Advertisement
Published: April 6th 2009
Watson's Bay
This is where we ate lunch on FridayFriday March 27th- Our day started at 5am. We had to wake up and get ready to catch the taxi by 6:10am to the airport. Upon arriving at the airport we met Ann (our resident director) inside the Virgin Blue terminal. She checked us in as a group and all we had to do to get our boarding pass was show 1 form of photo ID. Getting through security was equally as easy as they don’t check your ID again, nor do you remove your shoes. You can also check liquid items. Needless to say the security at the Australian airports is lax and a little unnerving. The flight was as easy as could be, minus the ride coming into Sydney was a little bumpy because of rain in the area. We landed in Sydney at about 1030am. We collected our luggage and were met by our tour guide, Russ, and a coach buss to take us to our hotel. At the very onset we thought we were going to be staying in a youth hostel in rail carriages but were surprised when we arrived at the Meriton Apartments on Kent Street. Unfortunately our rooms weren’t ready so the hotel locked
Watson's Bay
Lunch spot on Friday our luggage in a room so we could go about our day. We all boarded the bus and away we went. Our first stop was Watson’s Bay where we were served lunch and allowed to relax for a little. I was afraid it would be a typical bagged typed lunch of a crap sandwich with white bread and a south of cheese lunchmeat with a barely ripe tomato, a bag of chips, and an apple. Much to my delight they had catered chicken sandwiches which were hot and absolutely delicious. We also had bananas (bananas have come to be a luxury item on field trips and in cafeterias) and chips (not Australian chips aka. fries, but potato chips). We ate lunch and relaxed for about 35-40 minutes until we started a walk around the Sydney Harbor National Park at Gap Bluff. Russ explained to us some of the history of this part of Sydney and the harbor, and I took particular interest in the WWII history in the area. Supposedly 3 Japanese mini-subs were spotted in this part of the harbor which had attacked US and Australian ships. There were also old cement blocks for gun batteries around the cliffs
Watson's Bay
Lunch spot on Friday where we were. Parked in the distance was an Australian Navy ship, and Russ told us how Australia has 75 fighter planes but currently only 58 pilots. It’s a different world down here in middle power Australia. Anyway, we continued to walk around the cliffs until we were finally met by the bus. The bus then took us to our next stop where we would begin about a 3 hour walking tour. We began our tour at Hyde Park by the Anzac Memorial. Unfortunately they’re doing renovations on the memorial so we weren’t able to go inside, but it was definitely a very neat building. Russ told us inside is a statue of a slain soldier, as he is falling he is being held up by 3 sets of hands. One set is his mother’s hands, the second set is his wife’s hands, and the third set is his daughter’s hands. This represents the past, present, and future of the country of Australia. Australia has a very high respect for women historically because of how they held the country together during war times (according to Russ). We then made our way past a statute of James Cook (the guy that
found Australia) and past the Natural History Museum. We then passed St. Mary’s Cathedral, which is the largest in Australia and the 5th largest in the world. It was a very neat, old building; rather epic I shall say. We continued to hoof it and passed the fountain dedicated to Australia-French relations. It had a very Greek Mythology feel to it and I jokingly asked Russ why if it was part French no one was running away, he found that one pretty funny. Our next stop was in front of the Queen Victoria Building shopping mall, which was a very old farmer’s market which was going to be destroyed, instead it was turned into a fancy shopping mall complete with original tiles on the floors. We weren’t allowed to go in with such a big group, but we could visit it with our free time on Sunday. Instead we went into a smaller version, also a fancy mall called the Strand Arcade (I think). As we walked through Sydney, Russ told us to pay attention to the old architecture of the buildings. In general it reminded me sort of New Orleans, there’s really nothing else I could rightfully compare it
to (We later found out Russ has quite the eye for interior design, if you know what I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with that). On foot we continued past a financial of area Sydney onto the old Sydney Hospital. We walked behind the old Sydney Hospital and made our way to the contemporary art museum where we took a bathroom break. On a side note I was as thirsty as I have been in some time during this hike. After pounding so much water in Brisbane I was as dry as a bone. Luckily Kelly had an extra water bottle from the plane and I was able to use it for the rest of the way. After our pit stop we had a short walk to the Royal Botanical Gardens. The highlight of the RBG was definitely the Cockatoos. The birds are so used to people that if you have food they’ll fly right onto your shoulder or hand or head (basically wherever they can land) and sit on you and patiently wait to be fed. At first we had no idea what was going on as Russ pulled out a bag with banana bread. Once the birds
