Sydney, part 1

Since I have been incredibly busy this is only the second time I've been on the computer since coming to Australia. So, I will update my blog somewhat after the fact.

The first part of my trip was an orientation in Sydney. We were there from 8 July to 12 July. During those four days there were a ton of adventures. The first night in Sydney we had an orientation meeting and then ate dinner together at Blackbird. I had kangaroo for dinner! It was quite an experience. It tasted like steak but it was very rare because there is almost no fat on the meat. Right after dinner almost all of us went back to the hotel and passed out because of jetlag and overall exhaustion.

Speaking of going back to the hotel, let me tell you a little more about the place we were staying for those first days. It was called the Meriton World Tower and it was absolutely ridiculous. I was in a three bedroom apartment with 5 other girls. We were on the 62nd floor so the view was amazing. We could pretty much see all of Sydney from our room. We had a fully equipped kitchen, big couches, flat screen TV, towel warmer in the bathroom (for some reason, I was obsessed with that), etc. The apartment was huge. I could have stayed there for a long time.

Anyway, on the 9th we had a walking tour of Sydney and I am somewhat misleading you all by my blog title being "It's always sunny in Australia" because the first few days we were there that was not the case. As soon as we started walking it started pouring rain. Luckily I packed my rain jacket (Mom, I told you I would need it) and I didn't get as wet as everyone else. We waited out the rain in a subway station and after about 20 minutes we decided to resume our walk. We walked past shopping centres and museums, and we also walked through the Botanical Gardens. In one of the parks we saw a bunch of these white parrots. Our directors, Russ and Matt, gave us pieces of bread and the parrots would fly onto us to eat the bread. It was a lot of fun. They had sharp talons though. Learned that the hard way... We also walked past the Sydney Opera House. It is way cooler in person. I never realized it is more than one building! We finished the walking tour with a lunch at The Australian Hotel where I ate crocodile, emu, and more kangaroo all on pizza. It was quite interesting. I was not a fan of crocodile but most of the other people were. After lunch we were finally given free time to wander about Sydney. I was walking with Angela (Drake), Jeff (UMD), Ian (UMD), and Laura (Pitt) when I ran into Marissa on the streets of Sydney. Angela, Jeff, Ian, Laura and I went back to the hotel after that to just relax. That night we all went to The Gaff which is known as one of the best backpacker bars. We got these VIP cards that got us free entry, free dinner, and au$3 beers. Pretty sweet. We got there pretty early so it was kind of dead but there was a DJ contest that night so it got pretty lively later at night.

We had to get up really early to go to the zoo and to hike the Blue Mountains on the 10th. I saw the typical Australian animals like kangaroos (I started to feel weird for eating one), koalas, emus (once again felt weird seeing it after eating it), and wallabys. The wallabys were just roaming around the zoo for all of us to feed and to pet. I took a bunch of pictures of animals and then later realized that I didn't know what most of them are. But they looked cool. After the zoo we went to see an imax movie on an ancient tree. Yes, it was as boring as it sounds. The only exciting part was the group of grade 5 students there who were totally excited to meet Americans. The movie was a preview for the hike we were going on in the Blue Mountains. The mountains were amazing. They were all covered in trees and so expansive. There are about 500 valleys in the mountains and only about 200 of them have been explored. We went down the mountains on a giant set of stairs. Literally. We climbed down about 900 steps, some wood, some metal, some stone. It was interesting. Towards the end my legs started shaking partly because they were worn out and partly because I was terrified about falling. It was totally worth it though because the views were stunning. I tried to get pictures but it does not justice. I definitely want to get back there and hike another trail at some point. That night we went out in Darling Harbor. That night was pretty uneventful so I'll just leave it there.

We had the morning of the 11th off to do whatever we needed/wanted to do. And I chose to do laundry? Well after doing that I went on a walk through some of the city with Jeff, Ian, Jake, Topher, and Matt. It wasn't too long but it was good to get out of my apartment for the day. So I went back to the apartment and started to pack and get ready for the Harbor cruise that night. We had a final orientation meeting for about 2 hours where they flooded us with information. Hopefully I will retain at least some of it. Then we walked over to the Harbor and went on a dinner cruise. It was a beautiful night and a great way to end my first series of adventures in Sydney. Most of us went back to the hotel after the cruise, not because we are totally lame, because we are all sick. Worst.

On the 12th we had to get up really early but I could not complain because I was heading off to Queensland for the week. But, that is another post...