Well, we have spent just over 72 hours in Sydney and have absolutely dominated every spare moment. It has been an incredible three days...I wish that I could spend three more weeks here. Sydney is the most beautiful city that I have ever seen. It has so much to offer. Incredibly beautiful, super clean, really diverse, so much culture and opportunity. I am very sad to leave.
So what should I write about in this short time I have...the walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens for the view of the Sydney Opera House and the city skyline with the Harbor Bridge in the background...or perhaps our ferry ride to Manly Beach and back giving us incredible views of the harbour and the city, Opera House, etc. during day and lit up in the dark...or maybe our 4 mile cliff top walk along the eastern beaches of Sydney, Bondi, Bronte, Tamarama, and Coogee...then there was our time spent in the Rocks, eating from a rooftop resturaunt with views of the harbour and city and getting a great $10 steak meal.Indeed, it has been pretty remarkable. We all really love Sydney and the Aussie way of life. We were talking last night of our favorite part of the time here thus far and honestly I really couldn't think of what I loved more. The sights and experiences were one thing, but learing the culture and lingo has been a completely seperate aspect which I have loved. The accents, the driving on the left side of the road, the walking on the left side of the walkway due to the fact that they drive on the left side of the road (which is interesting because my tendency is to walk on the right side), the early morning rush where everyone has their iPod's going, the "flat white" coffee, the crazy amount of runners in this city, their love for sports, the World Cup, and beer.
Last I wrote, early Monday morning, I explained how we were heading to the Opera House. Well, we left the hostel and heading north toward the harbour. We went through Hyde Park which was modeled after London's Hyde Park. It is a really pretty location. We went through that and past St. Mary's Cathedral, gorgeous old building. From their we walked into the Domain park which connected us to this beautiful walking path along the harbour which funneled us into the Royal Botanic Gardens (what a great park!). We followed the walkway and made it up to the point at Mrs. Macquirie's chair, an old stone chair from the 1800s which had an inscription carved in it. Then we turned and saw it...the Opera House. It caught me by surprise. It was stunning, I literally couldn't believe I was standing there.
We took the walkway and followed Farm Cove around and took a path through the Botanic Gardens...such a beautiful park with all sorts of tropical trees and birds and then the huge city in the background. We eventually made our way down to the Opera House, took pics, sat on the steps, walked around it, soaked it all in. We took the Cahill walkway to Circular Quay; the ferry port in the middle of Sydney Harbor. We got breakfast there and got ferry tickets for Manly Beach. The ferry ride was incredible. It took about a half hour to take us northeast through the bay to the city of Manly. We were able to lay out at the beach and go for a walk around the North Head cape. There were some beautiful views there. We also ran into and old military headquarters, with barracks, guns, all sorts of stuff. In Manly we were able to pick up some food from the grocery and we headed back to the ferry. The ferry ride in the dark was amazing. Coming back into the harbor seeing the city lit up was one of the most beautiful things I've seen. Awesome. It was during that ferry ride that I noticed I could see the Southern Cross constellation...pretty cool.
We ended our day with a stroll through the Rocks. An awesome area built on and around old Sydney. It had a distinct European feel to it, just one of the best areas of any city I've seen. They had this outdoor market going on with all this incredible food, music, and people selling their merchandise. A licorice guy gave us a ton of his flavored licorices, which was great. On the way back to our hostel we hooked up a reservation for at a rooftop resteraunt for $10 steak dinners for the next night. It was a sweet day.
Yesterday we headed out at about 9 a.m. and took the bus out to Bondi Beach, surfing capital of the area. It was sweet. There is an incredible walkway which goes along the coastline for miles (or should I say kilometers?). We took that an hour and a half to Coogee Beach where our hostel was putting on a barbecue. It was a beautiful walk. Maybe my favorite part of the trip thus far, but I love the ocean. The water was so blue, tons of surfers out. We walked back and spent a brief time shopping in Bondi where Scott and I each prchased boomerangs. And of course I had to try it out on the beach. I got it halfway around...it was pretty tough. We finished our day off yesterday with a great dinner in the Rocks on top of a roof overlooking the Opera House, with some good beer and good discussion. Just $10 for the meal...no tipping, no tax. Pretty sweet.
Thats all the time I have for now. Cheers.
-b garrison
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