A few days without structure

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2/20/08 - The day after orientation I really wanted to get away from all of the orientation session type stuff so we decided to have another walk into the city to see sights. We packed sandwiches for lunch to have in the park. Unfortunately no one really checked the weather. I might argue that it was our hottest day yet. We were drained by the walk there. We still managed to take a different route into town so we saw different things. By the time we got to the Domain I was starving and we found some shade to stop under and eat our sandwiches. Then we went to the Botanical gardens again and got a chance to see some things that closed before we were there last time. We saw the outside of the government house which looks like a castle with turrets and everything. We also saw the succulent garden which reminded Brittany an I of home (because she is from Cali). By then we were drenched in sweat. We saw the Opera House in the typical view with the Bridge behind it and took many more pictures.
On the long walk back to campus we stopped at the strand where there is a collection of shops and a pedestrian street. There were several very cool street performers. I have found that to be one of the things that I enjoy most about the cities I have visited here. I almost bought a straightener but decided against spending a lot of money on one that I wasn’t sure would work well. My neighbor has one so I’m planning on borrowing it from her if I ever feel like I really need it. We also stopped inside a more mall like shopping area to rest our feet and get away from the sun. I saw several articles of clothing that I was interested in but either they were too expensive or I chickened out because I thought that I might not actually wear them.

2/21/08 - On Thursday I planned to get some things done on campus and maybe do some government but I ended up meeting Sarah for another long walk into town. We walked down wattle street and ended up at the fish market were we saw some huge fish and decided that sometime we will come back and try the calamari rings.
Then we walked over to the Darling Harbour where the Aquarium is located. We bought 3passes which got us into the Aquarium, Wildlife Center, the Sydney Tower (each for unlimited visits on one day a piece). We spent three hours in the Aquarium looking at all the amazing exhibits. One of my favorites was the Yabby’s because of my camp friend who called herself Yabby! We also saw many amazing fish that are typical of the great barrier reef as well as seals and sharks. In the seal and shark areas there were tunnels under water to see them closer up.
On the way home we walked and walked and walked for what seemed like forever. For some reason we found that we didn’t have quite the energy of our earlier adrenaline filled tours of Sydney. We finally made it back to campus just in time for dinner at our respective houses. I had lamb curry with carrots (yuck) and potatoes and some freshly steamed brocolli.

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Photos

Classic View
Here is a classic Sydney view!

Interesting plant
Here is one of the cool plants that I saw in the Succulent garden of the botanical gardens.

The Government House
Here is the gov't house that I think looks like a castle with turrets and everything.

Big Lobster
Here is the big lobster that we saw at the fish market.

Yabby
No not my friend silly! The thing that she's named after.