And then there was Sydney

I was super fortunate to get a hostel that was in the Rocks. For those who haven't been to Sydney, picture with me a U. On the right point of the U is the Opera House and on the left point of the U is the Harbor Bridge; the Rocks is an Old Town area that is on the left arm of the U (hope that makes sense). Anyway, I had a 3rd floor room and literally I walked out the my room door and saw this...

Double click to enlarge

It was such a shock!
The one draw back to the whole location was that getting to the hostel. I was that I arrived at the airport at 9:30pm and then had to make my way into the city. Thankfully though some people in the train station gave me a way that was less staired, but even still. Once I made it out of the train station, I had to haul my two bags up two roads that had the grade of our driveway (really steep) and then carry them up two flights of stairs. Needless to say, I was disgusting when I got to the top...but it was still worth it.
Like Brisbane, I mainly walked around and just enjoyed the city. On the first day, I started by checking out the Opera House.

This is the bridge in the house

I think that 75% of my pictures from Sydney are either of the Opera House or the Harbor Bridge. Up close it was both exciting and very disappointing-it's covered in bath tiles!

I am not sure what I was expecting the thing to made of, but I think that I was expecting it to be marble or white metal because it's so shiny from far away. I then walked around up the stairs to the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was this huge park where they had flower beds scattered throughout.

I really like his face

Well...this garden was really neat until I looked up. At first I thought there were really interesting pods on the trees, it turns out they were HUGE bats. There were hundreds, if not thousands of these gray haired flying foxes just hanging everywhere. Every once and a while one would take off, and like I said, these things are not tiny. These bats are becoming such a problem though that they are currently trying thinking about relocating them (they seem to destroy any tree that they hang in and their guano is disgusting-or at least it something along those lines).

After a walk through the gardens for a bit, I walked through the city over to Darling Harbor.

I was thinking about going to the aquarium but after going to the Reef HQ and the Great Barer Reef, I decided to skip it, in favor of ferry riding.

It had the same name as our cat!

This was something that I could have done all day. I like going on boats, especially when they are going somewhere, and these farriers were just buses on water. It was just nice sitting there being shown around, the first place I went from Darling Harbor was to Luna Park

This is like the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, a fair on the water. I walked in and literally turned around and left. This place was FULL of 12-13 year olds who were all running around excited because it's the end of the year. Yea, I like kids but that was crazy.
The nice thing about that area was that it had a great view.

I then walked around the city center looking for gifts. The stinky part of coming back from a far away place is that people, while they don't expect it, are looking to see if you bring something back for them. To add to the pressure, I was looking for Christmas type presents in a country that doesn't really do Christmas. The best best way to describe how they view Christmas is how we view 4th of July; it is a good holiday and they decorate and eat something special, but that is about it- most people will just go to the beach or have a barbeque. This meant that my one goal of finding Christmas ornaments was next to impossible! The one place that I found them was at a store that was run by a women who was Jewish and a former American-go figure.

There was little sighs of Christmas in places, but they seemed more excited for New Year's

The next day I started my day at o dot early (like 6:45am). The ONLY reason why I got up this early was because I wanted to see something at the Opera House. So that meant I got up early and went to get in line to get standing room tickets. I got up so early because I thought that if I didn't try I would again regret it. So I was there, sitting under the Opera House when out the Stage Door comes running the security guards. Then once we were inside, they started locking us in. Turns out that a couple of Green Peace people decided to climb up the Opera House and hang a huge banner. There were police everywhere!. They Jr bomb squad was there and so was search and rescue and a whole bunch of other people...all on the ground, all just standing there watching them unfurl this banner. It did get me thinking, how do you get people down from there? One man inside, from Michigan, suggested that we tranq um and then pull them off and if that didn't work, we should just shoot them (I think he was kidding).

This nonsense aside I got my ticket, $35 to stand in the back and watch The Sleeping Beauty ballet. I was then went back to the hotel and took a nap until 11:30am. I then got up and went hunting for the quintessential Sydney view!

