Sydney Part II

Sydney is an amazing city. Even from the small portion I saw, I need to say if you ever get the chance definitely come and visit. It is so worth it. Day one of solo adventures started off with coffee and breakfast at Starbucks (it's easy and their flat whites rock). From there I wandered up George Street and checked out some of the shops which range from high end to crappy souvenir shops to grocery stores. Hyde Park was next on the agenda, I wanted to check out where they hold the huge outdoor concerts. I stopped by the Anzac Memorial, a building dedicated to all the soldiers who have fought in the Australian Army, and the Pool of Reflection. They ran out of money while the building was being erected so they sold plaster stars painted with real gold on the ceiling for $2.00 each until they raised enough to finish it. The effect is stunning.

After strolling through Hyde Park I ended up in the Royal Botanical Gardens. There are different areas dedicated to herbs, roses, tropical flowers, australian-based plants, etc. It was very cool until I realized there were bats in the treetops overhead. Not just a couple... I'm talking HUNDREDS of large bats in ALL the trees. Once I convinced myself that no, they were not going to swarm me, I tried to get some cool pics but they look like leaves in a lot of them. So crazy. At the end of the gardens was the Government House, a building of gorgeous stone architecture.

I ended up at the Sydney Opera House again, picked up a $5.00 prawn and avocado salad for lunch, and watched the digeridoo players. I was planning to take the ferry over to the Tarango Zoo but unfortunately Havaianas are not made for long treks and I needed to return to the hotel for bandaids and new shoes. I hopped on the free CBD (downtown) shuttle... seriously, every city should have these. Instead of the zoo, I explored Sydney Wildlife World which contains a huge variety of animals native to Australia. The exhibits started off with invertebrates; spiders, ants, and cicadas, and moved to reptiles; lizards, snakes, and an enormous crocodile (they called him Super Croc). I got to see baby crocodiles hatching out of their eggs... it was so rad! They had a speaker in so you could hear them squawking as well. Nocturnal animals were next; mice, possum, and wombats, then koalas and kangaroos. The koalas are honestly so cute you want to cuddle them and the kangaroos look super cool when they jump. I've never seen anything like it before, especially so close.

I tried to get tickets to a show that night but Sydney takes the night off on Mondays. There was nothing at the Opera House, Wicked and the Oz Circus both had the night off, Al Green was sold out... no luck. So, after another exhausting day of continuous walking, I stopped at a pasta bar to grab some ricotta ravioli, the bottle shop (liquor store) for some vino, and called it a day.

Day two wasn't nearly as exciting. I thought I had bought a ticket to walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge but it turns out the "sky walk" I purchased was actually around the outside of the Sydney Tower. Not that it wasn't thrilling; I got to see the city of Sydney from 880 feet, double the height of the Harbour Bridge. The floor is glass-like in a couple spots and for someone who is scared of heights (me) it took a little while to get used to. I finished off my trip with lunch on the water at Darling Harbour and flew back to Melbourne.

Things I have learned about Australians:

- they are honestly and truly friendly

- even though they are speaking english, I have a harder time understanding them than most mexicans speaking spanish

- they kinda remind me of newfies (I mean that in the best way possible)