First Days in Sydney

We ran to the Sydney Opera House this morning from our hostel. It was a little rainy and cooler but nice out. The Opera House was amazing, the architecture just unbelievable. Matt and I had a Rocky moment after running up the stairs of the Opera House. I learned my lesson on our road trip that not working out and eating poorly packs on the pounds (big surprise, right), way too quickly. Also, I end up feeling super sluggish with low energy. So, I'm trying this thing where I stick to my working out and don't overindulge in junky foods. The botanical gardens are on the way to the Opera House, and there are tons of parks and green space in Sydney. Running around the bay was beautiful and relaxing. We saw exotic birds and animals out in the parks, and the waves rhythmically crash against the walls just below the running path.

Though it's been raining the last few days, it's summer here in Australia. It was quite a nice change after flying in from snowy Minnesota. After a four hour flight to LA, and then a twelve hour flight to Sydney, we arrived early in the morning the other day. I'm not quite sure where a day went in our journey, but we lost it somewhere in the ether along the way (we left on a Wednesday and arrived on a Friday). Once we arrived, we spent several hours trying to get a prepaid sim card and getting it to work on Matt's phone. Because of the snow in Minnesota, we weren't sure if our flight would be delayed and decided against booking a place to stay our first night. We spent a long time on the sim card in order to call around for a place to stay, only to find free phones in the airport. I should specify that you can only call the businesses that are advertised on this big wall, but many of the hostels we had looked at before we left were on the wall. Turns out this weekend is a popular time to visit Sydney (due to the summertime), and most of the hostels were totally booked up. We ended up calling ten or fifteen places before we found a spot. They had free airport pick up if you booked for three nights or more, so we got a free ride from the airport. Matt and I got to the hostel, dropped our stuff off, grabbed a bite to eat, and walked around the nearby park and botanical gardens some. I slept very little on the plane, but was able to catch up on many of my movies for the year. I think I watched four movies, it was pretty sweet. I tried to stay up as late as I could in order to get in sync with the time change, but I only made it to 5 or 6 PM before completely passing out.

We made plans Saturday, but ended up doing completely different things. It was raining off and on, so we planned to visit a museum. On our way to the museum we saw a ferris wheel and decided to check it out. There was a fair we were going to take a look at, but got distracted by a fancy looking McDonald's. After getting cheap ice cream there, we saw a bunch of people coming from the pier, so we decided to take a look. When we got to the pier there was a big event going on. It was sponsored by a major credit card company and all of the activities were free. They had an area with painting (all of the supplies provided – paint, brushes, canvases, etc.), so Matt and I partook in the fun. The theme was to paint what makes you happy. Needless to say, Matt painted a kangaroo with pizza playing soccer with a koala beer playing the saxophone. It definitely made me happy. They also had dance lessons, Matt learned a dance to Thriller, and there was a big drum circle. It was totally random, but so much fun. After the festivities, we did more wandering, exploring the pier and then checking out a casino (no gambling, just took a look around). I guess making plans can be good to a point, but being flexible can allow for random adventures!

Last night was a similar situation, we made plans to walk around Sydney for a bit at night (after taking a three hour nap, it was wonderful), but ended up doing something else.  The roof of our hostel has a great view, and we went up to see the night skyline before going for our walk.  We ended up talking to some British guys staying in our hostel and they invited us to play a drinking game with them.  There's this thing called goon wine here that's cheap boxed wine, it's a conglomerate of all the leftover wine that wineries have a hard time selling, promising, right?  The guys bought a goon wine that said "white wine" on the box, but was definitely a very acidic red wine, it did not sit well.  After a few rounds, one of the guys had a hard time keeping the contents of his stomach down and needed to empty the tank.  As the night progressed, the rooftop became more and more crowded with people.  It was fun to hang out, but I'm not much of a drinker.  After awhile, Matt and I excused ourselves and decided to still go for our walk.  There's a large church nearby that has a giant projection screen doing a light show, I guess you would call it, at night right now.  The projector outlines the church and projects beams in different shapes on it.  For instance, it will project giant butterflies fluttering around, or star constellations, or just abstract art.  I'm guessing it's for the holidays, because they also have a manger scene set up out front.  We sat and watched the show, it was a nice way to end the evening.