Sydney Weekend!

Sydney November 5th-8th

Thursday 4 pm was the beginning of our journey to Sydney. There were 7 of us traveling; we met the other 8 at Base, our hostel in downtown Darling Harbour. Base was a quick walk away from shops, restaurants and the biggest indoor market I have seen. (I didn't take this picture, I stole if from one of the boys, same with the last one on this page :) ) By the time we made it to our hostel we were so tired from traveling and hungry and didn’t want to wait for dinner so we grabbed McDonalds. It was actually delicious and nice to have American food. Everything in Australian is quite expensive compared to the US so anywhere we wanted to eat would have been between 15-25 dollars a plate, not including a drink. We kept our food on the cheap side all weekend but still some how managed to spend more than wanted. We stopped at the grocery store and bought food for breakfast for the next 3 days and snacks for our hike that we would be doing on Friday. Thursday night we spent exploring the city nightlife. We walked a couple blocks until we were right on the water. It was so beautifully lit up with lights I tried to take pictures and then my camera battery died and I didn’t have extra batteries with me. We walked around stopping in the local bars and stopped to listen to live music and have a drink. We didn’t stay out too late because we had a long day ahead of us.
Friday the girls and I woke up at 715, met the boys around 730 and headed off to Oz touring Experience, which was a 15-minute walk from our hostel. It was chilly and misting rain outside, I was prepared and wore my rain jacket, but some of our group wasn’t so smart and just wore t-shirts and hoped that the weather would clear up, which it didn’t. We met our tour guide for the day, Shrek, then headed off on the “long” bus ride to the Blue Mountains. Shrek told us this was a “long” ride because Australia is so big that long really means driving for 6+ hours. Thankfully we were only going about 2 hours away. After 45 min of driving we found ourselves on a very curvy road at the bottom of the mountains. We stopped to stretch our legs and look for some Kangaroos. We only spotted two but they were very social and didn’t hop away when our big group came stomping into their territory. After the short walk we got back into the bus and made our way to a cute little town for some breakfast and coffee. We were all so cold from the rain that we got some nice hot coffee and a snack. It was only 930 and we were already tired, but the coffee helped to wake us up. Getting back onto the bus to finish the ride up to the mountains I noticed a donkey around the rear view mirror, it was perfectly fitting that Shrek wouldn’t travel without his faithful donkey! The ride up to the mountains was so beautiful. Even though it was foggy, cloudy and still raining it was still one of the most beautiful places. It reminded me so much of home, the crisp fresh air smelled like wintertime in Utah. When we got to the top of the mountain the cold air hit us like a cold wave from the ocean. We were all so antsy to start hiking just to warm up! After a quick group picture we started our hike into what looked like an opening scene of a scary movie. The mist was surrounding the trees and the visibility was very limited. We hiked through the mud and into the rainforest we went! As soon as the canopy of trees covered us the temperature dropped a good 5 degrees. We kept moving briskly to stay warm and avoid getting to wet from the rain dripping off the treetops. We stopped along the way under overhanging cliffs and Shrek told us all about the Blue Mountains. He told us that when the clouds weren’t covering the surrounding mountains that it was the most breath taking view of lush green trees and beautiful red, orange, gray and white rocks. At times it was hard to Shrek because of the wind hollowing and the birds calls echoing through the canyon. We hiked until 1 then stopped to have some lunch. We had sandwiches, pasta salad and fruit. It was a pretty descent meal and even better because it was included in the price of the tour! After chowing down the food we piled back onto the bus and drove to a new hiking spot. We climbed down what seemed like 500 hundred stairs and found ourselves at the bottom of the steepest railroad in the world. It was used for miners back in the day, but it was now turned into a tourist attraction. You sit, or actually half lay down in a cart with a cage all around you and then the cable pulls you up. Riding the train made you feel like you are going to fall forward off the train, but the surrounding cage helped to prevent that. On the way up there is a sign on the canyon wall that says 52-degree incline!! At the top of the railway was the gift shop. We stopped in and bought some trinkets then jumped back into the bus and drove back to the city. We were so exhausted that we all took a nap on the drive home. Shrek was so surprised we were sleeping; he said he thought Americans were supposed to be loud all the time, and since there were 15 of us he thought it would be none stop chatter. We were the biggest group of Americans he had ever had. Shrek dropped us off at our hostel and even arranged for us to have free dinner at a local pub. We were all so excited that we showered right away and made our way to the restaurant. When we arrived we realized why it was free. It was very small, didn’t look to clean, but hey it was free, so we ate it. The pasta sauce tasted like it was watered down to stretch its life span and the salad was a tad wilty. After our dinner we decided to check out another local bar that was suggested to us by people who had traveled to Sydney before us. Little did we know that suits and ridiculously high heels was the popular dress code. I felt like I was inside a prestigious bar in New York or LA, but then was quickly reminded I was in Sydney when I noticed the local dialect of the people around me. We only stayed for an hour or so because it was so crowed and it was still raining and half of the bar was outdoors with a canopy that dripped down with rainwater even now and then.
