Day 12

Jan. 31, 2012

           After we got off the plane, we all rented a hotel for the night and caught up on our much needed sleep. We managed to wake up early enough to do the final event we saw! A taxi driver told us about the Sydney/Bondi Hop-on and Hop-off tour, so we figured we would go. I figure taxi drivers must get pretty tired of tourists asking them questions on where to go.


           Basically, the Sydney and Bondi Hop-on and Hop-off tour is a glorified tour of the city. It's on a double-decker bus (you might have seen them in shows about England) and you can 'hop-on' or 'hop-off' whenever and wherever you like. There are tours for certain places of the town outside of the town and they take about 90 minutes each. Highlights of the tour include the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Sydney Opera House (we've already been to both!), Sydney Aquarium, Darling Harbor, and Bondi Beach. The tour will last up to two days, depending on how long you want to stay on the bus for. However, we are only going to stay for the rest of the day.

Darling Harbor!

        All in all, the tour was a good time. We met a lot of different tourists; many of them were couples or groups like us. We only stopped to tour the Darling Harbor; David suggested we compare it to the Sydney Harbor. They were both a lot alike; there were many large buildings and bright lights in both. The shopping centers were a lot better in Sydney Harbor, though. 


        We waved goodbye to the city, since we wouldn't see it again for a long time or maybe even never again. It was depressing to have to leave the country where we've had so much fun and made a lot of memories. Even if it was hot during the whole trip, thanks to Australian summer, this was one of the best experiences I know I have ever had. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to experience something as enjoyable again.

         
           

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Day 11

Jan. 30, 2012

           Before we fly off today, we are going to visit some of an actor's birthplace and look around the town some more! We also plan to have a lot of fun eating some 'scotch eggs.' We'll all find out what those are and if they actually taste good by the end of today. 
 

 Jonathan LaPaglia

        Our actor is Jonathan LaPaglia and he has acted in a wide array of shows such as Law & Order, Cold Case, Castle, and Brothers & Sisters. He is a famous Australian actor and part of the reason we are staying in this city for another day. He was born right in Adelaide and has went to the University of Adelaide. We've passed by the university and saw the campus; it was actually pretty huge.
The weird part about LaPaglia is that he has only been in a few Australian productions. Almost all of the movies and shows he's been in have been American produced and made! Apparently, he even had to work and get a trainer to get his Australian accent back. LaPaglia seems like quite an interesting guy and its a shame we couldn't meet him.

Scotch eggs!

          Next on the plan was to eat! We were famished after running around the town to see all of those places, like the university. Someone we asked suggested that we go to the grocery store to find the scotched eggs, so we did. Everyone bought a small case of about 3 eggs each and paid. We then sat down on a picnic bench near by and enjoyed our unique, new meal. It wasn't as bad as we expected. The coating was made of sausage, spices and bread crumbs ground up and the center was a boiled egg. Apparently, its somewhat indigenous to Australia and pretty common. It was brought over by the British, of course, so it's actually their cuisine. The meal was pretty good overall, we're glad that we didn't have to eat Vegemite the whole time we were here. 

          Now that we did everything we needed to in Adelaide, we have moved onto Sydney. We're flying on Virgin Blue Flight 423 back to Sydney at 2pm today! We should be landing in about 3 hours. I think we'll all by happy to be a little bit closer to getting back home, even though the trip has been just great.

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Day 10

Jan. 29, 2012

         No one has ever been to a beach in Australia, so we decided it was about time to go. We have only heard of the amazing shores in the travel guides we've gotten. All of us rounded up and got into the taxi we hailed and took a quick drive down to a small suburban beach called Aldinga Beach. It's population is barely over 5,000 people! Nonetheless, we were taken aback at how beautiful all the surroundings were. 

Aldinga Beach

            We went to the beach pretty early and so we left around noon. Most of us were hungry; I spotted a cheap restaurant by the side of the beach. Everyone went in to eat a quick lunch and take off to get ready for the game later in the day.


            Most of the activities in Adelaide are over now, but we have decided to stick around. The Adelaide United Football Soccer Team is going to be playing against Perth Glory FC. We grabbed the tickets at $30 each. Everyone knew that 'football' in any country other than America means soccer, so there was no confusing with that.

