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Published: August 6th 2008
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The view from outside our hotelI was lucky enough to have my parents and sister come visit and to be able to spend some time travelling with them. I don't have class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and they were getting into Sydney on Tuesday morning so I got an aiport transfer (which picked me up at 3:50 am!) and took a flight from brisbane to Sydney at 6 am to meet their flight coming in around 7:30. It took them awhile to get through Customs but they eventually made it through and I was really happy to see them. There was confusion with our airport transfer but once it picked us up we headed through the heart of Sydney to our hotel, from which we would see the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We statyed in a historic area called The Rocks, which was one of the first place settled by (convict) immigrants to Australia. it was really pretty with lots of shops and cafes, and was right on the water.
The first day we walked around The Rocks area and took a cruise around the Sydney Harbor. We got some really great views of the Bridge and the Opera House. It was pretty cold since it
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The briidge from outside our hotel was further South, like Melbourne, but we were fine in light jackets. The cruise served afternoon coffe and tea and little cakes, which is very popular in Australia. After the cruise and some shopping, we went to an Australian Pub for dinner. Since the drinking age here is 18, poor Carmen was the only one who could'nt have a drink with dinner. We all got Australian beers and had pizza. Dad and I wanted to be adventurous so we ordered crocodile and emu on our pizza. We were torn between those choices and Kangaroo. Both of the meats were really good actually! After dinner Dad and I went to another Australian Pub and then called it a night with Mom and Carmen, who were tired from the long trip.
The next morning we got up to watch the sunrise from the Harbor Bridge, and it was really pretty but very cold that early. We ate breakfast at a little cafe by our hotel and did some more walking around before it was time for our Opera House tour. We learned the controversial history behind the building, about the actual construction, and the variety of shows and conventions held there.
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Some fo the scenery around our hotel We actually got to see a rehearsal in progress too, which was really cool. After the tour was over we walked through the Royal Gardens park and headed to Mrs Maquarie's Point, which is where one of the famous settlers wives used to sit and watch the water. The view is a little different now, but the walk included views of the most famous photo in Sydney: the Opera House with the Bridge in the background. On our way out of the park, we got to see another interesting thing as well. Bats are almost as common as birds here, and there were tons of them hanging from the trees and sleeping since they're nocturnal. Our cab driver from the airport had told us to look out for them so we were a little disappointed that we hadn't seen them yet, we just hadn't been to the right spot though! We did a lot of walking that day so we just relaxed until dinner time and then after dinner I took the train back to the airport so I could be back in time for classes Thursday morning. My family was going to join me in The Gold Coast the
following day after I got done with classes. They foudn their way to my apartment on Thursday evening and got to see where I live. We went to HarbourTown for dinner and a little shopping and then i got to see their hotel, which had a great view of Surfer's Paradise. After classes on Friday they picked me up and we headed to Lamington National Park, which is a rainforrest situated ontop of mountains. The next entry will be about that trip and contain pictures from all that we did there.
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karen
non-member comment
What?!
Those bats are huge!!!