Summer in Sydney!

Hi Everyone!

I made it safely to Sydney!  My original flight was cancelled about 12 hours beforehand, but after navigating an automated voice service I managed to get on a later flight giving me a few extra hours in Melbourne!

I got into Sydney around 6:30pm last night and took a taxi to the Sydney Central YHA.  I was a little nervous about staying in a hostel, but now that I am here I LOVE IT!  I am so glad I didn’t stay at a hotel.  All the girls in my room are travelling alone and are all incredibly friendly.  We sat around talking for a while, then I went to dinner with one of the girls from England.  We all went to bed around 10:30 and managed to sleep in until 8:00am.  I certainly didn’t expect to be getting such a good night’s sleep in a youth hostel.

My official Day One in Sydney was a marathon of walking, but it was fantastic!  I like this city.  I was actually impressed with how much of the map I was able to cover on foot in only a few hours.  I started my day walking down to Circular Quay.  I took the requisite pictures of the bridge and the opera house.  From all of the pictures I have seen of Sydney I really thought the opera house would be bigger and brighter.  It was still beautiful though and somewhat surreal to stand on the staircase leading up to such a famous building. 

I carried on through the Royal Botanical Gardens.  They had a fantastic sign at the entrance, “Please walk on the grass.  We also invite you to smell the roses, hug the trees, talk to the birds and picnic on the lawns.”  I am considering taking my yoga mat down there tomorrow for a morning practice if the weather holds out.  Speaking of the weather, it was at about this point in the day that the clouds broke and sent sunny beams onto my un-sunscreened skin!  Dah!  I have a sunburn. Boo.

From the gardens I continued on to Woolloomooloo Wharf and Kings Cross.  Woolloomooloo Wharf is described in my Lonely Planet as having once been “a slum full of drunks, sailors, and drunk sailors.”  How could I possibly resist? It’s pretty tame now, but there are still active grey hulls tied up along the pier.  Kings Cross had another fantastic Lonely Planet description: “The suburb’s reputation for vice congealed during the Vietnam War, when American sailors flooded the Cross with a tide of bawdy debauchery.”  Enough said.

I started heading back to the hostel around 1pm by way of Hyde Park.  I nuked some leftovers for lunch (the kitchen in this hostel is amazing!), then took off again for Darling Harbour. I think I will go back there tomorrow for the Aquarium and possibly a show at the IMAX.  Today I just wandered around and took in the atmosphere. 

I had a FABULOUS dinner at Mother Chu’s Vegetarian Kitchen – stir-fry tempeh, snow peas, broccoli, cashews and walnuts.  I will definitely have to remember that combination!  And possibly go back and try some more of their dishes.  =) 

More to follow!  Much love!

p.s. I am going to wait until I have free internet again to upload the rest of my pictures