Down Under in Sydney

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Sydney, Sydney, Sydney.
This city is very big and bustlinig with businessmen and women and also lots and lots of tourists like us.
So we still had our fabulous campervan as we drove into the city.
Imagine this big camper trying to dodge the people jaywalking, not having a clue where we are and me navagating.
We had to drive the van into the city to fond somewhere to ship our didgeridoos home. After trying Fed-Ex who quoted us over 600 Australian dollars....which we said thanks but no thanks to, we found a place to send them for 99 AD each.
That was a relief because they oncy cost us 90 and 130 dollars.
After getting those shipped, we checked into a hostel in the center of town and then said our final goodbyes to the van and dropped it off.
We got to take public transoprtation back into the city which is always fun and a learning experience.
The hostel we were in was HUGE, 500 beds, large flatscreens all over for you to watch movies or whatever, a crowded communial cooking area and fridges that were pack to the gills with groceries.
Anyway, the place was nice and we stayed there all 3 nights while we were in Sydney. We figured its nice not to have to pack up every day and relocate, plus the place was clean and central to everything.
The Sydney harbour and Darling harbour were the places we always found ourselves winding up.
Every day there we saw the Opera house, it wasnt intentional but always happened. The view is amazing so there is nothing to complain about!
We walked accross the Sydeny Harbour Bridge, took an inside tour of the opera house, ate a lot of gellato's (YUM), saw a bunch of street performers around the harbours, and lots more.
As we were walking to the Opera House for the first time, it started raining and we saw a huge stage out front of the doors...people were gathering all around the sides of the gates and we found out it was the Australian Idol finale.
Some guy named Wes won.
We were waiting around there for about 11/2 hours before we left...so we could have seen on the big screens the finale but it was getting late, we were a far walk from home...and sadly enough we go to bed around 930pm!! So we were cranky and tired and couldnt wait around for the show!
Seeing the Opera House in person was great, but we were surprised at the color of the tiles...they seem ivory or yellow in person. In pictures it always looks white but up close you see otherwise. By the way there are over 1 million tiles on the roof of the opera house. The tour of the opera house was very informative, and the building is more than impressive.
We walked about the city from early in the morning until nighttime. By the end of the day our feet were killing us but there were so many amazing sites to see there!

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Photos

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finally arriving in Sydney after driving just over 4,000km down the coast.

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love you

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a big shopping mall, Queen Victoria Building

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just starting to rain here...and we are trying to go see the Sydney opera house for the 1st time, but there was a stage up in front of it and come to find out it was the Australian Idol finale right out front.

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a cruise ship, the bridge and opera house all in one shot

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some of the skyline of Sydney

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the Sydney Harbour Bridge

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bamboo in the gardens

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more skyline

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a couple of horses in the park, they look a bit fake in this pic

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Dave sitting on a tree limb in the gardens by the opera house

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a duck enjoying the view of the opera house

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the second day there, as you can see the weather was nicer this day

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inside the Museum of Contemporary Art. an exhibit by an English man...the artwork was pretty interesting

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ice skating

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he was inspired by people traveling to new places and exploring their sexuality while away, and they go home and go back to normal life.

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So the roof looks white right??
Well in real life it is surprisingly ivory, or even yellowish.