Sydney!

Today was our first full day in Sydney and we took advantage of some of the wonder it has to offer! We started our morning at the leisurely chime of quarter to eleven. Our plan to meet and be out the door at 10:30 didn't happen as many of our plans have gone. This group loves sleeping in! I myself had a luxurious chance to sleep in and I took it!

I love how every hostel is in the YHA family but since they are privately owned they are incredibly different! We have stayed in hostels that resembled dormitories, hotels, bed and breakfasts, and now we have a combo hotel/dorm. Sydney Central hostel, one of 10 YHAs in Sydney, has a restaurant, movie theatre, roof top pool and sauna, conference rooms, kitchen, and a lounge on every floor. Most of e hostels we have been in only have central lounges encouraging mingling. This one has like three big lounges downstairs, but we stay to our floor mostly. And since we are crazy loud we pretty much scare away anyone else.

Today in Sydney we went out en masse and headed for the harbor. Our intended goal: Sydney Opera House, the iconic shells by the harbor. Hailey, Sarah, Mo and I got sidetracked by a Krispy Kreme so we split off from the big group early in the day. Totally worth the $3.20 I paid for one....yes only one!......jelly donut I split with Sarah.

We stopped in a few souvenir shops and saw the expected stuff: shirts, hats, keychains, boomerangs (it is Australia after all) and didgereedoos. The unexpected for me was a kangaroo paw (real one...not replica) on a stick as a back scratcher. O.M.G. So of course I grabbed one and proceeded to chase Hailey with it :)

The four of us were grossed out by it but then we started discussing the idea of it. Kangaroos are to Ozzies what deer are to Americans. A pest. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of kangaroos in the whole of Australia. We kill and eat deer just like they do with kangaroos. We hang deer heads and antlers on walls...they make back scratchers out of paws. It is all relative if you really think about it. Which I know you are doing now....I will give you a second to work it out.
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Ok moving on. After souvenirs we walked toward the harbor. I have to say, Sydney reminds me of a less busy New York city. If you took a million or so people out of NYC you would have Sydney. Major differences: less traffic, shorter buildings, a ton of malls that go underground, few to no street performers, didn't hear a single police siren all day, people are nice and give directions, the harbor has super clear blue water.

Hmm....maybe they are not as alike as I thought. Solution: bring your butt to Sydney and see it for yourself because I obviously suck at comparisons more than doing math problems. I didn't think I sucked at anything worse than math until this moment.

Mind Blown. Damn.

Anyways, the Sydney Opera House was incredible! I always thought the giant shell exterior was like the outside of a plane, smooth white metal. Boy was I wrong. Over 6 million ceramic tiles in 13 different sizes, two shades of white and a combo of matte, gloss, and flat finishes make up the shells. I couldn't believe it...so different than I anticipated! We took a guided tour and although we were pretty mad our tour guide put the kibosh on photos in EVERY theatre, I still had a good time. The grand theater seats 2700 people and has One of the world's largest pipe organs. They have a small studio like space that reminds me exactly of the black box theatre in EIU's Doudna Fine Arts Center. Yeah....we're kind of a big deal in my ind now because of that, lol.

After the tour we headed back to the hostel. We met up with everyone to go to the hostel around the corner for kangaroo burgers. I tried it but didn't like it. Same texture as a steak but the flavor was not something I would like to taste again. A few of us went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 in 3D at the world's largest IMAX theatre. We had gelato first...my mew favorite dessert lol.

Tomorrow should be good. A nice relaxing day investigating the city with Sarah and maybe Emily.