Sydney!
I was very excited when I woke up this morning. Sydney! I’d never been, but heard lots about it and obviously seen lots of it. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House are in movies, postcards, posters, TV shows. Nearly everything in media. To actually be there and see it with your own eyes, and take it all in would be breathtaking. Mum and dad had both been to Sydney before but none of us kids had. We decided to take the train because the traffic would be horrendous in town, and you have to pay to use the freeways and the parking is something like $10AU an hour which is like $13NZ. So all in all it would cost us like $50 in parking, and more for the toll roads. The train was about an hour and a half, and was kind of fun. They have double decker trains here, so we sat at the top. When we got on we were the only people on the top carriage, but by the time we got to Sydney it was jam packed. We passed a town called Blacktown, which mum believes to be sister cities with Porirua. I read the newspaper on the train, and it had some stuff about NZ in it, and a two page article about some sportsman from Porirua, and had photos in the new rec centre that is behind the Aquatic Centre. That brought a bit home back. Was really weird to be reading the Sydney paper, and have two pages about a guy from Porirua!
The ferry to the Opera House
We got to Sydney, and had no idea where to go. We wanted to go to the Sydney Aquarium which was in Darling Harbour. We had a map, but we couldn’t find any street names. After asking a bus driver where to go, and walking for a good ten minutes, we arrived in Darling Harbour. It was amazing and hot. They had a huge IMAX theatre, the biggest screen in the world (which was displaying Avatar 3D - I really wanted to go see it again!). There were heaps of cafes, and a big mall called Harbour Side along the other side. There were fountains, water displays, McD, and in the distance the Sydney Aquarium. We hadn’t had breakfast, so we went to McD and got a McMuffin each to munch on.
Darling Harbour
Then we headed to the Aquarium. It was really cool. They had millions of fish, and even a crocodile. They had two oceanariums, one which had two dugongs. They also had the worlds deadliest octopus, which stings you and can paralyze your organs, specifically your lungs which then leads to you suffocating and drowning. They also had the deadly fish such as the stonefish, and sharks and poisonous stingray. I was amazed at how big the stingray were. I thought that they were only a square metre kind of thing, but these stingrays were bigger than I was. Absolutely huge. Prior to the death of Steve Irwin, the last reported death by a stingray happened in 1938 and 1945. It really was a freak accident. I enjoyed the Aquarium. They had moon jellyfish which were beautiful harmless creatures that were pink, purple and blue. They just drifted and floated around in their UV tank so peacefully. We asked one of the girls that worked there if Wallaby Way from Finding Nemo actually existed here in Sydney. She said she'd lived here all her life and didn't know, but laughed with us. :)
Aquarium
Dorrie!
We then caught the ferry over to the Opera House and went under the Harbour Bridge. The Opera House was huge and looked amazing from far away, but as you got closer and could see the fine detail of the tile patterns, it didn’t look quite as spectacular. Dad said that the bridge was built in the 30’s, and the Opera House in the 50’s. I couldn’t believe how old these magnificent structures were. The 30’s! It’s a huge bridge, I find it hard to believe they had the technology to make it back then. We went up and touched the Opera House and took some photos, before heading out to get some McD for lunch. Hey it was cheap! The most strangest thing happened while I was munching away at my Big Mac burger. I had a got size of it left, about 3 bites, and before I knew it a seagull flew right up to me, bit my fingers and stole the rest of my burger and gobbled it up in front of me. It literally took it right out of my hands! I couldn’t believe it. I was guttered, because the last bit of your burger is always the best. We then caught the ferry back to Darling Harbour and caught the train back to Windsor.
Cam and I - Opera House
On the ferry
When mum and dad stayed here, they stayed with dads cousin and her husband and kids. We had organised to have a BBQ there, so arrived at about 7.30. Wilhelmina and John were one of the nicest people I had met. The welcomed us with open arms, and were so nice. We had a nice BBQ, and then offered for us to stay with them for the next couple of nights. Hmm, the thought of warm, big comfy double beds waiting downstairs, and a proper bathroom sounded good to me! So we stayed there for the next two nights. We had dutch pancakes and poffertjes in the morning which were super yummy! The destination for today was the Blue Mountains :)
Esmee enjoyed the Opera House!
Ps. Its 39 degrees. AH!
Fem
xox
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