To find it I had to walk out to Mrs Macquarie's Chair/Seat; this place was on a peninsula that was across another random inlet from the Opera House.

I thought it would be appropriate to sit on such a famous seat

It was a nice walk, and it was a good chance to catch a glimpse of the rocks that the city are built on. These sandstone rocks were beautiful, rich browns, yellows and oranges.

This stone was also very viable in the Rocks area, seeing as the buildings were pretty much cut into the hillside. For a little history lesson, the Rocks was the area that the convicts were first kept in the Sydney area. This was a monument made out of the local stone that is dedicated to the three main groups of people that made Australia -or at least Sydney- possible.

After all the wandering, I had to book it back to the room to shower and change into some nicer clothes for the ballet. Now, like I said, I had standing room tickets, and when they say standing, they aren't kidding. You and four other people are literally leaning against a rib high wall for the full 4 hours. The one good thing is that after the lights start to dim for the second act, we 'secretly' stole seats. I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about the fine arts, so this was a bit strange, but it was still beautiful. It was unusual to watch something that had not a spoken word and yet still be able to understand what was going on. It was beautiful but LONG. Part of the problem was at the end, there were three main couples and each of them did a serious of dances that went Together Dance, Girl Solo, Boy Solo and then another Together Dance-and each of these dances were at least 5 minutes long and had absolutely nothing to do with the plot. It was still a great experience and I am glad that I made the effort.

The next day was full of finding those last gifts and then making my way to the airport for my 3pm departure. I made it in plenty of time and was greeted by a HUGE plane, and A380. This plane was a full double-decker and the rows on the bottom of the rows went all the way up to something close to 85. It was cool, each seat was equipped with a touch screen that had 12+ episodes of Top Gear! As we were rolling towards the runway it was slightly unnerving when the huge wings with the two large engines (on each) started flapping-I kept praying that it wouldn't fall off. Also, it was cool because they plane is equipped with a camera on top of the tale so we got to watch as we took off, it was slightly surreal. Sadly, unlike the trip to Australia, I could not sleep. The one or two times that I did manage to dose off, but without fail the guy behind me would knock or push on my seat, effectively waking me up.
It was one thing to lose a day, but it was even stranger to do the same day twice and to get back before I had left (work that one out on your body clock). All in all, Sydney was the last stop that probably should have been my first. By this time, while I was really enjoying myself, I was tired of traveling and being hot. I was also done spending money and most importantly I was ready to be in a place where I belonged. This aside, I still had a lot of fun in Sydney, but was really glad to be home.

Brisbane

Nothing like 3 posts in a row!
Yesterday got off to a very slow start. The women I was sharing a room with was leaving on a bus at 5:45am so needless to say, it was a bit noisy from 4ish on, on top of a whole night of snoring! This meant that I got up at around 7 because that’s when my body wakes me up, got dressed, then went back to bed and slept until about 11 am. I had little desire to go anywhere, but I couldn’t justify it to myself to just sit in the room all day. So, I walked over to South Bank

took a river taxi from end of the river to the other. It was beautiful, but once again it was HOT, everyone was complaining about how unseasonably hot it’s been. Part of the main problem is that usually when it gets like this, it rains, but it hasn’t for over a week!
We traveled under the Story Bridge

From while I was walking

From the fancy eating area

and then I managed to pick the stop that all of the young professionals were at. So there I was, probably the only tourist for miles in my tank top with my satchel, while everyone else looks so good in their business attire and party clothes (it’s Friday so apparently it’s Christmas party time). I then spend the next however many hours wondering around downtown, looking for places I had never seen (I found them). I found Anzac Square, and a nice Cathedral in the middle of these hugely tall sky scrapers.

Now I am sitting here in the lobby after eating sushi thinking about how I really should do a load of laundry. With it being this hot I have perspired 5 times more than I ever have in my whole life; it’s gross to feel it running down your spine. And while I don’t outright stink when I sweat, it leaves my clothes with an almost sour smell…YUCK! I have no idea what I am doing tomorrow, but then the day after I am off to Sydney!!

