gardens and take a nap in the sun since it was the last time I would be in summer for a while. So I spent the afternoon walking around, trying to get tan, and napping. Then I heard some music and decided to go investigate. There was an outdoor swing music concert along the water in the gardens. It was a ticket concert so I couldn't get in but was just standing at the gate listening a bit enjoying the view. Then a woman came up to me and asked if I had a ticket to get in when I said no she handed me one saying that it was her friend's and they couldn't make it. So I got into the concert for free! There were people dressed up dancing and a huge crowd listening. The music was really good and I got to just hang out and enjoy the evening!
This is the view next to the concert. It was so great to get Opera House and Harbor Bridge in one picture!
I had a great time in Sydney and was so glad that I got to see so many friends! It's amazing that when I booked the tickets I thought I would be on my own the whole time and yet you find family and friends where ever you go!
Love,
Michele
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