Last weekend I finally made it to Sydney! It was a short 3-day trip in between final exams, but we got a chance to see some great stuff. I went with my roommate and one of our friends that we met here, he is from South Carolina. The three of us arrived Saturday afternoon and spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, spending a lot of time at the markets. They have a lot of great markets all over Sydney, great for finding souvenirs and stuff so that was really fun. On Sunday we took a walking tour of the city, where we got to see all of the great areas and landmarks of the central business district. Seeing the Sydney Opera House was very surreal, it is something that you always see on TV and stuff but being right in front of it is a very cool feeling. The bridge was also very fun to see, we took a boat ride through the harbor and got a great view of both the bridge and the Opera House. Sydney is filled beautiful architecture and has a great history.
We also spent a day in the Blue Mountains. The mountains are about 2 hours away from downtown so we went with a tour company. It was really cold so we had to bundle up, but the mountains are beautiful! It is really cool because they actually look blue, it has something to do with the way that the sunlight passes through the oil from the Eucalyptus trees and it scatters in a way that appears blue. Very cool! We also saw some wild kangaroos and some waterfalls.
That weekend there was a light show going on in Sydney so we stopped by that on our way back. There were a bunch of crazy lights shining on the buildings down town and also on the Opera House across the harbor. This was really cool, I could have stayed and watched all night.
The trip was short and sweet, I enjoyed seeing everything in Sydney but the city was a bit too crowded and busy for me to spend too much time there.
I am now in the midst of studying for a final exam and packing for New Zealand. My exam is tomorrow morning at 8:00 and then I leave for NZ that night. I will be back next Tuesday with a few days to study for my last exam on Friday.
