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Published: March 9th 2009
Draling Habour
The Imax is on the left.Thursday was our 2nd day in Sydney. Now that we were in Australia, our plans were to tour around the country seeing the sights, find jobs once our money was running low, settle down for a few months to rebuild our savings, and hit the road again seeing more of the sights. But first since we were already there, we decided to spend a couple of weeks in Sydney before moving on. Having seen the Opera House the day before, we decided to see what else the city had to offer. Unfortunately we woke up late, but then made our way to the Sydney Aquarium in the early afternoon.
The aquarium was nicely located in Darling Harbour. This area was a great place right on the water. There were museums, the aquarium, an Imax theatre, the convention centre, and plenty of little bars and restaurants.
At the aquarium, we made ourselves familiar with many of the native marine life here in Australia. It led us through the smaller stuff first like crabs and fish. Know the difference between a crocodile and an alligator? Well, as an unscientific explanation, I’d just say that crocodiles look a little meaner with those
Darling Harbour - 2
Here's a view of the harbour and a pedestrian bridge. protruding bottom teeth that stick up like bottom fangs. We then saw some penguins, crabs and jellyfish. The latter could be seen close up on the beaches of Australia!
Half way through the aquarium came the up-close and personal stuff. They had huge tanks with plenty of fish and (Hillary’s favourite, lol) sharks. Best part was that they had glass tunnels that went under the tanks, giving you a good view of the action!
After the aquarium we checked out a bit more of the city and spent the evening watching the first season of 24. We were so tired of having to change towns every other day in Thailand; we figured we’d enjoy the idea of staying in one place for a bit.
Friday was finally our orientation with IEP (International Exchange Programs), which is the organization that’d help us get accustomed to the city and in the future help us find jobs. We were given a presentation outlining things like tips on how to find a job, finding accommodations, and general Australian customs to keep in mind. Seems like Aussies like giving nicknames to words deemed too lengthy. BBQ is shortened to barbie, University is
Darling Harbour - 3
The city view from the harbour. Uni, and some people supposedly get insulted by the word flip-flops, which are called thongs. Lol
The rest of the day was spent getting comfortable with the city. We found the grocery store, which would be handy so to not keep eating out at restaurants, bought some headphone accessories so Hillary and I could watch tv on my laptop together with separate headphones, and then watched a couple more episodes of 24. Good show. Lol
Saturday, we moved from YHA Central to 790 on George. This new hostel may have only been next door to the one we were staying at, but it was a few dollars cheaper, and when you apply that to both Hillary and I, and multiply it by the additional week we were staying, it made sense. We met our new roommates as well. In the last hostel all my roommates were from Denmark (by sheer coincidence). Now we had an English girl (Hayley) and an Irish girl (Lorna). Our trip was not even two weeks in the making, and we were already learning a lot about other cultures!
Saturday was then spent at Manly Beach. It was suggested that we try out
Crabs
It.s crazy the huge claw they have. this beach by a friend I had made back at YHA Central, Mick. Mick is a retired gentleman from Florida, USA. He’s been retired for a while, and has been splitting his time in New York, Florida, Australia and New Zealand. This was something like his 15th time coming here! He was a self proclaimed beach bum. Lol So based on his advice, we tried out Manly Beach, which was a very nice spot indeed. Took the ferry from the main harbour and after a short ride, arrived at a nice little town with a great beach. Now I’ll admit, the beach really isn’t my thing, but Hillary loves it and laying on the beach can be relaxing. But it turned out that I was the one between the two of us to go in the water. Seemed like Hillary had been spoiled with the warm water at the beaches in Thailand, and now found Australian waters to be far too cold. Lol! Once back to our hostel, Hillary made sure that a nap was first on the agenda, and I tinkered away on our blog. It was a good thing we took it easy, because later would be our
Difference
Here's the visual difference between alligators and crocodiles. first night out in Australia with our new roommates! Lol Turns out that box wine is the drink of choice for thrifty backpackers, so we enjoyed the wine with our plastic cups, and hit the town. We spent the night at a dance club/pub called Scruffy Murphy’s, and finally called it a night by 2am. Which was a good idea since we’d need our energy for another day at the beach!
Kevin (and Hillary)
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