Sydney!
Hey everyone,
How ya going? That's a common greeting here. The trip to Sydney this weekend was awesome. I've done most of my traveling so far with Sarah, Casey, Jasmine, and Matt, but this time it was just Sarah and I. Casey, Jasmine, Robin, and Frank went on a scuba trip, and Matt and some other people went to Melbourne.
We had no idea where we were staying when we got to Sydney, but there are "heaps" (Aussie for "tons") of youth/backpacker hostels in the city. In addition, a lot of pubs have rooms upstairs that you can stay in. If you have about $25 AU ($15 US) a night, you can find a place to sleep. The hostel we stayed in the first night was really dirty, down a small street heading into Kings's Cross, which is full of bars and contains a red light district (prostitution is legal in Australia). It was cheap though, and had free white bread and marmalade for breakfast! Haha. It made the Econo Lodge seem like the Embassy Suites... so we found a nicer one and stayed there for the next two nights. I honestly didn't mind it that much- it's part of the game of being able to get on a train, go wherever you want, and do whatever you want without wasting money on a hotel (at least that's how I rationalize it). I think I'm slowly getting the restlessness for travel out of my system!
Where you sleep is not a big deal anyway, cause you're only there at night. The first day we wandered around Sydney. I think it reminds me most of San Francisco, because of the hills, and it being a big, but clean city. We checked out the Royal Botanical Gardens, which are beautiful! It's like a jungle in the middle of the skyscrapers. There were lots of weird birds and bats, as well as lots of flowers and fountains. The trees look like something out of a story book. I think the one in the picture is called Dragon's Blood. That night there were local bands at the Hard Rock benefitting cancer research, so we ate there.
Saturday the hostel that we moved to just happened to be down the road from a huge drum shop- Billy Hyde Drum Craft (Billy Hyde was a popular jazz drummer in Australia in the 1930's-60's). The nice sales guy gave me heaps of free stuff- I think because I'm from the U.S. After that we went to Darling Harbor. Went to the aquarium, which was great. There were underground tunnels with glass on all four sides, filled with sharks and rays. Lots and lots of neat fish. After that we went to Circular Quay, site of the first European settlement. There is a great view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge from there. We also went to the top of the Sydney Tower. Saw a virtual 3-D show about Australia, then had a 360 degree view of the city from 250 meters in the air. Saw the movie Ned Kelly (staring Heath Ledger).. about the late 1800's Irish Australian outlaw.
Sunday we took the 30 minute ferry journey from Circular Quay to Manly Beach, one of Sydney's most famous beaches (along with Bondi Beach). It's a cool beach town. The water is sooooo relaxing compared to Newcastle beaches! I've never felt stronger rip tides or bigger waves than Newcastle beaches, so Manly was a nice change. After the beach we walked around the Opera House and listened to street music. Oh, the picture with all the bikes in the center of town-- that was a large anti-war rally that we passed by accident. Also, the building beside the tree is of convict barracks, the building with the palms is the Art Museum of New South Wales, and the monorail pic is from Darling Harbor.
I know I'm forgetting stuff, but that is all for now :)
(CD player):
Billy Hyde- Drumbeat
Something with Numbers- Barnicles & Stripes E.P.