Sydney
I decided to take a quick study break to make my last big entry in Australia... I turned in my LAST assignment this past Wed. and celebrated on Thurs and Fri by doing absolutely nothing, aside from going out to the Club one last time before semester's end and consequentially missing my last 8:00am Friday morning class. Oops.
Saturday morning I, Jacqulyn (we call her Jacko, which is easier to spell) and Ellie went to Sydney. It was a whirlwind of a trip. This trip was an unexpected one, but I'm so glad that I went. Sydney is a beautiful city. It's clean, gorgeous, modern, artsy, cultural, and friendly all at the same time. I didn't know a city could both be big AND clean, and seemingly absent of poverty. The first day we were there we walked down to Darling Harbour where we visited the Chinese Gardens of Friendship, the Sydney Aquarium and just enjoyed walking around the Harbour, which had an IMAX theater, a maritime museaum and dozens of resturaunts. The Aquarium was great. I saw my first live platypus, which was awesome =). Man, those guys are quick. I also saw some sharks that I had never seen before; it was definitely one of the biggest and most beautiful aquariums I've seen yet.
Sunday was the major monuments day. We started off by walking to Circular K where we took a one hour tour of the Sydney Opera House. It was pretty surreal to be wandering around the Opera House, as it's such an iconic landmark. It definitely makes you FEEL like you're in Australia =). We were lucky because on the morning that we went every single part of the building was open to tourists, so we got to see more than the average guest. While I'm surprised to say that the insides of the Opera House aren't as spectacular as I would have imagined, the one exception to that was the main Concert Hall, which was absolutely stunning and included an organ with more than 10,000 pipes. I only wish I could have heard someone play it, I bet the sound would be amazing. After the Opera House we ran over to the Harbour Bridge. The walk over there was daunting, but great. It was a beautiful weekend, so there were all sorts of artists out painting pictures and muscicians set up and performing all over the place. It was very classy and fun to watch. We even ran into an up-scale farmer's market, which was the fanciest outdoor market I've ever seen... After a LONG search we finally found the way to climb up the bridge. We climbed up to the Pylon and were rewarded with a breathtaking view of Sydney and the Harbour. We didn't get to enjoy it too long though because we had to run back down to the boardwalk in time for our Harbour Coffee Cruise, which was an afternoon 2hr boat ride around Sydney Harbour complete with all sorts of good refreshments. After all that we were pretty exhausted so we had to run some errands for our Monday excursions and then went home.
Monday was our long day trip to the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves. The tour bus stop at the Blue Mountains was far too short, in my opinion. We only had about 40 minutes. The Blue Mountains were...mountains? I don't really know what to say about them, lol, though the blue mist that hovers over the mountains was really cool and made the name make sense ;-). The Blue Mountains are also home to the Three Sisters, which is a rock formation named after an Aboriginal legend. I took a walk around the park, and then a SkyRail trip over the valley (with a transparent glass floor which was great) and then had to go! The longest, and best part of the day was the Jenolan Caves. The three of us chose to do the "adventure tour" so instead of wantering around lit cement paths with a tour guide the three of us got suited up in overalls and miner's helmet and went crawling through the Elders' Cave. It was AMAZING. The scariest part by far was abseiling down into the cave's enterance, but once I was down there I was nothing but eager to crawl around and get dirty. Our two guides made us squeeze through holes and slide down crevices that I swear I never imagined I could fit through, and it was so rewarding. I've always wanted to do some REAL cave exploration, and this was the perfect opportunity for that. I have some great pictures, especially of Jacko getting stuck hahaha, so I'll be sure to bring them home for all to see.
Well, that's it folks. Sydney was my last big adventure in Australia. All that I have to "look forward to" is finals. For the next two weeks, pretend I'm dead...I might as well be. My first final is Saturday and I'll be finished on the 14th. I'm hoping that all of this running around in Sydney (I wouldn't be surprised if we walked AT LEAST 15 miles a day) will have exhausted me to the point where I will be grateful to sit on my bum for the next 16 days. Ick. I'll probably do one last entry after I finish finals, but until then, wish me luck! Hope everyone is doing well!