spotted the bread they swarmed him and landed wherever they could. He dished out the banana bread after that to people that wanted it so naturally I took a turn. At my max I had 2 birds on me, one on my left hand and the other on my shoulder. The one on my shoulder was hysterical because it sat in the same place for a good 10 minutes, even as I walked around. But it acted like the dog does, every time I looked at it, it turned its head and looked back at me. I kept telling it I didn’t have anymore and it was all gone like we do to the dog but apparently birds don’t listen as well. A few people were pooped on and a couple were bitten but I ended up unscathed. At this point it was about 4pm, and as we emerged from the RBG we were along a walk which would take us to the Opera House. We walked along the path and ended up at the Opera House. We were completely exhausted and we still had an Opera tour as our last part of the afternoon. I wish I had more
Sydney Harbor National Park
I notice everywhere I go there are cliffs. I always seem to take multiple pictures of the cliffs with the ocean. I'm not sure why. to say about the Opera House, and while it’s a world landmark and from the outside definitely a magnificent structure, the inside is basically what you’d expect: an opera house. It has different levels with different sized stages, also this huge organ with over 10,000 pipes and several stories high. We weren’t allowed to take many pictures inside. The interesting tidbit was that the reception areas are open to the public to rent for special occasions, it’s really a public building at its core. It was neat and something I was glad to have a tour of, although I feel like had we not been on the go for 12 straight hours I would have enjoyed it more. After the opera house tour we returned to the apartments. The apartments were super nice and had everything you could ask for. Two bedrooms with 2 single beds, 2 full bathrooms, a living room with a flat screen tv, a kitchen, and a balcony (we couldn’t go out on the balcony because it was locked). We were assigned roommates and I stayed with Brian Juhl, Matt Edgar, and James Doyle. Brian and I were in one room and Matt and James were
Sydney Harbor National Park
A view of the surrounding area in the other. We had about an hour to relax and get ready for dinner. All of our legs felt like lead and the hardest part of the afternoon was getting off the couch to go to dinner. The group met at 715 in front of the Meriton and we took the subway to our dinner location (more or less, we had to walk a little). I can’t tell you the name of the restaurant, but it was really really good. The one drawback was we had to cook our own steak, but each piece of meat plus the salad bar was about $30, so Dickinson had a pretty large bill. Russ and Ann also bought each table a few jugs (pitchers- but get it right in Australia or they won’t know what you’re talking about) of beer. It was a great meal and just what we needed after a long day. I went with the Sydney cut, which was basically a New York strip. After dinner we started what would be the beginning of a long night of pub crawling. We hit 5 different places, unfortunately I only remember the names of 2 (not because I was drunk, simply
Sydney Harbor National Park
Sydney from a distance. It was fairly overcast the first part of Friday. because I didn’t bother to look). We pretty much went up in class as well. The first bar was a small place where they brewed their own beer with an older crowd and we moved our way up. The 2 places I remember the names of were the second one, The Hero of the Waterloo, and the last one, The Argyle. I’m not known for my astute sense of direction, but I will say I’m getting better. Everyone left The Argyle at different times, and I was able to get James Doyle and I back in about 25-30 minutes (how far it should have taken) A couple of groups took over 1.5 hours to get back. It was about 230am by the time we went to bed. We had to be up and out by 10am the next day.
Saturday March 28th- Per the usual, I was personally running behind as was the rest of my room. We didn’t get down to the bus until about 1015, the last of the Mohicans. The plan in the morning was for us to have a tour of Paddington, the old (new) part of Sydney. We arrived in Paddington and were given
a small walking tour around and given the history of the area. About 25 years ago it was considered a seedy place to live, now it is the trendy area of Sydney where everyone wants to reside. Russ showed us a bar where in the olden days was only open until 6pm, this meant all the men got off work at 5pm, rushed to the bar, and proceeded to drink as much as possible in the hour it was open. The outside of the bar was eventually covered in tile because it was easier to clean up (gross). We then walked around part of the neighborhood and about half way through, something dawned on me. Why did Paddington sound so familiar? I continued on the tour with the walking group and by the end, as everyone was dismissed to the Paddington Market, I called the house to see where Mike, Pauline, and Jemma had lived. Sure enough, after a few minutes on the phone, Mother relayed the address: 3-83A Stewart Street, Paddington. I asked our guide if he knew where Stewart street was. He pulled it up on his phone using Google Earth and sure enough, roughly 2 blocks from
Sydney Harbor National Park
