Sydney, Australia

After a completely awesome day at the Australia Zoo, I boarded my flight to Sydney, a little worried about the hostel I had chosen to spend my next two nights in. This leg of the trip was going to be me completely on my own, and I won't lie... I was excited, but way more nervous than anything else. The flight was good and I sat on my own little isle, and I spent my time reviewing the directions to my hostel and praying that I would have just as much as an amazing time in Sydney as I had in Brisbane and Melbourne.

We landed right as the sun went down, so I was a little concerned about finding my place. I took the subway under the airport to the Queens Cross terminal and walked up to the street, completely unsure which direction I needed to go.

double decker subway train!

Thankfully a kind Aussie saw my confusion and lead me in the right direction. He was pretty impressed that I was in Australia alone, all the way from the States. I checked into my hostel, Chiliblue Backpackers and lugged my bags up three flights of stairs to my room. There, waiting for me was a huge German guy lounging on his bunk, and a shirtless Austrian dude lying on his. So I turned a little red and introduced myself, trying to look as unembarrassed as possible. There was one bed left, and it happened to be a queen size, so I was super worried some person would check in during the middle of the night and get in bed with me.

Needless to say, I did not sleep too well that night. Not to mention my sunburn from the beach was killing me at the same time.

I woke up in time for the free breakfast provided by the hostel, and quickly snarfed down the eggs and toast they were serving. I attempted a shower, but the water never got warm so I vetoed that idea. The shower was just this little room with a door that locked. Same with the toilet.

So I finished getting ready and I headed out to join up with a free tour of Sydney, so I could see all the sights with a native, like i was used to.

A shot of my room door, just for remembering sake

It took me forever to figure out my map, so I was really glad I left at 9:20 to meet up with the tour at 10:30. The girl running the tour was very nice and chatty, and she knew where Utah was right away! We started on the tour and she pointed out all the awesome buildings because she's an architecture major and loves the little details, which made me very happy.

Old churches are wedged between modern buildings.
It's pretty awesome looking.

A really cool architechural part of Sydney's history is the word Eternity written all over the city. A drunk guy heard his first sermon a few years after Sydney was settled, and the word Eternity really stuck out to him, so he learned to spell it, and wrote it everywhere he could. Bell towers have Eternity engraved on them, sidewalks, chairs and even a church bell got their tags. This cement square was at the base of a very pretty waterfall, and it was the best picture of all the Eternities I could get.

The largest shopping area in Sydney is the Queen Victoria Mall, and outside the building is this statue of Queen Victoria's favorite dog. Get this. It talks if you wave at it.

With all the expanding of Sydney, a lot of bird species died out and moved away once their trees were cut down. This alleyway has dozens of bird cages hanging from wires, and there is audio of birds chirping playing quietly. In the sidewalk. there are bricks with each species carved into them. It's like the "sorry we killed your habitat" exposition.

Sydney has a lot of statues througout the city that are replicas and 'sister statues' of others in other countries. The man reading the paper can also be found somewhere in England, and somewhere in the States. The doughnut ring things can also be found in Scotland.

She took us into the immigration building to show us the coolest map of Sydney. it's a scale replica of the city, set under the plexiglass floor. Unfortunately lighting was too sucky to take a picture of the entire thing, but I found the Opera House and took a picture of it.

We had been on the tour for about 2.5 hours by this point, and I was ready to finally see the Opera House. We stopped for a tidbit session with this bridge in the distance, and she started talking about how you could pay hundreds of dollars to hike that thing and get beautiful views of the Opera House. So I got excited, looking around for the majestic white building that I had first laid eyes on in Finding Nemo.

I'm serious. Finding Nemo is what put Australia on my list of places to go as a kid.  I wanted to see the shiny white building for myself.

So we continued on, and walked up a crapload of steps to a viewing platform. And there it was.

I just stood there for minutes that seemed like hours, just in awe that I was finally gazing at the Sydney Opera House with my very own eyes.

It is absolutely beautiful, with the sun shining off the peaks and glittering into the water.

The tour ended there, so I tipped her my last 4 dollars in coins and sat and stared at the building for a little longer. Finally I felt a little creepy and got up to wander around the city myself.

I spent about 3 hours in the coolest art museum I've ever toured, and it was free! Yes!

After spending the day looking at sights, I got myself some sushi rolls at the Queen Victoria mall and once it was dark I headed back to my hostel.

Will I ever stay in a hostel again? Not if I'm alone I won't! I luckily got moved to a different bed that night, so I wasn't worried some stranger would get in bed with me, so I slept a lot better night two.

I woke up on the 22nd and ate my last breakfast in Australia. I attempted a shower again, and gave up when the water was still ice cold. I got dressed, packed up my bags, locked everything shut and checked out of my room. I took the subway back to the airport and before I knew it, I was boarding my flight back home.

So I'm home, and I am so grateful to my friends for hosting me for such a long time! I had the absolute time of my life, and I can not express how thankful I am for my friends Naomi, Connor, Jordan, Melissa and Sharleen. I miss you guys already!

I am so incredibly lucky to have such adventure in my life!
~Courtney

Parliament And Sugar

Today was a super low key. I slept in really late and ate lunch at Naomi's house. Her mom drove me to the train station and I met up with Connor at 1. We went on a tour of the parliament house, and between the tour guide and Connor's insider tid-bits, I felt like an Australian citizen as I walked out of the building. The rooms were covered in legitimate gold leaf, and I just wanted to touch everything... it was all so pretty and elaborate. 