~20 more days to go, and counting! =D
Saturday morning I, Jacqulyn (we call her Jacko, which is easier to spell) and Ellie went to Sydney. It was a whirlwind of a trip. This trip was an unexpected one, but I'm so glad that I went. Sydney is a beautiful city. It's clean, gorgeous, modern, artsy, cultural, and friendly all at the same time. I didn't know a city could both be big AND clean, and seemingly absent of poverty. The first day we were there we walked down to Darling Harbour where we visited the Chinese Gardens of Friendship, the Sydney Aquarium and just enjoyed walking around the Harbour, which had an IMAX theater, a maritime museaum and dozens of resturaunts. The Aquarium was great. I saw my first live platypus, which was awesome =). Man, those guys are quick. I also saw some sharks that I had never seen before; it was definitely one of the biggest and most beautiful aquariums I've seen yet.
Sunday was the major monuments day. We started off by walking to Circular K where we took a one hour tour of the Sydney Opera House. It was pretty surreal to be wandering around the Opera House, as it's such an iconic landmark. It definitely makes you FEEL like you're in Australia =). We were lucky because on the morning that we went every single part of the building was open to tourists, so we got to see more than the average guest. While I'm surprised to say that the insides of the Opera House aren't as spectacular as I would have imagined, the one exception to that was the main Concert Hall, which was absolutely stunning and included an organ with more than 10,000 pipes. I only wish I could have heard someone play it, I bet the sound would be amazing. After the Opera House we ran over to the Harbour Bridge. The walk over there was daunting, but great. It was a beautiful weekend, so there were all sorts of artists out painting pictures and muscicians set up and performing all over the place. It was very classy and fun to watch. We even ran into an up-scale farmer's market, which was the fanciest outdoor market I've ever seen... After a LONG search we finally found the way to climb up the bridge. We climbed up to the Pylon and were rewarded with a breathtaking view of Sydney and the Harbour. We didn't get to enjoy it too long though because we had to run back down to the boardwalk in time for our Harbour Coffee Cruise, which was an afternoon 2hr boat ride around Sydney Harbour complete with all sorts of good refreshments. After all that we were pretty exhausted so we had to run some errands for our Monday excursions and then went home.
Monday was our long day trip to the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves. The tour bus stop at the Blue Mountains was far too short, in my opinion. We only had about 40 minutes. The Blue Mountains were...mountains? I don't really know what to say about them, lol, though the blue mist that hovers over the mountains was really cool and made the name make sense ;-). The Blue Mountains are also home to the Three Sisters, which is a rock formation named after an Aboriginal legend. I took a walk around the park, and then a SkyRail trip over the valley (with a transparent glass floor which was great) and then had to go! The longest, and best part of the day was the Jenolan Caves. The three of us chose to do the "adventure tour" so instead of wantering around lit cement paths with a tour guide the three of us got suited up in overalls and miner's helmet and went crawling through the Elders' Cave. It was AMAZING. The scariest part by far was abseiling down into the cave's enterance, but once I was down there I was nothing but eager to crawl around and get dirty. Our two guides made us squeeze through holes and slide down crevices that I swear I never imagined I could fit through, and it was so rewarding. I've always wanted to do some REAL cave exploration, and this was the perfect opportunity for that. I have some great pictures, especially of Jacko getting stuck hahaha, so I'll be sure to bring them home for all to see.
Well, that's it folks. Sydney was my last big adventure in Australia. All that I have to "look forward to" is finals. For the next two weeks, pretend I'm dead...I might as well be. My first final is Saturday and I'll be finished on the 14th. I'm hoping that all of this running around in Sydney (I wouldn't be surprised if we walked AT LEAST 15 miles a day) will have exhausted me to the point where I will be grateful to sit on my bum for the next 16 days. Ick. I'll probably do one last entry after I finish finals, but until then, wish me luck! Hope everyone is doing well!
~20 more days to go, and counting! =D