Sydney

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So after a dodgy start in Sydney, I had a great time!

Its an awesome city, seems to have everything, from shopping to great views and plenty of things to do. Its got an awesome feel to it, very friendly and I thought quite chic in places. Although it did rain for almost the entire duration of my stay! My first full day there I got the ferry over to Manly to visit a friend. The ferry was fab, it went right past the Opera house and great views of the Harbour Bridge too. I love the Opera House couldn't stop looking at it, its very dramatic, but fits in so well on the harbourside. It is quite mesmerising to look at. The ferry goes past Sydney Harbour Head, where the sea gets a bit choppy - we saw dolphins which was a real treat, then on to Manly. Manly has a surfing beach and is quite a cool town in Sydney but a short way out, making it a relaxed place to live. To be honest I didn't see much more of Manly than this, except for a couple of bars - but it was good fun.

The next day I decided to brave the rain, so I could do some site seeing. I walked to the Opera House which is by Circular Quay which is where all the ferry terminals are, but its a very nice area with little cafes and shops - they even had a Guylian cafe mmmmm. I walked around the Opera House, which was just as impressive up close. I even managed to walk into a foyer area on the second floor - but wasn't supposed to oops! There were cool views of the Harbour Bridge from the Opera house. Across from the Opera house is Sydney's Botanical gardens which are very beautiful. After walking around the gardens the rain really started to pour down, so I went back to the hostel to get dry. I met some people from my room and went with them to an Irish Bar in Bondi in the evening. There was live Irish music which was interesting to say the least - but very good.

I decided to brave the weather again, this time I decided to go to Hyde Park which is nice (nothing like ours). There is an ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) memorial there, which I had a look around, was both interesting and sad. The other end of the park is St Mary's Cathedral which is very grande and beautiful inside, I lit a candle. On my way to meet some friends I walked past Sydney Hospital which I thought was an awesome building for a hospital, quite old but not in a haunted kind of way, it just didn't look anything like a hospital. I walked through the Rocks which is the oldest part of Sydney (I think), which is quite an old looking and quirky area. I ended up on Darling Harbour which is the real chic part of Sydney, with many cafes and bars on the harbour side. I may have sampled the nightlife here too.

Darling Harbour also has a wildlife centre and an aquarium on it. Two massive parks considering they are on the harbour in the middle of the city. The wildlife centre was really cool, we saw soooooo many animals there. from red back spiders and Huntsmans, snakes, lizards, crocodiles, parrots, kangaroos (my personal favourite), koalas (close second - they really are cute), bats, skinks, possums and many more. I learnt a few facts as well which made me feel better about Australias wildlife - although I will still check my bed! 😊

The Aquarium was good to, they had many types of sharks, Dungongs (sea cow), jelly fish, sea horses, star fish, nemo, dory, turtles, rays (these were huge!!!!) and loads more. Very interesting.

After the two parks we went up Sydney Sky tower which was cool because it was getting dark so we saw the bright lights of Sydney, although they don't light the bridge very well. But it was great views. Later it was time for me to leave on the over night bus to Byron Bay. I really love Sydney (and I'm not even a city girl) it has a lot to offer . . .

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