This was an old anchor found from a ship wreck. The next picture is the plaque. where I was standing, was Stewart Street. I was pointed in the right direction through a small green area, and headed off. We had about 45 minutes in the market, but I said forget it. I had bigger fish to fry. As I started off on my journey I ran into my friend, James Doyle, and he was intrigued enough to come with me. In less than 5 minutes, there I stood, right in front of the complex of Team Seitz Southern Hemisphere’s old residence. Naturally I took a few pictures, roamed the area for a short time, then headed down to the market. The market was pretty neat, as everything was relatively high end. There were a few small gadgety type items, but nothing I was very interested in. I will say though that the girls on the trip had a field day at the market. After time was up the group rendezvoused at the drop zone (that’s how I refer to it any time we have to meet somewhere as a group at specific time). The closest thing I can overall compare Paddington to is Sewickley, only bigger and nicer. We boarded the bus and headed to Coogee
Sydney Harbor National Park
Plaque of the shipwreck and the anchor where we would be eating lunch and starting our beach walk. Most of the people on the bus were interested in eating the cheapest lunch possible, which I understood because some of the merchandise purchased at the market. To me it was about getting a good piece of fish somewhere, something I haven’t been able to do as much as I would like so far here in Australia. I talked to Mikey and James on the bus and both of them were on board with getting a good lunch. As everyone got off the bus I stopped and asked Russ where to find a good piece of fish. He directed us to a little restaurant called A Fish Called Coogee, where the prices were higher than we could get lunch for but the fish was excellent and it had excellent marinades. Off we went. A Fish Called Coogee was a small place with a glass case of fish. It was sold by the 100g. Basically you picked your piece of fish, they weighed it, charged you accordingly, and grilled it for you on the spot. James chose some type of a perch, Mikey chose the tuna, and I chose a
piece of barramundi in a Brazilian style marinade. It was delicious. The marinade was sort of a lime based type of sauce and cooked into the fish it was really good. The fish was mild and the marinade wasn’t overpowering. I also sampled some of the calamari, which was a little gummy, but still tasted very good. By the time all of our fish were cooked and we ate it was time to rendezvous at the drop zone. We started our beach walk at Coogee Beach, and would eventually hit a bunch of different beaches including Bronte Beach and Bondi Beach. Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend any time on the beaches themselves, but instead did a 3 hour walking tour around the beaches with plenty of opportunity to take pictures. At various points of the walk Russ would stop everyone, allowing some to catch up, and talk to us about the area. The pictures do the justice of this part of the trip. Nothing I could say could properly describe the scenery which we passed. I will say this much: it was hot, although the overall climate in Sydney was much better than the merciless heat and humidity in
Brisbane, the Saturday beach walk gave Brissy a run for its money. The tour concluded around 345, and we were taken back to our hotel to shower and have a couple hours to do as we wished. After I got back to the hotel I headed to China Town with a few people to go to the Chinese market. It was huge but overall The Chinese market was like any other Chinese market you could imagine. There were some good buys and some really cheap merchandise. I purchased a few small items and after about an hour of checking everyone out it was time to head back to the hotel. Mikey, Brian, James, and I purchased some wine for dinner because we heard the restaurant was BYO. We met at 545 outside the hotel to head to dinner. Dinner was a relatively short walk from our hotel. We went to the Chinta Ria, a Malaysian style restaurant in Darling Harbor. It was a fairly small restaurant but the good was great. It was served family style with 5 different main dishes and unlimited rice. Personally I could’ve eaten just the rice for dinner. It was a coconut based rice and
Sydney Harbor National Park
Me..complete with cliff in the distance and the ocean it was out of this world. I’ve never tasted rice like it in my life. It’s funny to make such a big fuss out of rice but it was unbelievable. In hindsight I’m not even that sure if the dishes were as good as they seemed, it could’ve been the rice. The other dishes included stir fries made up of prawn, chicken, beef, tofu (which was surprisingly decent), and followed up with a dessert of pineapple and mango flavored ice cream (not so good). On a side note it was by far one of the funniest dinners I have ever sat through in my life. Mikey and I were especially on our games and it was nothing short of hilarious. As part of the Dickinson trip we receive free tickets to the aquarium, so because we were already in Darling Harbor some of the group members, including myself, decided to head over to use our ticket. I saw some cool things in the aquarium, including dugongs, stone fish, a crocodile, jellyfish, sharks, turtles, a big ray, along with a bunch of other little critters. It was a nice relaxing way to digest a big dinner. There was a big Greek
festival going on in Darling Harbor so we walked through to check it out on the way back. When we got back to hotel it was decision time: go out or stay in. I was exhausted as were the rest of the people in my room, but after a short debate we decided to head out and make the most of our time in Sydney. We were given VIP access at The Gaff (no Carrie, it wasn’t quite like VIP in the states, basically it was just for drink specials) which was another incentive to go out. After a couple hours at the bar, being very careful not to go crazy, a bunch of us turned it in. We were way too tired to go hard and we wanted to make sure we maximized the following day. By about 1am I was in bed. Sunday would be a free day until it was time to go to the airport.
