Sydney

The Sydney Harbour Bridge 

     This past weekend I explored Sydney. It was too far to drive there, so I took a train to Melbourne. From the train station I caught a bus to the airport. Then I flew in to Sydney (with Katie, the same girl I traveled to Melbourne with last weekend). Then we took a cab to the hostel I was staying at, which was in a terrible part of town unbeknownst to me when I booked it. (Note to self: if a hostel is way cheaper than the rest in the city, it's not a "deal," it is just a horrible place). I stayed at Kings Cross, which turned out to be a really sleazy area in Sydney (and not how Sydney is everywhere!). There were a lot of strip clubs and hookers and homeless people. I have never seen a public library in between two strip clubs before, until I went to Kings Cross. I have never seen a cross dressing hooker before, until I went to Kings Cross. I have never seen a meth-ed out homeless person trying to cut their own hair before, until I went to Kings Cross. I could go on all day. . . Needless to say, I did not go out at night there.

The beautiful Sydney Opera House 

     The Hostel from Hell, as I like to call it, is the worst place on Earth. (It is actually called the d*lux Hostel, please note this if you are planning on traveling to Sydney, to NOT go there). We arrived on Friday after a very long trip to be told that they didn't have a room for us, despite our reservations and deposit. We had to sleep in the lounge, which didn't lock, with no pillows and blankets, only to be woken up multiply times throughout the night by people wandering in, assuming it was the lounge. Then, they would find us curled up on the couches and realize their mistake, and stumble out. I was very frustrated with the establishment, especially because the same thing happened Saturday night. THE SAME THING. We were told Friday that they were so sorry and it would not happen again, then the exact. same. thing. happened. After, of course, they gave me a key to "our room" and I walked in on a half naked Indian man. He was not too pleased to see me, that is for sure. I did the dignified thing and ran away. I went to the front desk to tell them that the room was in fact, not available. To which they replied, then we do not have one for you, and directed us to the lounge again. After our night on Saturday, we were given a private room for the rest of our stay, free of cost, a free Shuttle to the airport Tuesday, and the managers apologies. He also offered us a free room, "if we wanted to stay longer." We both just stared at him like he was on drugs.  Of course we weren't going to stay longer, we wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible! Have I mentioned how much "fun" hostels are?

As far as I would go in the
water. . . 

     Due to the amount of traveling that we did after work on Friday, we ended up waiting until Saturday to start our adventure. We took a train to Circular Quay, which is the cool part of the city. There we took a tour of the world famous Opera House. We also bought tickets to see South Pacific, a musical, in the opera house later that day. It was wonderful! I am not a musical person, and I loved it. We also checked out the famous bridge, although we didn't climb it due to the expensive price. After that, we went to the Sydney Tower Eye, which is a viewing tower where you can see over the city. We had bought a package deal that came with five attractions, the Tower Eye being one of them.

Obama and I gettin' things done. 

    Sunday was a beach day for us. We took a ferry from Circular Quay to Manly Beach, where we laid out and waded in the water. Yes, the beach had a "shark net" to keep the sharks away. Terrifying, right? But apparently this fear is very "touristy", so I try to suppress it. We also walked around some nice shops and ate at a cafe on the beach. After the beach we went to Madame Tussaud's, which is a wax museum. This was also in the package of 5 things. I probably wouldn't have gone if it wasn't, but it turned out to be very fun. There was just a bunch of models of celebrities made out of wax. It sounds lame, but it was very fun to take pictures. Of course, this one of me and Obama is real, though . . .
 

Why did you have to
leave us so soon, Heath?!

  Monday and Tuesday we were able to stay in the city instead of coming back to Melbourne to teach because November 5th is a holiday here. It's called the Melbourne Cup and it is a horse race, much like the Derby here. The ladies wear fancy hats and everyone gets very dressed up to celebrate. My host parents are actually going to it. The schools are closed (at least in Victoria, where I am) so we stayed in Sydney and flew home Tuesday morning. The actual most important fact about November 5th is that it's my moms birthday. I hope you have a good one, mom! Wish I was there to celebrate with you!
      Monday we went to a wildlife place and the aquarium. We also got an hour guided tour throughout Sydney, where we got off at a Bay and walked around. We saw a great view of the ocean there, too. After eating at a great little place in Darling Harbor, we went back to out hostel and packed our things in preparation for our 5am shuttle to pick us up.

A Koala from the Wildlife place

      In all I found Sydney fantastic. I will be going back there during my last week in Australia, along with a few other places. I am hoping to meet up with a few friends from the YMCA Summer Camp I worked at in 2010 that live in/near Sydney (Jade and Jodi, hint, hint). A wonderful but tiring weekend for me!

Great view of the ocean