       The game will be located in the Hindsmarsh Stadium which is a lot smaller than the Adelaide Oval, by almost 33,000 seats. It's a shame we couldn't have gone and seen a game at the Adelaide Oval, since we already visited there. The Hindsmarch Stadium might actually be a plus, because it hosted the 2000 Olympic Games. Apparently, its fields exceeds the international standards. It's lighting is suitable for digital television and I'm really excited to see how good it looks. I think maybe we should watch a game at the Adelaide Oval somehow to compare the two! 

HINDSMARSH STADIUM

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Day 9

Jan. 28, 2012

        The National Wine Centre of Australia is our next destination! We dressed up fancy and got into a cab to go there. Everyone was super excited to see the place. It is a public exhibition for anyone who wants to go visit and it has a lot of interesting marks. One of the many buildings is shaped like one of the barrels used in wine-making and production. We tasted a lot of wines and didn't have the change to see the vineyards near the place. Perhaps we'll have a chance to see them one day.


        We had another really fun experience and were off to take another tour. This time, we went to the Adelaide Oval, which is an arena with a seating capacity of up to 36,000 people. The tour guide gave us a good low down of facts on the landmark. It's a very popular place and was built in the last 1800s, 1871 specifically. It has been said to be the most beautiful place for cricket in Australia, if not the whole world. Rugby and cricket are among the most popular sports played there, along with soccer.

Here's a picture of how it might look!

       $550 million dollars worth of renovations are to be done by next year. We got a quick picture simulation of how it might look by the time they are done. Upgrades to the arena itself are going to take place, as well as updates on some things like the technology. The tour guide said that they were going to put in some new super advanced score boards and some extra bright lights for nighttime the games. The seating capacity is supposed to be pushed up by atleast 10,000 people! 

         The rest of the day was pretty much typical. We got back to the hotel with a new memory from the trip with us. Everyone enjoyed the tour as much as we've liked all the others.

The inside of the National Wine Centre of Australia, were the wine tasting was held. 

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Day 8

Jan. 27, 2012

         We left the hotel today ready to go see some more cool things. We went to a place in Adelaide called the North Terrace. The National Wine Center of Australia is in the famous North Terrace. It's also near many other landmarks, like the Cleland Conservation Park. That's where we will be going to sight-see today. A popular tourist destination, the park is a natural bush land filled with koalas, emus, and much wildlife. 


          Waterfall Gully is a specific part of the park in the western area. Everybody wants to visit there first so that we can look and take pictures of the awesome waterfall called First Falls. The actual Waterfall Gully is a suburb of Adelaide, much like Apex is a suburb of Raleigh. There's a kiosk for tourist sales and a restaurant if you get hungry. When we reached that part by a cab, the whole place was almost packed with parking. I guess we picked a popular day to come. The trail was paved and everyone walked down to see the falls. A few tourists had beat us to the good view at the top of the trail but we made sure to push our way up. After clicking a couple pictures of the pretty surroundings, we made our way to another common attraction.


        The summit of Mount Lofty is in the boundaries of Cleland Conservation Park. It's over 2,385 feet over sea level. Sadly, today, we were not able to make our way up. The group loved the scenery so much that some of us might want to try climbing a mountain like it one day. Much like the Waterfall Gully, there is a small kiosk and restaurant located near Mount Lofty. 


        All of the bush land is inhabited by a lot of animals and vegetation, of course. It was kind of interesting to see the species walking around in their own habitat. We observed the emus, which are much like an ostritch. They have long legs and a stout body and have the strut of any bird with legs too long for it's body. Koalas, kangaroos, wombats, dingoes, and many birds and reptiles are just some of the animals in Australia. They are widely known and considerably popular. 


        The interesting path we took was the 'Cultural Tour of the Yurridla Aboriginal Trail.' It includes an explanation from the native point-of-view, folk-tales, and myths about creation. Some of these tales were just about animals and how they interact with nature. I think it was a lot more exciting than taking the normal beaten path. 


        Considerably the most exciting part was the nightwalk. It made us uncover the 'mysteries of the bush.' That is, the secrets of how the ecosystem in the bushland behaves. It wore us out though, since we jumped quite a bit thanks to all of the sudden shocks. After that, everyone ate dinner at the restaurant by Mount Lofty as we passed by. It wasn't really a restaurant, because it was so small and homely. The food was average, but we definitely had better during our trip.



