Sydney

After going surfing I took off for Sydney the next day.








I stayed in a hostel in a central part of the city. I booked a single room because I had never stayed in a hostel before and was a little leary. I was happy to have room to myself with a lock. I didn’t feel really unsafe but I was very cautious. The place was really old but my room and bed was clean.







The first day I went on an all day tour seeing all the major sights around Sydney like the Sydney Harbour Bridge, seeing McQuarie’s chair, the Opera house from a distance, Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, the northern beaches including Bondi beach and some really nice houses like Nicole Kidman’s mom’s house (supposedly).








At lunch I got to go on a harbour luncheon cruise and see the bridge and Opera house from the water.











That evening I went to the Opera House and got a ticket to see a ballet that was playing; Don Quxiote. It was amazing! I watched it with two med students from England (female, I know what people are thinking ;-). At first I was impatient for the story line to unfold (we were given a synopsis of the story line) but then I had to realize that it’s a ballet not a movie and one has to just enjoy the ballet part of it and not try to rush the story. By the way, Don Quxiote is a funny light-hearted lovers story with a good ending, not tragic like Romeo and Juliet.

The next day was Anzac Day so I attended the ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) day Parade. It’s much like Remembrance Day in Canada.




Then I explored Sydney by myself, going to the Sydney or Oz Tower, taking a tour of the Sydney Opera house, visiting the Australian Opal Cutters, Hyde Park, listened to an Aboriginal artist play his didgeridoo in traditional costume at Circular Quay, took the Monorail, visited the Galeries Victoria
















and the Sydney Aquarium.
I went to the Chinese Gardens but they were closed already. Then I went to the airport and flew back to Melbourne. It was quite a whirlwind trip to Sydney! I really enjoyed it even though it rained the whole time. When I first arrived it was pouring and I had to buy an umbrella or else be soaked in a few minutes!