Sydney!

August 6th started out like any other Saturday waking up around 8am-9am and going down to the cafeteria for some hot breakfast.  But this time we were all getting ready to head into Sydney for either just the day, just the night, or both. Since I had yet to see Sydney my friends and I went for both the day and night and just packed backpacks full of our dress up clothes for the night.  So after breakfast ten of us walked over to North Wollongong train station to catch the 10:30am trian which unfortunately came before we had all purchased roundtrip train tickets to Central Station (cost $10.80) so we had to wait for the next train which didnt come until 11:50am.  Since we had an hour to waste we headed over to the local restaurant and watch tv.

(From left to right.  Joe, Nicole, Craig, Amy, Steve-o, Me, Billy, Andy, Christa.  All Americans except Amy and Andy who are from England and Steve-o who is from Canada)

Eventually the 11:50am train came and we boarded and arrived in Sydney around 1pm.  The train ride was really scenic with lots of ocean and jungle views.  Once off the train we walked a short distance to the Backpackers Accommodation which is a really nice hostel.  The hostel looked just like any hostel would except in the room was three bunk beds.  We only bought one bed and just used it as a place to leave out backpacks full of clothes while we walked around Sydney.  Next we walked through the Chinatown of Sydney and then over to Hyde Park where we checked out the ANZAC Memorial which is a memorial to the Australian Armed Forces who have died in battle.  (ANZAC = Australian New Zealand Army Corps) In the memorial we were all given paper gold stars with fallen soldiers names on it and we were supposed to drop them off the balcony and say a prayer as the stars fell to the ground.

Backpackers Accommodation Hostel

 ANZAC Memorial

View of Sydney skyline form ANZAC Memorial

After leaving the ANZAC Memorial we headed through Hyde Park towards the Botanical Gardens and Sydney Harbor.  The botanical gardens made you feel as though you were in the middle of the jungle but really you were half a mile from the center of Sydney. 

Walking through Hyde Park were lots of weird looking birds like the one above.  The picture to the left is of us walking through Hyde Park, it was a canopy of trees over the walkway which was really cool.  Above and to the left is the Botanical Gardens, the city from the edge of the gardens and then the middle of the gardens which looked like a rainforest.  There were lots and lots of fruit bats living in the trees here.

Finally once we got through the Botanical Gardens we got to our main destination, Sydney Harbor.  The harbor was amazing, so many people walking around the Opera House and the Circular Quay and ferry area.  After taking a few pictures we all found a small restaurant and each got battered fish and chips which were really good.

Harbor Bridge

Craig, Steve-o, and Me at the Opera House

 Sydney Opera House

Panorama From Sydney Harbor Bridge

 Opera House

Harbour Bridge

Once we were to tired to walk anymore we found a bar/restaurant to sit down and watch a rugby union game between Australia Wallabys and the New Zealand All Blacks.  New Zealand beat Australian pretty easily but it was still fun sitting at the bar with live music and watching a big screen of the game.  There were a lot of drunk fans screaming and cheering during the entire game which made it really cool. After the game we started walking all the way back to our hostel in order to change into our dress up clothes.  On the way we stopped at the Century Bar for a drink and a Kebabs shop for a delicious chicken kebab.  Eventually we made it back to the hostel to change but there were 2-3 people in our room already asleep so the five of us (the other 5 left and went back to Wollongong after the rugby game) Billy, Joe, Craig, Steve-o and I went and changed in the hostel bathroom before going up to the rooftop which was an awesome view of the city and partied with a few Australians for a little bit as we waited for our friends to arrive who were coming just for the night.  They we supposed to meet us at the train stop at 7-8pm but someone jumped in front of their train about a half hour from Sydney and delayed them a good 3 hours.  We found out this morning in the newspaper that the guy who got hit by the train actually lived.  So we had plenty of time to waste before meeting up with the rest of the group so we went back to the cheap Century Bar and had another $3 drink.  Eventually we found the rest of our group and we headed to the famous World Bar/ Candys Bar for the night.  Leaving around 3am and walking all the way to the train station and grabbing our stuff from the hostel in time to catch the 5:30am train back to Wollongong which we slept the entire way back arriving back at our dorm at 7am.  (the trains do not run from 12:30am to 5:30am so we were forced to take the 5:30am train because nobody wanted to spend the $45 for a hostel bed and stay overnight in Sydney)  As soon as I got in my room i fell asleep for a good 4 hours waking up in time to catch a quick breakfast before it closed at 11am.  Later just like every other sunday we had a barbaque followed by a game of soccer in Weerona East.  Tried to get some homework done this afternoon but did very little, going to bed early tonight.

 Having fun walking down the street

New Zealand rugby team pose