Sydney

One of my best friends from high school, Monica , arrived in Melbourne this past Friday. We traveled to sydney together this weekend. Sydney is such a lovely city! It is about the same size as Melbourne (5 million people) and is approx. a 1.5 hour plane ride away.

We arrived, after a few flight delays, and managed to figure out the public transport system to get to our hostel. We then went to Sydney Harbor to see the beautiful bridge and opera house!  We took a tour of the Sydney Opera House- which actually has 6 theatres- covering everything from opera (who'd think??haha) to ballet to concerts to drama to musicals, etc etc.  We got to walk through some of the 'behind the scenes' areas which was cool, as well as learning more about the construction of this iconic $120 million dollar, 10 year, "world heritage" building. That night we went to a performance of Amadeus, which was a compilation of Mozart's symphonies and Opera- it was a great show, and even better because we got rush student tickets, which meant we got $75 seats for $25.  good deal!  We explored around the city a little that night, the harbor is so beautiful all lit up!

Monica and I in front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge

Sydney Opera House

The next day, we awoke really early and took the ferry to Darling Harbor to see the Sydney Aquarium. I love aquariums- and Sydney's didn't disappoint. They had an incredible selection of sharks and turtles, freshwater fish of Australia, Crocodiles, and a HUGE great barrier reef display. I loved it! And it makes me even more excited for when I get to visit the Great Barrier in another week, once my mom arrives :)  After the aquarium, we hopped on the train and then took a bus to Bondi Beach.. which is a rather famous surfing beach outside of Sydney. The water is beautiful pacific blue, with white sand and plenty of fit males geared up to surf.    Along the beach from Bondi there is a BEAUTIFUL5 km coastal walk that takes you along the cliffside to allow you to walk to the neighboring beaches, which include Tarramana and Bronte Bay (both of which are also gorgeous!). It provides excellent views not only of the beach, but of the cliff front, vegetation, and the horizon.

Bondi Beach in Sydney- the litte dots in the waves are surfers

We finished our trip with another ferry ride to Manly Beach, another well known beach area of Sydney. The ferry ride is great there as well since it takes you through the Sydney Harbor, allowing you a great view of the Opera House and the Bridge. We had hoped to do the climb up the Sydney Harbor Bridge, but it proved to be really expensive and we just ran out of time. All in all, it was a great trip- and though tiring and very fast we saw a great deal in our 2 days.

View from the coastal walk of McKenzie Bay

Comments

[Ellen Greagan]

Hi Laura,
Talked to your Mom couple nights ago..she is so excites about the trip to met with you. She is so proud of you, so am I. I know my Mama (your namesake) is looking down from the heaven smiling. I enjoyed reading your experiences and the pictures are wonderful! Take care and love ya. Ellen

[kaizen9]

Sydney is really good place for vocations, I love this place too......

kaizen9
http://www.flightstosydney.com.au