Thursday, April 24, 2008

G'day Mate!

LINK TO PICTURES: http://cfinnegan.shutterfly.com/action

Sydney is so awesome!! I keep looking at my Dad and jumping up down, screaming “WE’RE IN AUSSIE!!” or quoting Finding Nemo. I just can’t take in that I’m staring at all the sights I’ve only been able to dream about.

Day One:
The day started with a REALLY early flight out of Wellington but landing in Sydney Airport around 8am. It was POURING rain. Not something you really want to deal with when in a new city. We took a cab ride to our hotel in Old Sydney, “The Rocks”. Our room has a view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and The Rocks is really cool. This area was the first settlement of Australia. 14 ships dropped off 800 criminals and that started the settlement. The buildings are very cool and the streets are lined with cobblestone.
Dad and I literally dropped our bags off at the hotel and away we went. We walked out to the closest point of water and into the harbor, with our first sighting of the Opera House (SOH). We then walked the water front for about 2 miles to the base of the SOH. It is truly an amazing piece of art.
It was pouring rain so Dad decided it was a good time to take the SOH tour and I’m so glad we did. The story of its birth is full of twists and drama. It was really interesting to see how they made each of the sails and the way the building was built so far ahead of his time. I took pictures at every turn and I was actually surprised to find out the outer part of the sails are made of individual cream and white tiles, over 1.2 billion to be exact.
Dad and I then walked back to the hotel where I took an accidental nap for 2 hours and then it was off to do the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb (SHB).
By far this was one of the highlights of my LIFE!! We got all geared up in our climb suits, microphones, lights, fleece jackets, and beanies and set off on a 3 hour adventure. The weather broke about 20 minutes before we took off, the clouds cleared and we had blue sky. It was such an amazing view (SOH, the skyline, Darling Harbor, South Sydney, Bondi Beach, Blue Mountains) that Dad and I just kept looking at each other and smiling. Our tour guide, Vic, was awesome. He told us great stories, jokes, and interesting facts. Our group was pretty cool too. 7 out of 9 of us were from California. I’m so glad we did the Climb and I recommend it for anyone even remotely close to Sydney. DO IT!! (By the way, the weather closed out just as we stepped out the building. God was definitely controlling the weather for us tonight).
Dad then I went to a local pub where we shared a Crocodile meat pizza and a local brew.

Day Two:
We walked through the heart of the city to get to the Famous Darling Harbor. It was pretty cool. One side of Darling has the Zoo and Aquarium and the other side is surrounded by cafes, shops, and restaurants. It started to rain again so Dad and I caught “Whales and Dolphins” at the IMAX 3-D theater. After the flick, we went SHOPPING!! Ohhhh, it felt so good. We pretty much got all the souvenirs a tourist could want and then some. Dad and I then randomly decide to hop on a Harbor boat cruise, propped ourselves on the back of the boat away from the Japanese, photo happy tourists and just enjoyed the surroundings. I got some GREAT pictures myself and we saw parts of the Harbor you can only see from a boat.
After the boat trip Dad and I went for some food but before that we did a walking marathon through the city in the pouring rain (quite the accomplishment in sandles!) We got dinner and then came back to the room to relax, re-pack, and update my blog.
Tomorrow we leave at 5:25am for the airport to fly up to the warm and toasty (80+ degrees) city of Brisbane and drive 6 hours north up to Agnes Waters for our Barrier Reef trip on Saturday.

The probability of having an internet connection over the next week is very slim but I will continue to write daily and update when I can.

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