Sydney Opera House Hides Behind Tree

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Jetlag is a nightmare. Once I got to my room the first day, I immediately fell asleep and stayed that way for a good five hours. I didn’t wake up until a new girl came in to drop her stuff. Good thing she did though, because it meant that I finally dragged myself out from under the covers and took a shower (desperately needed). I took a little stroll on the streets around the hostel, mostly in search of food. When I couldn’t find a full-out grocery store, I settled for buying Mr. Noodles from the 7/11. Three hours after getting out of bed, I climbed back in and slept for another 11 hours, not including the moment I woke up at 11:45pm and was convinced that it was morning. It was not.

I thought that I would never be able to see all of Sydney in the few days I’m booked to stay here. Turns out, the city is not as daunting as one would anticipate. Day one I set out for Hyde Park and the Anzac Memorial. But then, without prior planning, I managed to visit the Australian Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens. And we all know how I love gardens (for those of you who don’t know, I love gardens), so I was determined to explore all of it. Then, literally from behind a tree, I spot none other than the Sydney Opera House. Somehow I managed to walk all the way from Central Sydney to Sydney Harbour.

The Opera House is beautiful. I took a guided tour, which meant that I got to see inside some of the theater halls. The whole harbour, for that matter, is stunning. I stayed until the sun started setting and then started walking back towards the hostel in a different direction, but still through the gardens. Little known Australian fact: cockatoos just fly around wild! Like Canada geese! So do fruit bats - which are huge, by the way - and I probably took more photos of birds and bats than one person ever needs. I fell asleep into my book at 8pm that night. Jetlag is such a nightmare.

The second day did not start out too smoothly. Because I fell asleep so early, I woke up really early, unnaturally early. And then we had a fire alarm. When I went for breakfast I reached for my carton of milk from the fridge, I found it to be empty. Someone had stolen my milk, drank ALL of it, and then put the empty carton back in the fridge where I had left it. Jerks….

But I made my way to the Sydney Fish Market. The kinds of things these people pull out of the water is flabbergasting. Obviously I wasn’t buying anything, I was just taking pictures, and one fisherman finally asked me what I was doing. I took that as my cue to leave. I walked to the Australian Maritime Museum and learned all about Australians’ connection to the sea. I even took the guided tour of a gunner vessel that was used during the Vietnam War. That was probably overkill, but no one can ever say that I’m not a thorough tourist!

Darling Harbour is not as serene as Sydney Harbour. The business section of town is nearby and the monorail runs straight through the centre. Not to mention that it’s a huge tourist attraction, so the area is bustling constantly. But I crossed the bridge and visited the Sydney Aquarium. Apparently it was the middle of field-trip time, but if I waited patiently enough and stared at the fish long enough I would be able to keep a decent buffer between the early group, myself, and the later group. The aquarium is lovely - they have seals, sharks, rays (on which a little girl commented that “that’s what Steve Irwin died from”), fish of all sorts, eels, coral, and all that other good watery stuff. They even have tunnels running so that you can walk under the oceanariums.

As part of a deal, you could also buy a pass to the Sydney Wildlife Centre, which is basically a mini zoo. There are nocturnal animals, insects, reptiles, koalas, kangaroos, butterflies and birds. The very last stop is the butterfly sanctuary. As I came out the other end a man in an orange shirt asked me if I like snakes. Matt, the reptile keeper (or “Master Matt”, as his name tag indicated) became my first substantial conversation of my trip. We probably sat on a bench, with nothing but a snake between us, for close to 40 minutes, in which time I had him answer all my Sydney-related conundrums. I know that touristing and staying in youth hostels is all about short convenient relationships and lots of small talk, but I’ve never been any good at that. I like to be able to share moments with another person, so these hostel-relationships always feel so unnatural to me. Obviously I can still do it, but if I had my way there would always be someone to share the excitement with. So it was kind of nice to talk to someone for more than five minutes.

Before my time ran out in Sydney I also saw the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Police and Justice Museum, and the Hyde Park Barracks Museum. I tried to see a free noon-hour concert at the Royal Conservatorium of Music, but I didn’t make it in time. I also never made it to the beaches or Taronga Zoo. I started to reach a point in my trip where I had to decide how the next part should play out. Should I extend my trip one extra day and visit the last few places? Or should I leave for Brisbane as scheduled? Leaving for Brisbane meant that I had to book another hostel and the YHA was full up, so I had to find somewhere else. I couldn’t decide what to do. But, as luck would have it, I woke up the next morning to a rain fall, and its expected to rain for the next several days. So why bother staying in Sydney if its just going to be gross and rainy? Exactly, there is no point.

Depending on how you look at it, my karma either got a lot better still at that point, or spiraled into oblivion, or both. My last night here at the Railway Hostel, a Belgian guy offered me a cookie from across the counter as we were both cooking. We ate together and he seemed really nice. He invited me to go out with him and an Australian couple he met to a poker tournament at a bar. I don’t know how to play poker, but I figured why not? The Australian couple, Mel and Tim, were great and Raf, the Belgian, really was as nice as I assumed. We had a great time and stayed out late - the first time I had done so since I had arrived. The downside to all this fun is that I had bought a bus ticket to go from Sydney to Brisbane the next morning. The bus takes 15 hours, but travels the coast and is supposed to be beautiful. It was daylight savings that night, and that coupled with the fact that I was stumbling back to the hostel at nearly four in the morning meant that I missed it. I only missed it by half an hour, but I missed it all the same. So I changed the ticket and I left at 2pm instead. It means I miss most of the view, but it also means that I can cancel my hostel for tonight because I won’t arrive in Brisbane until 6am. I guess I’ll just have to take the bus again at a different time during my trip. Oh well, so much for that. I might have had the Rasmussen luck so far, but luck always runs out.

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Photos

Sydney Opera House
This was my first view of the Sydney Opera House from the Royal Botanic Gardens. I turned a corner, and there it was!

The Cockatoo Dance
I have no idea what this bird was yelling at, but it sure looked interesting

Curiosity
Out of nowhere, two birds leapt up on the tourist. The one on his shoulder got extra curious and bit his ear.

Setting Sun
The Sydney Opera House, with the Harbour Bridge behind it at the end of the afternoon. The Australian flag is flying on top of the bridge

Sydney Aquarium
I cam during a field trip, and watching the kids watch the sharks was almost more interesting than watching the sharks themselves

Koala
Granted, this was at the Sydney Wildlife Centre, but I was still pretty close

Meet My Snake
"Master Matt" the reptile keeper showing off the Woma snake to a bunch of kids at the Wildlife Centre

Comments

[kate]

living vicariously
Hi Annalisa! I am thoroughly enjoying your blog and living vicariously through your travels and adventures. I'm sure the Rasmussen luck will return, and even if it doesn't, those glitches often lead to interesting things. Looking forwarrd to hearing about the next leg of your journey!