Sydney, Australia

A Night at the Opera House

Friday, April 8, 2011

I arrived in Sydney, Australia today, after a 3 hour flight from Auckland. It was a little crazy getting luggage at the airport, but the flight went well and I watched the newest Narnia on the flight. It was so good, I even cried at th end, I am such a girl. I am also in love with the Air New Zealand safety videos. They are so funny and so much better than the ones we have in the states. The landing into Sydney was pretty rocky; my mom would not have enjoyed it, but once we were off the plane, it was pretty much smooth sailing. We took a shuttle to the Tavelodge Sydney where we were staying. It was in such a great location, 10 min from Hyde Park, 30 min walk from the Quay (key), and 15 min bus from Bondi Beach. We could not have been in a better location. Emily, Nicole, Neeley, Nancy and I were so excited for the adventure we were going to have in Sydney. 

I have heard rumors from home, that Ryan Howells and Matt Pennington are placing bets that I am going to meet a boy in Australia or Samoa. Well first day in the hotel, I did meet a boy, but he was from Texas and we only talked for maybe 20 minutes, so no worries. And Ryan and Matt are going to have to hope I meet someone in Samoa to win their bets. ; ) 

Once we got to the hotel, we wondered around and ate lunch at Hyde Park, before checking into our rooms. Hyde Park is huge and o pretty, but is no comparison to Hyde Park in London. In the park, we saw these funny looking birds everywhere that kinda look like the kiwi bird and came to find out they are an ibus. Once we got checked in to our rooms, we had to stack our luggage on top of each other in order to make it all fit. I really hope I never have to travel with this much luggage again. I changed into my cute dress from Yellow Brick Road, and then all 5 of us took a train to the Circular to Quay (key) to explore and go to a ballet at the Sydney Opera House.

Using the train worked so well. It is just at helpful as the tube in London and can get you everywhere as long as you know what train to take.The view from the Quay (key) of the Harbor Bridge and Sydney Opera house was gorgeous. We took tons of pictures of the opera house and went and picked up our tickets for the ballet. I never pictured myself having the opportunity to go to Sydney, let alone to a ballet at the Sydney Opera House. I was so excited. The architecture of the Opera House really is amazing. It must have taken a long time to build that spectacular building. 

Before the ballet, we had dinner at GuyLian  Chocolate Boutique over looking the harbor. It was so good. I had a vegetarian sandwich and then split a slice of dark chocolate raspberry cheesecake with Emily. It was so good. And watching the gorgeous sunset as we ate was an added bonus. 

I am so glad we decided to go to a ballet at the Opera House, so much better than just seeing the outside. The ballet I saw was Madame Butterfly it was amazing. I had a partial view seat, so I had to sit up straight to see all of it, but the music in the ballet and the ballet itself was phenomenal. And the inside of the opera house is spectacular. I loved it. I was so tired by the end of the ballet, that I just headed back to the hotel and hit the sack even though is was only around 10. What a great first day in Sydney. 

The City, Gardens, Pancakes on the Rocks, and Harbor Bridge

Saturday, April 9, 2011

This morning was my first full day in Sydney. Nancy Neeley, and I went exploring through the city, while Emily and Nicole went to Manly Beach. We walked to the Queen Victoria Building (QVB), which is this nice shopping center inside this Victorian style building. The inside of the QVB was stunning. I loved the work on the walls, stained glass, spectacular ceilings and floors, and the clocks with a ship going around with the or out a castle. All of it was such an amazing sight. We went in a fun toy store and were like little kids on Christmas. It was so fun. While we were at the QVB, the was also a Meccano Exhibition with lots of trains and other mechanical things. It was so cool. I loved the train sets. We walked through all of the floors and had so much fun. 

We then saw St Andrew Cathedral and Town Hall, which had gorgeous architecture as well. We then walked across Hyde Park to St Mary's Cathedral. St Mary's was gorgeous. The inside Gothic timed architecture with  stunning pillars and stained glass was such a sight. Even more gorgeous than some of the cathedrals I saw in London. I loved looking though the building and jut sitting there ans admiring how gorgeous it was. 