         We ended up back at the hotel and were pretty glad to have a good day. Everyone was really tired, except for the few who still had a little bit of adrenaline from the 'nightwalk.' 

One of the guides took this picture for us.

A view from the bottom of Mount Lofty.

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Day 7

Jan. 26, 2012

        Everyone was so excited to go hang out at the Australia Day parade that we all woke up early today. The parade is basically Australia's 4th of July. Since we had nothing else to do, we decided to go grab a breakfast at the hotel. It was great and they had a typical 'Aussie breakfast' set up for us. The meal included bacon, eggs, toast with the infamous Vegemite spread and baked beans with some soda on the side. The dialect in Australia isn't as odd as people think it would be, because when we asked for soda the waitress knew what we were talking about. It seems like it's almost exclusively called soft drinks around here, though.

          The hotel is cozy and good for backpackers, which is what we've been called a few times. They gave us directions to the street that the parade starts on and told us a little bit of what happens. Apparently, many booths will be set up, floats are going to be up, and side shows will be all around. A couple contests and marching bands should be going through, as well. The lady at the hotel's front desk told us about a surprise that was related to an inflatable animal! Hopefully, we'll find out what she's talking about.


            We left for the Australia Day parade later in the day, after a couple of snacks and much waiting. The whole group was very impatient and a little too excited for all the upcoming activity. Our hotel was so close to the starting street of the parade that we took the short walk. The scenery on the way there wasn't anything picturesque, but it was still a different scene than the rest of our trip. By the time we got there, everything was set up and ready to go. Seats were scattered on the side lines of the major streets and all 5 of us took a seat. Soon enough, the floats began floating in. 


             One float we saw was shaped like a kangaroo, of course, and someone was riding on the loop of the tail. It was a pretty creative design and our group especially enjoyed it. After most of the parade was over, we went to a booth with fresh-made lemonade and potato chips that were fried on the spot. The latter happens to be an Australian custom for fairs and parades. Many floats and events were government sponsored and based around anti-smoking and anti-drinking campaigns. One float even warned against skin cancer, and told the crowd to not fall into 'the slip!' This is a colloquialism for 'slipping' on applying sunscreen. After that, some samples of the sunscreen was passed out randomly to the crowd.



       A giant, inflated, rainbow echidna surprised Justin and David, who were in the front row! It sprang out from almost no where. There were some volunteers inside of the inflatable and carrying it around. A few stood outside and waved sparklers around. That was one of the highlights of this awesome event. I loved the interactiveness of this whole parade and I would definitely want to celebrate Australia Day again. It is a great opportunity for Australians to come together and celebrate their culture, as well as the arrival of the First Fleet of 11. 

           
          More history on the First Fleet will include the fact it landed in what is now Sydney Harbor in 1788; that happens to be where we were for awhile! Back in the early 1800s, this day was celebrated with drinking and merriment, much like it is now. About thirty years after the fact, the Governor of Australia ordered a 30-gun salute, hosted a dinner ball, and gave the government employees a holiday. Slowly but surely, this holiday developed into a bit more. I might have said this in a previous post, but the indigenous people don't feel as great as the average Australian. They think they might be a tad excluded, since their civilization was thriving long before the arrival of the First Fleet. 


          Most of that information was learned from a brochure we picked up at a Q&A tent. It was a pretty informative place and we're glad we stumbled upon it. They gave us a quick lesson and the Australian point-of-view and sent us on our way with a brochure. 


          The whole time was a blast and I think we might have a little more fun this year when the 4th of July rolls around. This definitely inspired all of us to be more patriotic, after seeing that the Australians were beating us. 

The highlight of the parade, the rainbow echidna!

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Day 6

Jan. 25, 2012

           We're leaving the beautiful Hamilton's for Adelaide! I'm not completely sure what Adelaide is like, but everyone seems to be happy for more adventure. The Hamilton Islands were fantastic and full of the entertaining things to do; it's actually kind of sad that we're leaving. I'm hoping that we will find some of the same enjoyment in Adelaide. The city is known for the Australia Day Parade, which is actually what we're going there for. Australia Day is in celebration of the day in which the British 'First Fleet' came in at Sydney Cove. A sad piece of history that goes along with this day has to do with the natives. Some natives even call it "Invasion Day," because of how they probably felt when they saw these strange new people. Despite the fact we are not Australian, all of us are going to celebrate right along the citizens! We hear that the annual parade is super fun and goes all the way down three streets. Each year they have activities, booths are set up, and performers are scattered all along the parade pathway. It sounds like an awesome time, we're looking forward to it. 


