Look where I was today!

Made it to Sydney!

This morning we woke up in Bondi (after sleeping for 12 hours - 9pm-9am, much needed sleep) and there was a city to sea marathon going on. There was an expected 80,000 people at Bondi Beach. We found out about it the day before and considered staying in Bondi an extra day but after thinking about it we decided to still go to the city. We spent about 20 minutes down by the marathon until we had to check out. Getting to the city was crazy, took about 2 hours on 3 different busses to complete a 20 min taxi ride, but we made it.

Our hostel is just outside of Sydney in a suburb called Woolloomooloo. Our hostel is pretty nice. They’re remodeling some areas so instead of a twin bedroom we’re staying in a four share, but they just made it private and gave us a discount. Works for us!

We walked down to the Woolloomooloo Warf and everything about it was adorable! The walk down there was gorgeous, cute antique condos with balcony’s everywhere. I stopped and had tempura shrimp out of a little corner cook, for a lack of a better word. After sitting on a park bench with my meal and talking to a local guy I guess this little hole in the wall place was pretty well known for its delicious food. I sure enjoyed it!

We got down to the Warf and it was lined with the most elegant boats paired with the best 5 star restaurants along the walkway; quite the little suburb during the day.

We meandered toward the city and I really enjoyed the walk. We passed by some beautiful cathedrals and churches and then walked into a stunning park lined with people resting in the grass and reading on the benches. It was quite apparent when we left and suburbs and parks and hit the city. Sydney is a fast paced and demanding city, like most.

We liked the window shopping but once we got to the water and the main ferry terminal is when I really got excited! It felt almost unreal to see the opera house after always seeing pictures and video of it, weird to finally be standing there myself looking across the water to see the architectural feat.

There are a lot of street performers along all the walk ways and I really enjoy and appreciate their work/efforts. I found the same thing in Cairns. In general, Sydney is an amazing place for the arts. I can’t wait to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I’m also going to try to visit as many other galleries as possible which won’t be hard because they are everywhere; in fact I had my picture taken under the Art Gallery Rd sign today!

We got so lucky today is a Sunday! There was a huge market filling street after street. I picked up some pretty good souvenirs and goods, including a small colorful duffle to start checking as a second piece of luggage. I love little markets like that; all kinds of people, fresh foods, neat homemade goods, etc etc.

Yet another good day, just living the life… Tomorrow I get to see the city from quite a different vantage point; I will be standing on top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge! I just hope the weather is as beautiful as it was today. Regardless I have another fun filled day ahead of me.

Oh side note: today a guy thought I was Irish! Maybe I’ve been spending too much time at pubs called O’Malley’s or something, regardless I got a laugh. And when I was out on the reef in Cairns a guy thought I was Aussie, I said something and he replied, “is that an Aussie accent I hear?” once again I laughed and wouldn’t stop mentioning it to Tiffany. I think I’m starting to fit in here just fine… oh and if I need work here I’ll let one of the guys know working in the market, $20 an hour. See Mom, I’ll be just fine! ; )

Boyd I meant to tell you yesterday, I was window shopping at Bondi Beach and one of the markets had a ¼ of a watermelon out for sale… I picked it up, paid for it and ate almost all of it! I’m going through watermelon withdrawals! Not too long and I’ll be home so make sure to have some in the frig!

That’s the one thing I miss, having my own frig, food and kitchen! I’m getting tired of eating out. Went to the market today and bought bananas, oranges and strawberries to help the situation. It’s a small downfall to traveling but doesn’t measure up to much in the bigger picture of everything.

Talk to you all soon!
Cheers,
Kay

Ps: mom I don’t sound so horrible on the phone anymore! Ha! My cold is getting better, not all better…. But better : )