We ran into Jessica, Heidi, and Anna by the ferries and planned to have dinner together. We were so excited to see them. After one day, we already missed each other so much. The three of us walked up to the botanical gardens and governor's house.  The governor's house is in this old castle and is absolutely spectacular. The work on the walls was done with more than 20,000 stencils and there are over 100 rooms. It was so cool to take a tour of it and learn more about the governor of New South Wales. We when took time to wander through the botanical gardens. The gardens were gorgeous and there was a great sight of the bridge ans opera house from them. We walked forwards and backwards 3 times around the wishing tree and then saw some huge flying foxes (bats) hanging in the trees. The bats were cool, but freaked Neeley and Nancy out. There flying foxes are huge and dangerous, if someone is bit, they only have a few weeks to live after being bit. We also saw lots of wedding going on in the gardens. Tis the season. 

I walked down to the Rocks, which are another famous part of Sydney and Neeley, Nancy, and I met Heidi, Jessica, and Anna for dinner at Pancakes on the Rocks. It was so good. We were not very creative though. All of us either got Mexican crepes because we have been missing our Mexican food, or Pancakes with hot fudge, ice cream, bananas, and pecans. They were rich, but so good. I loved having dinner with the other girls. The 6 of us decided to walk across the Harbor Bridge after dinner. It was so gorgeous to see all of Sydney lit up at night as we walked across the bridge and we had so much fun doing it together. I can officially mark off Sydney opera house and harbor bridge off of my bucket list now. It was just so much fun. On the bridge, it hit me that I really am in Sydney and that all of this and the past 3 months is real. None of it was a dream. I lived and loved all of it. I really hope I always remember how amazing the past 3 months were. 

Darling Harbor and Museums in Sydney

Sunday, April 10. 2011

Since we were in Sydney on a Sunday and did not have a ward to go to, we decided to do the best we could to keep the sabbath day and enjoy Sydney. Neeley, Nicole, Nancy, Emily and I walked up to Darling Harbor, which is a really cute little Harbor. We wondered around and saw the Chinese gardens and Tamalong Park. It was so fun and such a nice day. At darling Harbor we walked over a cool bridge that turned for boats instead of lifting up and saw a fun carousel. I love carousels. We decided we were going to have to come back to Darling Harbor at night and see it all lit up. 

We then saw a triathlon on our way to St James Cathedral. We sat in on church at St James for a while before going to Martin Place where there are a bunch of business buildings with gorgeous old architecture. It was so fun and we took so many cute pictures. We continued our way back up to the Rocks and saw the Sydney observatory. There was a gorgeous view of the city from the observatory and I enjoyed just sitting on the grass and taking all of it in. The observatory was pretty interesting and I learned a good deal about the seasons of other planets. We then went to the Rocks Discovery museum and learned a lot about the history of the Rocks and George Street. Nancy, Neeley, and I really enjoyed it. It started to rain, so we walked over to the museum of contemporary art and were going to look in there, but the only good part of the museum cost money so instead we walked back to the hotel in the rain and spent the afternoon watching movies and trading pictures. It was a pretty fun day. 

Taronga Zoo 

Monday, April 11, 2011

On Monday, Nancy, Neeley, and I took a ferry over to the Taronga Zoo. I love zoos so much and going to this one just made me homesick for some of my favorite zoos at home. Nancy and I had a Wild Australian tour. We met with our zoo keeper and then started our tour. We were so excited. We got to see a platypus, which is a pretty amazing animal and a bird that is just as dangerous as a tiger because of one of the claws he has on his feet. It was cool to learn so much about the animals. We then got to pet a wombat. The wombat was so much cuter and bigger than I expected and loved having his belly rubbed. I then got to see and have my picture taken with koalas. The koalas were so cute and need to sleep for 18-20 house a day. That is such a long time. Seeing the koalas reminded me of the ones I saw and pet years ago in the St Loise zoo. It was just so much fun. We then got to see the walabees and kangaroos and pet and feed them. The walabee ate right out of my hand and was so cute. The one I fed was named Ally and I loved her. I also saw a mother kangaroo with its Joey and got to see what their pouch looks like. Nothing like what they make it seem like in Winnie the Pooh. I loved seeing the kangaroos. I also got to feed an emu. 