Sunday March 29th- Sunday was the group free day to do as we pleased. Some people went to the beach. I chose to further explore some of the things we saw on Friday. In a group which consisted of me,
Hyde Park
Anzac Memorial Brian, Sarah, James, (and eventually Mikey) we headed off to Hyde Park to begin our day. We passed by the Anzac Memorial again and made our way down to the natural history museum. The thing I really wanted to see was what Russ described as a carnivorous kangaroo called the fangaroo which grew up to 4 meters.. I made sure it was real before I made a special trip. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the thing to save my life in the skeleton section or the dinosaur section. The museum itself was a little different than the Pittsburgh one and they had a lot of cool skeletons and the dinosaur exhibit was really good. We were also allowed to touch anything we could reach. They had a section titled “Surviving the Outback” which was also interesting. The aboriginal section was interesting as well. The one downside was we were hijacked by a lady who worked at the museum in the meteor section for about half an hour. She kept pulling out all of these different minerals and rocks for us to see. It wasn’t bad, but to people on time constraints it was frustrating. I never did find that fangaroo. I
Hyde Park
Anzac Memorial asked people later if they had found it, which they did. Apparently I had just overlooked it because I was looking for something huge, and the skeleton was one of a baby. Bummer. We left the natural history museum around 1130 and made our way to the next stop, the St. Mary’s Cathedral. We went into the cathedral and spent a short quiet time inside. It was very large and would be a neat place to go to a mass. I suppose I could’ve planned to actually attend the mass, but it was really an after thought. In order to take pictures you were supposed to buy a photo permit. I took a couple of illegal ones without spending the money, I’m sure God will forgive me. You could tell the building was very old, but it was extremely detailed. I was impressed. After a short walk we reached our next stop, the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, aka the convict museum. I really enjoyed this part of the day. While the natural history museum was interesting, it wasn’t nearly as unique to not only Australia, but world history, as the convict museum. The museum really went over the penal history
Hyde Park
Statue of James Cook of Australia, and various artifacts showed how the people lived. There were also written accounts from convicts and guards, as well as replicas of transport cells (a stand up coffin if someone misbehaved on the boat over to Australia) and an entire top floor devoted to showing how the sleeping chambers were arranged. I was really glad I was able to get there and really see it. Somewhere along the line of being in Australia I've become the go to person for knowing where things are and what to do. I can't tell you how many times during the day I received phone calls from people asking where this is or that is. This is another example of how my sense of direction has improved. The only thing I can equate it to is if a person or animal loses a sense and the rest of the senses compensate. It's like I've been dropped into a foreign land so now my internal compass has no choice but to start working. Anyway, moving on. At this point we were starving, so we decided to go to the Queen Victoria Building shopping mall to check out all of the shops and grab
Hyde Park
St. Mary's Cathedral a bite to eat. We ate and then explored the building. I have never been in a mall quite like it, with much of the old feel to the building still very much intact. After we spent sufficient time in the mall, we made our way to the Strand Arcade, the small shopping center we had walked through on Friday. Inside was a fancy hat shop, where I found what would have been my outback hat of choice (the Tilley Hat) except it was way too expensive. I’m sure I’ll be able to find a knock off version somewhere here in Brisbane. The day was starting to wind down by the time we were finished wandering through the Strand Arcade. We had about an hour left until our departure from the hotel at 4. We walked around Sydney a little more for the last time and made our way to Darling Harbor again, which would eventually lead us to the hotel. After our last walk through Darling Harbor we ended up at the hotel and picked up our stuff. The flight from Sydney was at 6 and we would be back in Brisbane by 630 (there’s an hour time difference
Hyde Park
French/Aussie relations fountain between Brisbane and Sydney). The flight was smooth and we arrived safely back to campus. It was a great weekend, and Sydney has officially taken over as my favorite city that I have ever been to.
Note: The rock in the photo is hard to make out but on it is an aboriginal carving from thousands of years ago of a whale. The story goes that the animals in the sea wanted to move to an area of land somewhere off in the distance. The only animal with a big enough canoe to fit everyone was the whale. The whale, however, was a mean creature that did not want to share the canoe. The whale's best friend, the starfish, tried to convince the whale to bring everyone in the canoe. A fight ensued and the starfish was thrown down into the rocky area of the ocean (where it remains today), the whale had a hole put in its head from the starfish. This is why the whale can still be seen from shore today, angrily moving up and down the coast looking for its canoe blowing water out of the top of its head.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.086s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 10; qc: 53; dbt: 0.0477s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
carrie
non-member comment
i especially enjoyed the pictures of you with the birds haha, which got me thinking that our annual trip to the zoo this summer will probably not be as much fun for you after all of this! the pittsburgh zoo better step it up for you!! the apartment is beautiful and it was cool seeing the house in paddington. as far as the VIP goes, not everyone can be me!!!! haha just kidding. keep up the good work with the pictures and blog!