             Our day has been quite a rush and everyone has been a little bit flustered. We woke up a little bit late and rushed to get in as much breakfast as we could before the cab came to pick us up and take us to the airport. The bungalow hotel was a whole lot of fun and a brand new experience for us all, though. Everyone rushed out of our bungalow and into the taxi. 

             I'm guessing the airport was crowded because everyone wanted to travel and go to the parade. The whole place, especially our gate, was full to the brim with people. Somehow we managed to squeeze through and get our seats even though we were almost late. The plane ride wasn't very pleasant, thanks to the fact that we were packed like sardines in our little cushioned seats. The only redeeming feature of the flight was the fact we got a yummy snack of Tim Tams(chocolate-covered biscuits) that are popular in Australia.

              As we were flying, Breielle and David, who got the window seats, noticed a lot of rugged terrain and farmland outside. It was bright red and looked a lot like a desert. Some of the things on the ground that were moving looked like ants to us. Among the moving sights Breielle thinks she saw one of Australia's iconic animals, the kangaroo. She probably couldn't actually see anything, though, since we're so high up. A local, who thought it was funny that we'd never seen a 'roo,' told us that the east of Australia does not have much of the 'Outback'. All of the intense desert and mountains are located more to the west, which we haven't gotten the chance to see yet. 
             
            A voice came over and told us we were going to be stopping in Sydney. The plane landed after flying about 4 hours straight for a 30 minute layover. Our group got out to stretch their legs and get some fresh air after sitting in one place for so long. No one had enough time to run over and grab any food because before we knew, it was already time to leave again.


             We finally landed permanently after an hour and a half or so. Everyone was completely famished and exhausted. Justin looked around for awhile on a map until he spotted a hotel called Adelaide Meridien Hotel & Apartments. We booked two rooms and then made our way to the dinner hall. The food there was great and we couldn't wait to actually enjoy it the next time we ate. The whole group was way too tired to actually process it. We made our way to our rooms and everyone pretty much passed out upon entering.
            

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Day 5

Jan. 24, 2012

         Since we had a long day in the heat while we were golfing, the whole group slept in late until about 11A.M. It was well worth it and we managed to catch a rather large lunch at a restaurant across the street from the bungalow. The whole snorkeling plan was still on track; we needed to head to the hotel office so that we could claim our gear and go. The cool thing was that it was free for all of us, as it was a complimentary part of our hotel stay. Before we even got into our gear and wetsuit, everyone started observing from the shore.We all thought that the reef was going to have beautiful scenery and it really did. None of us have ever seen so many different kinds of fish swimming around near the shore.

         Everyone changed into their gear and prepped up to go into the reef. Exploring the whole reef was a great time and very fascinating. All of our group could even touch some of the interesting specimen. The person who was handling the rest of the tourists told us about all of the preservation they have to do just to keep the reefs in shape. When we got back there was a gift shop was stocked full of souvenirs and things related to the ecosystem by the shore. Our stomachs were starting to growl, thanks to all the swimming around; we decided it was time for dinner.

       Marc saw a restaurant called Bayleaf Balinese on the street by the shore and since we were all very hungry, everyone decided to go and try it out. The cashier at the desk told us that all of the ingredients were native Australian. A weird thing to acknowledge if you every go to Australia is that there are no waiter and subsequently, no tips. You order at the front desk or cash register and pick your food up there. This is true for almost every eatery we've attended. Anyways, our experience was nonetheless great! Plus, it was a new and exciting experience for all of us.The menu even had crocodile on it and Justin ordered a plate of it to try. Everyone ended up trying some of it and it was surprisingly delicious. 


       Snorkeling was probably one of the most exciting things we've done and none of us will forget it anytime soon. Alas, our arrival to the hotel was a welcome sight, mostly because we were completely exhausted from a long and fun-filled day.

Some really cool colorful parts of the reef! These parts are actually alive.













A ton of these types of fish are in the reef. We saw a lot of them.

