Sydney!

So below are the promised pictures from the Nadi flooding we witnessed in the bus on the way to the airport. Fortunately our bus was able to plow through it, but anything smaller than a minibus had to turn around. It’s still a big improvement from the pictures from the earlier flooding in the week!

Still exhausted from the flight last night and realized that I need to be up at 4:30 for my flight tomorrow! Another non-crazy night for this party gal…but I have already met friends at the hostel and from the plane; they’re definitely keeping me company and keeping me from feeling alone. I obviously knew what I was getting into when I decided to travel by myself, but it doesn’t really hit you until you’re getting off the plane and ask yourself “what do I do now…??”

Easy enough, people at the airport helped me, and people at the hostel helped me, and even people on the street helped me today. Haha, so much for gaining independence. Today was spent walking around the city; I found a great walking tour that was “free” (In Fiji, you don’t tip anyone…at all, so it took a sec to realize that here you have to tip everyone for everything again!) The walking tour lasted around three hours but it was a nice stretch of the legs and some fresh air after all the rain I’d been used to.

A very simplified map (my hostel was just beside the Sydney Town Hall)

We started by walking up past the Circular Quay, which has a big ferry station and railway station. We walked up along the Harbor up through The Rocks, a very quaint and older area of town.

Circular Quay Station

The Susannah House-oldest accommodation in Australia

Opera House!

Street Markets in The Rocks

The best view of the Sydney Opera House is from this side of the harbor. We heard several stories of colonial life, and how Australia was pretty much founded by convicts transported from England.

We walked up through Martin Place, the “ritzy” area of town and then down through Hyde Park. What I liked about the park is how clean everything was kept, reflected in the cleanliness of the entire city. Granted I didn’t venture into the “dodgy” parts of town, but just up along the harbor was very well kept.

Military Memorial in the center of Martin Place

Martin Place Steeple

 The Archibald fountain is in the center of Hyde park and St. Mary’s Cathedral is on the opposite side of the park.

Archibald Fountain

St. Mary's Cathedral

Hyde Park Barracks (houses hundreds of convicts in colonial Australia)

We also strolled through the Botanical Gardens. If you explore deep enough, you can even lose the sounds of the cars and trucks and forget you’re in the city. At the edge of the gardens is another view of the Opera House paired with the Harbour Bridge. Except this side isn’t nearly what I thought it’d look like.

Sydney Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens again

Harbour Bridge and Opera House

Doesn't it look weird from the other side?????

 After the tour I asked for what I must do if I had the afternoon open and several people said I had to go up the Sydney Tower. While it did have a spectacular 360 degree view of Sydney, I was sad it didn’t have a good view of the Opera House. I think it would have been more fun if I had known more things to look for. It was easy to spot Hyde Park and St. Mary’s Cathedral and you could see the green from the botanical gardens. The other spots included Darling Harbour and the Harbour Bridge but beyond that, I felt like there were just small bays or skyscrapers. Nonetheless, it was fun being 300+ meters up in the air!

Darling Harbour

Harbour Bridge 

Hyde Park

Top of the Sydney Tower :)

 Like all trips, Sydney was too short. It was long enough to get the city atmosphere again to keep me from getting homesick, but I what was originally intended as an extended layover turned out to be quite the adventure. It was hard during the tour hearing all the things I could've done had I stayed longer, but I know that Cairns will offer just as much excitement and even more fun. I cannot wait to start my scuba diving adventure!!!! Love and miss you all!!!