After that we stopped at a coffee shop and I had another absolutely delicious hot chocolate. I opened a sugar packet while we were talking and discovered that along with everything else Australia has that I love, they also have fabulous sugar. I know... random. But seriously. Their sugar is to die for. After our drinks we walked around Melbourne, not really looking for anything in particular. I wanted to see Melbourne at night, so we were trying to kill time. As we were walking near the sports arena area, we heard some random bells playing. We followed the sound up some stairs to find dozens of upside down church bells on poles. We read a sign to find out it was an art instilation that had been erected a few years back, and the music playing was written by a random person who sent the sheet music to a website, and the bells played the song. Apparently the bells play for one hour at a time, 3 times a day, so we were feeling pretty lucky to have heard the bells and found them. By this time the sun was going down so we headed back towards the Yarra River so I could see the city all lit up. 

Melbourne has one casino, called the Crown, and it's huge. Apparently they make so much money that they have extra cash to blow on FIRE BALLS. Seriously. These huge towers spurt fire every 30 minutes for 10 minute intervals. It was awesome, especially for a pyromaniac like me!

Melbourne is really pretty at night, especially along the river where all the lights are reflected like a mirror.

That's a 4 story chandelier hanging in the main Crown Casino building

As it always goes, I was hungry by this point, so we walked back to Connor's place for dinner and Mario Kart until Naomi was able to pick me up after work.

Melbourne is so amazing. I am loving the culture and atmosphere of this city so much.

Penguins, Hillsong and Crepes, Oh My!

Yesterday was soooo much fun! It was cold, but I've adjusted to the temperature. I'm still so jealous their winter is so mild! We had a late start heading to Phillip Island, because I slept till 10:30... this jet lag is screwing with how late I'm sleeping for sure! It was an hour and a half drive to the island, so we had a great time chatting and catching up. We've been apart for a year and yet it feels like it's only been a few weeks. 

When we got there, we were both pretty hungry, so we stopped for some fish and chips! We ordered the type of fish, and the lady battered and fried it in front of us. It was so juicy and crispy... definitely the best fish i've ever had! We ate along the beach on a bench, but a stupid seagull yanked Naomi's potato cake out of her mouth! We moved under a tree and kept eyes on every seagull around us. They were everywhere!!

Scaring the seagulls away

After lunch we kept driving to the point of the island, and we stopped along the lookout points to take pictures. We stopped at a seal observation deck, and we could see seals through a camera anchored in the rocks where they hung out. We walked along a boardwalk right along the ocean. It was freezing, but super beautiful. It was windy and overcast, but we brought enough layers to not freeze. 

At 5 o'clock they let us pick our seats for the Penguin Parade, and we got some pretty awesome seats on the lower bleachers. We sat for an hour talking and waiting for the tiny Fairy Penguins to appear. 

Around 6 o'clock the sun had gone down and we spotted the first group of penguins! They were so small, like 13 inches tall! They would pop out of the ocean and pause because of all the seagulls on the beach. Then they would gather their courage and waddle as fast as they could up the beach to their nests. It was so precious. I wish they would have let me take pictures!

 
Today I got to go with Naomi to her church, called Hillsong. Every Sunday, they set up in a large theatre, you know, with a stage and multiple stories of seats, and take down right after their services. There's a band on stage that plays beautiful music, and a screen that projects the lyrics, which I loved. They were beautiful songs about Christ and it was a new and amazing way to celebrate the love of the Lord. After a while, the pastor gave a sermon on the layers of the Spirit, and it was a funny but really insightful look into the way people with the spirit live their lives. 

After church (which I wore jeans to, by the way!) we met up with Connor for brunch. (My first experience with brunch, no less!) There is this alleyway completely covered in beautiful grafitti, with small little shops with such varied types of food. There was Japanese, Mexican, Italian, Korean, a sub shop, and a French creperie. After peering at all the menus, I picked the French place, and we sat down at a small circular iron table, with a guy playing the accordion right behind us. So far, I've been doing really good at picking foods that are different or impossible to find in the States, but the second I saw the Nutella and Cream crepe on the menu, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist it. So Connor got a Latte, Naomi ordered a lasagna made of crepes, and I caved for the hazelnut one. The food was beautiful, and Connor's latte looked super yummy. It had foam and cinnamon sprinkled on top... I was sorta jealous. Then he tells me hot chocolates are served just like his latte, and I immediately wanted one. We ate, and then took a walk through the botanical gardens to walk off the 'sugary American crepe' I had just sucked down. 

I had wanted to see Luna Park, the 'amusement park' that Connor and Naomi had both mentioned when we lived in Florida, so we hopped in Naomi's car and drove there. Unfortunately they were repainting the clown face enterance, so I didn't take a picture of it. We were surprised to see a billion Muslim people, until Connor realized today is Ed, a big Muslim holiday.
Jordan got off work around that time, so we walked to the boardwalk across the street and walked along the beach for a while while we waited for Jordan to meet up with us. 

It took him forever to find a parking space, so when he finally met up with us, he was a little miffed. We randomly ended up at a Coles Supermarket because Connor needed food, and after he bought his basket of produce (he eats so healthy!) he and Naomi walked to his flat to put it all away. While they were gone, Jordan treated me to a beautiful foamy hot chocolate at a tea shop down the street. Ohhhh myyyyy goooosssshhhhh it was soo good! We talked about Disney movies and caught up with each other. It was really nice to just sit and chat for a while.

Once we had all met back up, Melissa Co met us at a cafeteria so we could all grab dinner. I chose sushi rolls again, probably because I love the idea of a huge log of sushi and no chopsticks. We sat and ate until the building closed down, and we all parted ways. It's so cool to me that a politician, a nurse, an entertainer, a lawyer and a teacher can all get along so well, and have such a strong friendhip, even though our interest are all so different.

So now I'm sitting in Naomi's room on my surprisingly comfortable mattress on her floor. She's getting ready for bed, cause she's got work again tomorrow. I think I'll sleep in tomorrow and meet up with Connor after lunch, but we will see what jet lag does to me!