you better take cover...
That song has been in my head for three days. Moving on...So Srin and I are now in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It has been an interesting week thus far. We found rain upon our entrance and rather chilly weather, considering it is their summer. So, the first day was quite uneventful as we walked about the city, including the Harbor and the Rocks. However, the best part of our first day was the couple with whom we are staying. We found Rohini and Prashant on airbnb.com (a backpacker's sort of bed and breakfast), and they have not disappointed. They took us to Newtown to have lunch at Thai Riffic (pun must have been intended), and we spent some time just getting to know each other.
Day 2 found us putzing around until we decided to go to Sydney's Featherdale Wildlife Park to see what essentially was an Australian zoo. We saw some of the coolest animals. And, we got to love all up on a koala bear. She was only 8 months old!
Awww....
The cute lil girl was precious...
The Kangaroos were copious and docile...
That blue was electric...
This was my favorite part...
The Tasmanian Devil...
Apparently he's an aggressive lil' guy...
Then we stopped by the Sydney Olympic Park. Though, the rings seemed to be missing... I sure hope that Sydney didn't ditch them...
Day 3 was finished with a mix of frustration with mass transportation and appreciation of Sydney history. You see-it is public holidays here until January 3rd. So all of the mass transit are on a weekend schedule. Thus, we spent much of yesterday and today waiting on the bus or train. I keep saying "I guess that's what you have to deal with when traveling." But, all of that was overshadowed by a fab FREE tour of Sydney. Srin found this tour that starts at Town Hall and is hosted by four young new college grads who love their city. We walked around for three hours and were told historical tidbits from a spunky Australian red-head. We saw Town Hall, Queen Victoria Building, Market Street, Hyde Park, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney's Old Hospital, Martin Place, Australia Square, Circular Quay, the Rocks, Harbor Bridge, and Opera House.
The Town Hall...where we started our tour. It was initially built to be just that-the town hall of the new city of Sydney. Today, it is less than exciting. A mere fancy building kept for history's sake.
Our tour guide, Claire.
In the Queen Victoria Building, there are two clocks. One was put there by the Australian government and at the hour every hour, it chimes and images of Australian history plays in video segments. Pretty cool huh? Well, the Brits thought so, in a way. So, they put this clock above across from the other one. When it chimes, you see videos of the beheading of King James. Yes, you read that right. No, it does not make sense. Yes, that sounds like the Brits.
Normally, I would not take a picture of the Hilton while sightseeing. Though, this is actually interesting. Apparently, the only terrorist attack took place at this hotel (a big summit was happening inside at the time) in the 1970s. The bomb went off near or in the dumpster outside and the policeman and garbagemen were killed. No one has claimed the attack nor been accused of it as of today.
The Sydney Tower is the tallest point and we plan to go to the restaurant on the second from the top floor on Thursday night.
It is point which all mileages are measured for Sydney. So 12km to Sydney means 12km to this clock tower to be precise.
This anchor was placed at the point where the first ship of prisoners made landfall. As you probably know, Australia was initially the land where prisoners were sent by Britain.
The Rocks used to be the "dodgy" part where the convicts ate and drank at pubs (it was considered the cooler area). Today, it has the nightlife too with many pubs and eateries.
As the tour ended...with great photo ops of landmarks...
The view from the port, showing the famous Sydney Harbor Bridge. You can climb the arch for the affordable price of $200...
What I thought was a cool pic of the other side of the bridge.
The famous Sydney Opera House...
All in all-Sydney went from initially underwhelming to pretty cool. We cannot wait to see Manly Beach and New Year's over the Opera House.
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