So I'm combining posts, Brisbane take 2!
First off make sure you say it Bris-bin other wise they really know that you're not from these parts. Moving on...today started early, again. And once again I went for a walk. I was trying to put up a map, but the program wouldn't let me. According to the signed parts of the walk, I walked 2.5km but then I had to walk to get to the beginning of the walk and then I walked around after it so I think it would be safe to say that I almost walked 3.5km (2 miles)...for fun! what is wrong with me! Once again today was really muggy, but at least the heat and humidity weren't accompanied by sunshine.

Pictures from the walk...

This is one of their public pools. It has sand and is heated, I think we need one of these!

I think that part of the reason why I am walking so much is because I have nothing else to do. The best way to imagine the city is like downtown San Francisco. There are the few highlights, but for the most part you mainly just shop and since I am on a budget and a weight limit, I can't do much of that. I am very ready to move on!

Koalas, Kangaroos, and Wombats…oh my!

So on Thursday I went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

This is apparently Australia’s 1^st and oldest Koala park (for what that’s worth). I really liked it because you felt like you were walking through the bush/dry tropical rainforest. While all of the animals were in cages that weren’t that big, almost all were fairly local so I guess they were almost in natural habitats.

I got there at the beginning of the heat of the day, so everything was becoming inactive as it was getting hotter. Even though I saw all but two of the Australian animals I have been looking for –I still haven’t see an echidna or a platypus. That aside, I did see a wombat, loads of birds, kangaroos, wallabies, emus, one crocodile, and of course loads of koalas.

I started with the birds, here are the pictures…

Barking Owl--- Black Cockatoo --- Kookaburra

Eclectus Parrot --- Lorikeet--- Tawny Frogmouth

Then I headed off to the kangaroo range. By this time it was hot, and I know that it was truly hot because even the handlers were sweating. Because it was hot all of the kangaroos were sitting in the shade relaxing.

I did meet some really nice Brazilians who not only offered to let me have some of their kangaroo food, but also offered to take a picture of me while I was feeding them. At first I was getting down to their level, but they told me to stand up and when I did, the little guy I was pulling my hand like his life was dependent on it, and my gosh are these guys strong! I am really thankful that they let me do this, I wasn’t planning on it, but I now know that I would have regretted skipping it.

I'm awfully short for the kangaroo world!

The only scary part was when the Emu started walking around. I now that he only wanted the food too, but there’s something about feeding something that is that tall that is seems irrational and really likely to attack you if you don’t have enough.

After that it was off for a look at the wombats, possibly one of my new favorite creatures. I think it is because at school we sang this song about wombats. Anyway, this is a huge marsupial whose favorite thing to do is sleep. In reality they are grumpy and dense, but they are so cute and huge that you can’t help but love them.

Then it was on to take my picture while I HELD a koala!! My gosh these girls are heavy; they look like they should be all light and fluffy because well, they are fluffy, but no they are like picking up a dense baby. The one I held was named Pepsi and here are the pictures to prove it, not that I would make that up :)

I also saw a dingo, the butt of a Tasmanian Devil and the ear of a possum. Like I said, it was hot.

This was one of the peacocks roaming around, he wanted my sandwich

I was having the best luck taking pictures, all three of these guys were either asleep or hiding, but when I walked up they looked at the camera, and then when I put it down they went right back to sleeping!

Koala with a little Joey still in it's pouch

This is a horrible picture of a Cassowary, but I took it to show what I was supposed to have taken a picture of

When I got back, I took a nap, but then I went out again (the women I am sharing a room with is room snores really loudly-not even my earplugs and a pillow could block it out!). This time I walked over the river and then down through South Bank. I can’t really tell you what I saw because I myself have no idea where I was. Needless to say I think I walked all over this stinking city, I just kept walking and walking (mom you’d have been proud though I thought I was a bit nuts while I was doing it)