Legitimate Sydney Trip

So I've actually been to Sydney to do a few things before: I went for Mardi Gras, to the Aquarium, and on a Harbor Cruise. But I had yet to really do the touristy things, so that was my goal for today.

I woke up at 745, got breakfast, and headed to the train, just in time to miss the train by about 90 seconds. It was fine though, there was another one coming in an hour, so I went back to my dorm and made a breakfast sandwich, attempted to make my internet work (hence why I missed the train - I guessed at what time it was gonna be there), did some studying and then caught the 9:22 train. I arrived in Sydney at 11ish, after spending most of my time on the train sleeping.

Now, I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go and for the most part I was getting to these areas based off what I had remembered from previous trips. My first stop was Paddy's Markets where I got the rest of my gift shopping done for everyone (yay presents!). After spending an hour or so walking around in there, I walked over to the Powerhouse Museum, which had lots of interactive exhibits. One, I 'made' fireworks which ended up exploding on the ground (it was a film), another one I turned a handle to 'produce' electricity to light up a house...I only made it to the third floor, after that I couldn't turn the handle consistently enough to light up the top floor. I also 'made' video of myself from a cut out picture, took a test to determine what area my intelligence is in (intrapersonal) and walked in a space station simulation (I got dizzy and kept trying to align myself with the walls that kept moving - I was walking around slanted!). I spent a good two hours in the museum and didn't see all that the museum had to offer - really I was just on the bottom floor.

I left the museum, ate my packed lunch (I fed some to the birds), and walked to one of the only other areas of Sydney that I know 'well': Darling Harbour. There is an information center there and I figured they might be able to help me out with finding where and how to get to a couple of other destinations. The guy at the information desk was really helpful and figured everything out for me and while I was in there I saw a pamphlet for the Australian Museum, noticed it was right along the way of where I would be going and decided to go there too.

I walked to Hyde Park, which has Sydney's ANZAC War Memorial. It is under construction so I wasn't able to go inside, but I still got some cool pictures of it. I haven't mentioned, but it was an absolutely beautiful day in Sydney today - I'm not sure of the temperature, but it felt like low-60s and it was mostly sunny. It made walking all over the city very pleasant!

I really enjoyed the Australian Museum, although my Frommer's Travel book says that it's nothing too spectacular. The exhibitions I visited are: Skeletons, Planet of Minerals, Dinosaurs, Birds and Insects, and Surviving Australia. The skeletons exhibition was really cool because they had a stationary bike that you could ride and then they had a skeleton on a stationary bike behind glass that moved as you moved. I especially liked seeing how the kneecap moved...can you guess why? ;) The dinosaurs exhibit was cool too - I'm pretty sure I haven't really ever seen one recently so it was definitely enjoyable - I learned, among other things, that carnivorous dinosaurs only made up about 1% of all the dinosaur population. Surviving Australia had two parts to it - one was about all the animals that were going extinct or had gone extinct and another was about the dangerous animals that live in Australia. Did you know that about 120,000 Australians die each year, but the amount that die from snakes, spiders, sharks, etc, can usually be counted on one hand? Why does everyone make Australia out to be such a dangerous place then, I wonder? I figure it's just because they have the most dangerous species.

I left the museum and headed back through Hyde Park, this time on a different side, and saw a garden dedicated to King George V and King George VI. It was very quaint. Then, I caught a ride on a bus to Bondi Beach, the most famous beach in Australia (I think that's its claim to fame). If I had had more time, I would have liked to have walked along this coastal path that they have that takes you from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach and apparently is just gorgeous, but I was running out of sunlight and didn't want to walk the path in the dark and not be able to take pictures. I got some pretty pictures of the beach, the surfers, and the sky and then headed back to the city. What I realized though was that Sydney is HUGE! I mean like, I understand most cities are, but every part that the bus drove through was developed and there were lots of people around. I like it though; although Wollongong is the ninth largest city in Australia, it doesn't really have a lot going on.

After I got back to the city center area, I walked to buy dinner at a place called Harry's Cafe de Wheels. Dad actually suggested I go check it out. If you look at the menu on that site, the pie that I got was the Tiger. Potentially because I love tigers so much, but also because the toppings seemed pretty good. So, it's a beef meat pie with a scoop of mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy and they stick a fork in it. I ate it by dipping the fork way down so that I would get a bite of gravy, peas, potatoes, and beef. It was delicious, especially for someone who had been walking around all day and because it had gotten a bit chilly as the sun went down. It wasn't anything too spectacular, but the place is open until 4 am so I think it's probably really good as a drunk food.

From there, I did some creative walking around to make it to the Sydney Opera House, which because of this Vivid event that Sydney was doing had artwork displayed on it. I stayed for two rounds and then decided that I was cold and that I would like to get back to Wollongong at a decent hour. Regardless, it was still beautiful and the Harbour lit up at night is really pretty too (I was a little incapacitated for my Harbour Cruise and didn't have the chance to appreciate how pretty it was then...).

I guess I should say, in case you haven't figured it out, that I did this trip all by myself. It was really nice actually, to be free from worrying about what other people want to do or if they're questioning what you are doing. For example, today, some of the routes I took to get places I just guessed on based off my map. Sometimes I was like, well, this seems right, so I'll just keep walking to see if I get anywhere that is correct. It all worked out for me, but I know that others might not have been as comfortable just going with the flow. It was also cool that I was able to just decide what I wanted to do as it came up - the Australian Museum wasn't even on my list of things to do and I ended up cutting out an Art Museum so I could see Bondi. I really enjoyed the freedom and it gave me time to just relax as I walked along. I've also decided that I like Sydney and I definitely could spend more time there wandering around. In fact, as I was attempting to find places, I would find museums/buildings that had I had more time, I definitely would have checked out, like the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the State Building, and the Botanical Gardens. I basically just walked by these places and thought to myself, damn, I should have allotted time for that.

I got back to Wollongong at 930, making it about a 13 hour day overall. Totally worth it, although I wish I had more time...maybe I'll just have to go back! Anyway, I have a little bit more studying to do for my final and two more components to my reflective essay and then I'm done! My essay is due online Monday at 10 pm, so Monday 8 am your time I will be officially done with school! Sweeeet...now for the weather to just warm up and stop raining so I can spend the rest of my days at the beach!