Saturday the boys decided to get up early again and explore the city without the girls. So we woke up casually and had a nice breakfast, well a muffin and cereal then made our way to the Harbour and market for some shopping and explorations! Paddy’s Market is a huge warehouse that is filled with vendors from all over selling trinkets, clothes, and pretty much anything you could ask for. We weaved in and out of the endless isles for hours. After buying some souvenirs and grabbing a quick bite to eat we tried to find our way over to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the infamous Opera House. After asking the train ticket salesman, studying a map for way too long, we finally figured out that there was a free bus that took us right where we wanted to go. As soon as we got off the bus and turned the corner there it was in all its beauty, the Sydney Opera house. Across from the Opera House is the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was cloudy out so the pictures don’t do the two beauties justice! It was weird to be standing next to both massive landmarks. It hit me then that I was really in Australia and seeing something I have only imagined I would ever get to see. After staring in amazement for a while and taking a quick rest from all the walking we had been doing, we headed back to the hostel for a nap. We had to be back down by the bridge in a little over an hour to get ready for the bridge climb. When we arrived at the bridge climb we sat and watched a video about all the things we had to do to prepare us, get in a suit, put on all the gear and practice walking while being connected to the railing. After we were all suited and geared up with rain pants, jackets, hats and gloves if it was cold, and a radio so we could hear our tour guide tell us all the wonders of the city, we made our way out on the bridge and started climbing. There were only four ladders that went straight up, each had about 12 stairs, and then the rest was a gentle incline with wider stairs. We had to climb up the ladder one person at a time because they were so steep and if you fell it would not be good!! The first ladder we climbed up led up to the level of the cars. They were zooming by us with only a small fenced in area to protect us if something were to happen. It was crazy to be next to the cars. I didn’t want to fall so I just kept looking up in order to not get distracted. After the ladders we took a quick rest then started to climb to the top. The bridge is exactly half as high as the opera house, 450 or so feet off the ground. The architect didn’t want to take away from the beauty of the opera house so he tried to make the bridge spectacular but not over the top! We climbed the bridge at dusk and it was completely dark when we reached the top. It wasn’t too cold which was nice and the weather had cleared up so you could see some stars, the city lights were very bright so only a few stars shown through. The climb took 3 hours round trip, so by the time we got off it was 10 pm. We were all so exhausted and hungry so we rushed back to our hostel ate a snack and showered to get the bridge climbing gear smell off of us. We decided to go out and try another local bar. This one was much more laid back and people weren’t dressed to the nines. It was called argyle and it was two stories with a very log cabin-y feel. We stayed for a while and mingled with the locals then headed back to the hostel for a good night sleep.
Sunday morning we had to check out by 10 so I got up early, packed, showered, and then woke the other girls up. They were all moving pretty slow in the morning so another girl and I hung out with the boys for the day. We started walking around and made our way to the botanical gardens, which are right behind the opera house. After that the boys went to the market, and since the weather was iffy and had been on an off raining all morning the girls and I decided to go to see an Imax movie. We watched Dinosaurs Alive in 3D. After the movie we walked around the Darling Harbour and found ourselves in a mall with cute stores and a massive food court. We sat and ate some lunch then decided to head back to the hostel grab our things and head to the airport. Two other girls and I decided to go a different way to the train station than the boys and figure we knew where we were going. I was pretty exhausted from the weekend and when I saw the train about to leave I hurried everyone and got on. As soon as the door closed one of my friends realized we had gotten on the wrong train, going the wrong direction. We had plenty of time so we weren’t too worried. We got off at the next stop, waited for a train to take us back to the station we were just at. Once we got back to the original station we had to take two escalators and a bunch of stairs before we were back on the correct platform. We waited for the train for another 10 mins and dodging calls from the boys asking where we were and why it had taken us so long. We finally made it to the airport and flew through security. We were at the gate just in time to board but it was delayed so we had 10 minutes to sit and relax and laugh like crazy about what we had just did. It was a long weekend and we were all so glad we went but were tired and ready to be back at bond and get some sleep. We got home at 9 and everyone was in bed by 10. My next adventure is this coming Friday. I am spending the day at Lamington National park. I’m not sure what to expect so it should be fun!!