Sydney

After our school-free week on the Gold Coast, we headed off to Sydney. We took a quick flight down to Australia’s most famous city. Right when we arrived, we realized it was famous for good reason. We could have been in any country in the world for all we knew. The streets are busy, and full of people from all corners of the world. Molly and I found a hostel called Base right in the middle of the city. Base is a clean and efficient hostel, and it ended up being a staple of our journey. Our first afternoon in Sydney was spent walking around the city and finding out just where everything was. We came back to the hostel around 6:30pm and passed out on our surprisingly comfy beds. 14 hours later we woke up ready to explore Sydney by foot. Sydney harbor was first on our list. Along the harbor walk way we heard many street performers. Our favorite was Graham Francis, an 80 year old Australian version of Bob Dylan. He played a miniature guitar and harmonica at the same time. He sang old Australian folk songs and some others that he wrote. We sat and listened to him for a while. I loved it!!!

After watching the last street performer almost fall from his 12 foot unicycle, we walked around the city looking in random little shops. For lunch we got McDonalds to have on a picnic under an ancient tree at the Sydney Botanical Gardens. We were surrounded by dozens of very large white parrots. Molly decided tochase after them running barefoot, stepping in bird poop in the process. Kiiiiinda gross.

After lunch we found an art fair that wasn't much different than our local Minnesota art fairs. After mingling through the fair, we enjoyed a relaxing walk through the old European part of town.

When evening rolled around, I was VERY excited because Molly had planned a big surprise date weeks in advance. She walked me to the entrance of the Sydney Opera house, and I was blown away when I found out we were going to a concert! The show was called Scotland the Brave. There was a small orchestra, a large choir, many bagpipe players, and Scottish dancers. The music gave me the chills. I absolutely loved it. It was good enough for even a Norwegian to enjoy :)

The next morning we left the Sydney airport for Christchurch. Ready for a new adventure.