Our travels to
Sydney did not exactly go smoothly, but we made it and that’s what is
important. Long story short, the soonest
we could get to Christchurch was an hour before our international flight to Sydney. After convincing Emirates to re-open their
check in for us, our luggage almost did not make the flight. Then, the travel agency that booked my flight
failed to make sure I had a visa. Aren't travel agencies supposed to make sure you have all your ducks in a row?
Luckily it went through when it did otherwise who knows what I would
have done because it certainly would not have been flying to Australia. This whole day of traveling to Sydney was by
far one of the most stressful days of my life.
Customs was
a breeze in Australia. The customs lady is the first and only person I have
ever met that was able to correctly guess what country my last name is
from. I get overly excited about such
little things. We were greeted by rain,
an unfriendly taxi driver, the reality of how expensive Sydney was going to be,
and an adorable hostel all within the first hour of arriving in Sydney. Even though we were only there for two full
days, I am very satisfied with my time there.
Here’s a recap of our time in the land down under.
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| Famous photo spot |
We got up
early after planning out a large itinerary for our first full day in Sydney,
and we somehow managed to accomplish all of it!
We began our day with a walk to Mrs. Macquaries Chair—an excellent spot
to capture the perfect photo of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor
Bridge. After being a tourist for about
20 minutes, we strolled through the Royal Botanic Gardens where we had the
opportunity to see cockatoos live, up close, and personal—these birds are so
loud, but it was a unique experience getting to see them. We had heard about $20 day travel passes that
were good for the ferries, busses, and trains that run throughout Sydney, so
our next mission was to find a train station to purchase them. We put these tickets to good use right away
as we took a ferry to the Taronga Zoo.
This is one of the world’s best zoos, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time
looking at all the animals. I felt like
a little kid again and began to question why I did not major in Marine Biology
because I would love working in a zoo.
We saw every animal imaginable, but I think my favorite was seeing the
elephants because they are such fascinating creatures.
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| Zebras! |
After the
zoo we ventured to Darling Harbor. This
area is known for cafes and shopping, but we specifically went there to go
shopping at the Hard Rock Café, so really we just combined the two into a quick
trip. I love getting shirts from Hard
Rock Café’s around the USA, but this was my first one from another
country. Some habits are just tough to
break. Whenever my family travels, we
always stop at Harley-Davidson shops that our along our journey. This was our next mission that proved to
almost be unsuccessful. Someone at the
information desk gave us the wrong train station to go to so we were unable to
visit the actual store. However, we
arrived back in King’s Cross (where we were staying) at a decent time and I
noticed while we were exploring that we were on the same street that had a
Lifestyle store for Harley-Davidson (basically a clothing store). We made it with ten minutes to spare till closing time and we
were able to get some shirts from a store in Sydney. The shirts always say what store they are
from and it always makes for great conversations when around other motorcycle
riders especially. I’m sure my dad,
little brother, and grandpa will be happy to have shirts to add to their
collections.
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| Darling Harbor |
After a full
day of traveling around the city—by foot, ferry, or train, my mom and I were
exhausted! We accomplished so much
especially since we got lost for about an hour and a half. We had Ramen Noodles for dinner at our hostel
before going to bed early. Day #2 was
going to be an early day, which has been the theme of the past two weeks! We spent the second day driving, touring,
hiking, and seeing the Blue Mountains.
They are about 2 hours from the city, but after our tour guide, Diego,
picked up everyone from various hostels, it was about 3 hours of traveling. We stopped at Sydney Olympic Park on the
way. It was cool to see where the
Olympics were recently held as well as the Olympic torch, that thing is huge! Our first hike was Cliff Top Walk. It was scenic and full of waterfalls and
beautiful sights of the canyon land.
Afterwards, we had lunch before making our way to our second hike. We stopped Eagle Hawk Lookout to see the
Three Sisters formation, which was pretty neat.
Our final hike of the day was the Katoomba Falls Track which consisted
of going down 1000 steps! The track was
beautiful and the Katoomba Falls were breathtaking. We were able to pay money to take the
steepest train in the world (52 degrees) back up instead of the 1000
steps. Wellington may be steep, but the
most steps I do at a time is a little less than 200 (and neither my mom nor
myself were ready to multiple that by 5).
It was worth the money, although I was slightly creeped out by the train
and thought I might die if it broke. On
the way back into Sydney, we were able to see kangaroos on the side of the
road. Never thought I’d be able say
that!
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| Me by Katoomba Falls |
My mom and I
went out to eat for a last meal together.
We went to this adorable pizza place called Doughboy where we were able
to order personal pizzas and eat outside.
It was nice, and the pizzas were delicious. My flight back to Wellington was due out at
9:15. We decided to get to the airport
at 7, so we were ready to go by 6. I get
up early for class here in NZ, but not as early as what I have been getting up
all break! Unfortunately, my mom’s
flight wasn’t until 1:25 so she could not check in and I had to be through
security by 8:30. We said our
good-bye’s, which was tough after an incredible 2 week adventure together. My flights back were smooth, and it felt
pretty weird coming back to my flat after such a long time away. Now, I have 7 weeks of school left, and 3 and half weeks of finals before I head to Fiji. I cannot believe how lucky I am and that I am able to make all of my dreams a reality.
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