We then went and saw all of the nighttime Australian animals. I got to hold a feather-tailed glider that reminded me of the sugar gliders my cousins used to have only smaller, and pet some other animals. We also got to see the kitchen where they prepare the food for the animals, and pet a bilby. Not many people know what a bilby is, but it in an endangered Australian animal that looks a little like a rabbit, but much larger.In order to let more people know about the bilby, they started making chocolate bilbys around easter instead of chocolate bunnies so people would donate to the bilby fund. The bilbys were so cute and soft. Before our tour ended, we saw the Tasmanian devil. They were a lot cuter than I thought they would be. These animals are also endangered and may only last for up to 15 more years in Tasmania before all of the wild ones are extinct because of a disease they are getting that causes tumors to from on their face. It is so sad. I am glad the zoos are doing what they can to try to protect them though. We also saw some tree kangaroos that have adapted so they can climb and live in the trees. Our tour ended at a cafe where we got to enjoy a cake. A parrot landed on out table and started eating our crumbs. It was pretty cool, but Neeley would have freaked out because she doesn't like birds. 

I loved our tour of the Australian animals and afterwards, Nancy and I met up with Neeley and went through the rest of the zoo. They had so many animals, and it was such a big zoo. I saw lots of lizards that Bryson would love and a hippo, my dad would have liked. They also had great lions and tigers and some different bears, penguins and other animals that are not in the zoos at home. I loved walking through the zoo. We went at the perfect time on a great day because we were able to see most of the animals out and awake and 3 baby elephants and the giraffes at feeding time. It was so fun. We saw a seal show, which was fun and was not just for entertainment, but had a message about protecting the environment. Nancy and I also saw a really cool bird show with some gorgeous Australian birds. I loved everything about the zoo and kinda makes me want to go to one at home. 

After the zoo, we saw the sunset as we rode the ferry back and met Nicole and Emily for dinner on Darling Harbor. We had so much fun at dinner and the harbor was really pretty. I had a chicken avocado sandwich and chips. It is going to be weird to go home and have to call chips fries. The lingo on this side of the world is so normal to me now. I am having such a great time in Sydney. 

Temple and Bondi Beach

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

I was so excited to go to the temple in Sydney today, but all we had was the address of the temple to figure out how to get there. We got on a train that we thought would take us near the temple, but ended up going to far and had to get on another train, and then walk 45min up and down hill to get to the temple. It was crazy it took us forever to figure out how to get there and find it, but when we were walking and finally saw Moroni over the tops of the trees, we literally shouted for joy. I twas so excited to see the temple. The Sydney temple is gorgeous and I could feel the spirit as soon as I was on the temple grounds. We took some pictures in front of the temple and then went to ask if we could to baptisms. They did not have extra staff to let us do baptism, but they did let us go down and see the font. I am so glad we made the effort to go up to the temple. It took time to get there and was a little stressful, but so worth it. I love the temple and after this trip, I understand a little bit of the sacrifice some people have to make to go to a temple. 

After the temple we waked across the street to this mall and all of us were so excited when we saw that they had a Target. It was a little ridiculous that we got so excited about seeing a target when we hadn't seen one in 3 months. We then hiked 45 min back to the train station and took a train back to our hotel. 

We changed and took a bus up to Bondi Beach, which is a famous surfing beach in Sydney. The water at the beach was so warm almost like bathwater and the waves were perfect. The sand on the beach squeaked when we walked, which surprised me, I had never heard sand squeak before. We had so much fun on the beach and even had smashed Subway sandwiches for dinner on the beach. The birds were surrounding us as we ate and we even decided that these seagulls had been in the auditions to be seagulls in Finding Nemo. We found out that 42 Wallabee Way is a real place, but it is no where near the harbor, so Finding Nemo is pretty unrealistic. 

The sunset on Bondi Beach was gorgeous, and we had thought about going to Max Bernors for dessert afterwards, but it got to dark to feel safe going into the city, so instead we went back to the hotel and packed up. My time in Sydney went by so fast, I can hardly believe I will be leaving the Sydney airport in a few hours for Samoa. I have so much fun in Sydney and got to do everything I wanted to do. I am excited for so relaxing time at the beach in Samoa.