Day 9: Saturday March 21

    So the Murray bus is kind of becoming our best friend because it takes us the three hours between Sydney and Canberra. We grabbed the 8 am bus and arrived in the city around noon. We hopped off and started pulling out the maps trying to figure out what road we needed to get the hostel. We spent about 10 minutes trying to find out where we are (they don’t have street signs on the corner, they’re on the buildings) before looking up and realizing that our hostel was literally right in front of us. Turns out the bus station is just across the street. Gotta love traveling. We stayed at Sydney Central YHA, which stands for youth hostel association. 

Now I’ve personally never stayed at a hostel before this but I have a feeling that we were pretty lucky because it was quite a nice place. The YHA is a worldwide association and they take really good care of all their places. There was wifi and a café and nice clean sheets. What else could you need? Besides, we weren’t interested in spending much time in the room anyway; it was time to explore!

    Sydney was not exactly how I pictured it but I was in love from the moment I saw it. What’s great about Sydney is that is has both the city feel and the beach feel. There are three main areas of Sydney: Darling Harbor, which runs along the right hand side, Circular Quay, which runs along the southern boarder, and then downtown, or central, which is literally the middle of the city. Of course, this is only one the mainland. You can take the harbor bridge across and find so much more or you can take the ferry to any of the smaller islands. For anyone trying to make their way around the city, the main roads to know are George, York, and Pitt streets all running North and South then Margaret, King, and Hay all running East and West. Additionally, the green 555 bus is free and will take you to most the main areas along George Street, which is essentially the main shopping strip. Think Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

     Our first stop was in Darling Harbour. We walked down, checked out all the ferries and boats coming in and stopped at the Tokio Hotel for some lunch. The food here is just so amazing! I had an Aussie omelet, which was ham, tomato, spinach, and onion with some kind of special sauce. No idea what it was but I would put it on any food ever. After lunch we split up and a small group of us went to the Sydney Aquarium that is actually right on the harbor. Now, I’ve been to quite a few aquariums before but this one was just amazing. The very first exhibit was a little baby platypus and I could’ve watched him try to dig and swim around all day. 

Then there was an interactive stingray tank where you could sit in a little bubble and it made you feel like you were in the tank. 

                            They also had two tunnels to walk through; one was manatees and string rays and the second was the shark tank. They would just glide right over you and come right up to the glass. We also saw a small penguin exhibit and it was so bizarre to me to see them just laying in the sun and swimming around. I just always associate them with the cold. There were so many other tanks as well of pretty much anything you could think of; jellyfish, sea horses, there was even a few turtles! We spent several hours just looking at all the amazing sea life. I could’ve probably stayed all day but there was more to see.

    Our next stop was the Sydney Wildlife Center, which was right next-door. This was a little smaller than the aquarium but it still had some amazing animals. Of course, we saw a ton of kangaroos (including little joeys!). They were very chill and just enjoyed lying in the sun.  We also saw an echidna, which is only one of the three mammals that lay eggs instead of live birth. They look a bit like a porcupine. We saw some wombats and quokkas as well. Our last stop was at the koalas and they are so cute! All they do is sleep and eat and lay in the sun- what a life! Here is where I actually got to get up close and personal with one. As cute as they are, the claws on them are seriously terrifying. You gotta be careful around those guys.

     Next up was one of the most iconic Australian spots: The Sydney Opera House!

The house is located in circular quay and is just as beautiful as everyone says. It’s so big that trying to take a picture of it and get the entire building is quite difficult. 

We walked the steps and even stepped inside to get a feel. It was so surreal knowing that I was in the place I used to dream about as a kid. 

We had heard from nearly everyone that before we left, we had to stop by the opera house bar so that’s where we headed next. It’s an open bar all along the edge of the harbor next to the house and gives a great view of both the house and the harbor bridge. Even though we weren’t drinking, it was just amazing to be able to say we’d been there.

      By now it was getting dark and the city was lighting up. The opera house, the bridge, everything was shining in the dark and it couldn’t have been prettier. There was even a carnival across the bay. Unfortunately it was late and we were quite tired so we caught the 555 one more time and made our way to the hostel. The rest of the group caught second wind once we got back and decided to go experience the Sydney night life but I knew we had a big day ahead of us tomorrow so I stayed back. Had a quick yet delicious chicken caser salad down at the café then called it a night, drifting off the sounds of Sydney.