The Last of the Holiday

The past couple of days I have spent admiring the beach and throwing in some exercise, too. I have had some pretty lengthy walks up and down the coast and have done some shopping/browsing along the way.

Here is the last of the trip updates...

Day 9 - Saturday, October 3rd

Kendall and I started off our first full day in Sydney early on a hop on/hop off double-decker bus tour. We really didn't know what we wanted to see and figured this would be our best way to take it all in. During our time in Sydney, it was rainy and cold so we didn't get to take the advantage of the double-decker bus. However, we decided to get over the wetness and sit at the top for the first couple of streets. When we were sitting, Kendall all of sudden said, "Oh my gosh!" in a laughing voice. I looked up and it was the Opera House. We didn't realize it would be one of our first stops. We got off and went to look around the place and take oodles of pictures. I think the biggest shock about the Opera House was that it is several different buildings. On TV and stuff it looks like one oddly shaped building. It was very surreal to be in a such an iconic spot. And of course right across from the Opera House is the Sydney Harbour Bridge. An excursion you can book is to climb the bridge. Had it not been so wet and if I had the money, I would probably climb it. I like adventure! After the OH, we strolled down around the city to see what else we could find. We ended up in The Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney. It was pretty basic, but did have these fantastic markets full of hand-crafted things (a field day for me!). I saw the cutest scrapbook cover that a lady had made. It was a map of Australia and you could put little push pins in the locations you've been to and then tie ribbon around to connect them all. I thought it was very clever. Anyway, I only got a couple of things there. I'm not gonna tell what though because they are surprises for some people. ; ) After the markets, we decided to get back on our bus and ended up getting off at the Australian Museum and Hyde Park. We ate lunch in the museum, but did not feel a need to purchase a ticket. We figured it would just be stuffed kangaroos anyway. We also went to Hyde Park which is named after the Hyde Park in England. By now I've learned that England and Australia are big buddies. I mean, Australia does have the British flag on a fourth of their flag. Hyde Park didn't have much to offer... just grass, flowers, and statues - big whoop! Later in the day we ended up at Darling Harbour. This was a big shopping area with several attractions (Maritime Museum, Aquarium, IMAX, etc.). The even had a Latino Festival going on. I felt so at home and it made me really want Mexican food and a margarita (both are so hard to find here!!!). We walked around the harbour for a bit and somehow ended up in another part of the city (maps are not my friends). After being wet and cold, we decided to head back to the hotel to warm up before we got some dinner. We ended the day by visiting the Sydney Tower. The tower is as tall as the Eiffel Tower and claims you can see the entire city from it. In our case, it was nighttime and rainy and we could barely make out certain landmarks. What a waste! We did get to enjoy a virtual roller coaster around the country of Australia. I'm not going to lie, I had to close my eyes a couple of times because I was getting dizzy. Needless to say, we crashed when we finally finished everything for the day.

Day 10 - Sunday, October 4th

After a good night's rest, Kendall and I started the day early and went to Bondi Beach. Bondi Beach is a popular beach area in Sydney that everyone goes to. However, the day we went not many people were there because it was cold and rainy... go figure! We did stay in the area for about an hour and decided that we were over it and hopped on a train to Sydney Olympic Park.
Going to Olympic Park was a special treat. The big NRL (National Rugby League) Grand Final was being held at the stadium there and everybody and their mum was there. It was the Parramatta Eels (Sydney area) against the Melbourne Storms. We didn't care much about the game considering we had to ask somebody in the train station what game was being played. We were thinking football... wrong! Kendall and I walked around the park while others obnoxiously cheered for their team. We kind of felt at home with them and so we started shouting "Roll Tide!" when we walked around. I couldn't believe that the Sydney Olympics were in 2000. The park was very basic and was filled with statues and symbols of Australian athletes from the games.When we left the park we headed back towards the Opera House and enjoyed the last of our Sydney adventure in that area. It was a quick trip in Sydney, but it was plenty of time.

Day 11 - Monday, October 5th

On Saturday night, Sydney observed daylight saving's time and sprung forward an hour (now 3 hours difference from Perth). So not only did we lose an hour, we moved further away in time from America (who will fall backwards at the end of this month). Perth voted not to observe the time change so they stay the same year round. So on Monday, Kendall and I got picked up by a cab at 4:30am. We were dragging! Our flight was at 6:10am and we got back to Perth around 8:00am. I think it's safe to say that K and I slept all day Monday. It was a very fun and memorable trip! By the way, I'm still accepting donations for my benefit upon my return to the USA!