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Day 4

Jan. 23, 2012

         Sydney was an awesome place to visit and we made sure to see a lot of the sights there, like the Australia Museum, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and we had the great opportunity of visiting the Sydney Opera House. 

         Today, we are going to fly off to Hamilton Islands, which are also known as HTI. They are famous for being home of the Great Barrier Reefs. The Great Barrier Reefs, however, are known for being home to an amazing ecosystem and hundreds of different species. Some of the things we saw included coral and angelfish! The crazy thing is that this place is the world's largest reef system and you can see it from space; it's great that we can see it up close.

        The airplane ride there was alright but we had a little bit of turbulence. At the airport, we landed and grabbed a quick lunch from the cafeteria there. It wasn't that great but we were really starved from our long trips. 

        We took another ride in a car to the hotel and checked in; they're bungalows, so they're like little houses. They provide complimentary snorkeling gear, boats and kayaks. All of us have already planned to go snorkeling tomorrow. For today, we went to golf on Dent Island. It's 18 hole championship layout is designed by Peter Thomson. You might know him better as the 5 times winner British Open Champion. The golf course belongs to the Hamilton Islands Golf Club which is where we registered for the day.

        Transportation to the islands was in the form of a boat from the Hamilton Islands; it made the experience a lot more exciting. When we got there, everyone jumped on a golf cart and made our way to the first hole. David was the best at playing and everyone else was doing decent. We left the golf course after a couple hours and took our boat ride back. 


         After we picked up a car ride back to the hotel, we grabbed a late dinner. The day was okay, but snorkeling tomorrow will be awesome and we are all looking forward to it.

The golf course at Dent Island. 

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Day 3

Jan. 22, 2012

       We are starting to like our hotel a lot, especially since they have free breakfast. Everyone loaded up on the free food and we weren't hungry again until way later. All of us learned about a type of spread made from brewer's yeast and vegetables. It is seemingly popular down under and it's called Vegemite; it's very salty and semi-bitter. It's a popular breakfast spread for toast not only in Australia, but New Zealand and England, too. Some of us were surprised at the fact that the Australian breakfast is much like Western, or American, breakfast.

       That's when we all left to go to the Australian Museum. The tickets were paid for (only $12 a person!) and we made our way in. Our tour guide started by giving us a summary of the place including some facts about the museum. A lot of the history of the museum was really cool, like the fact it was made in 1845, which makes it the oldest museum in all of Australia!  

       We saw some awesome exhibits before barely even stepping into the building. There were figures of aboriginals were in one section of the museum. We took that direction and saw all of the natives of Australia. They were very tribal and primitive from what we learned, but some of the inventions and things they had were advanced. It was more like a mini-zoo in the animals of Australia section; we were able to look at many different species. Koalas and kangaroos were among them and Breielle was even able to pet one of the mother koalas. 

      The whole place was really interesting and interactive and everyone had an awesome time. The museum was full of lots of experiences and also, food. We got lunch there and enjoyed our 2nd meal of the day. After all of that, we went to another exciting activity.

       The Sydney Opera House is a huge tourist attraction and we had the chance to go and see a concert there. 41 Strings is the band we saw and they're a string section that plays rock. The opera house is supposed to have amazing acoustics and set up. The tickets were a really good deal at only $45 a pop; that's a good catch for most of the tickets at SOH. The concert was great and we got a chance to walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens. They are very eye-catching and in the evening, many tourists eat a lunch and sight-see there. The great thing about being in a big city is that everything is relatively close to each other, so we all decided to walk home instead of catching a cab.

Here is a picture of the Royal Botanical Gardens!

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Day 2

Jan. 21st, 2012

         After we got off the plane, we stopped in the airport and got some 'shrimp on the barbie.' All of us got into the car and took a trip down to the hotel we're staying at which is called BreakFree at George Sydney. Our room overlooks the harbor and there were 3 beds. David, Marc and Breielle got a bed, Justin had to sleep on the pull out couch, but Nick had to sleep on a cot that the hotel gave us.

The official certificate.

         Once we put our stuff away we went to go climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We paid and almost made our way up the first few steps when Nick decided he wanted to go back. Since he was at the front of the line, everyone made him keep going. We went higher and higher up; the scene kept getting better and better. It was a breathtaking view. All five of us made it up to the very top and got the official certificate. The guide told us lots of facts about the bridge and that the bridge's nickname is "The Coathanger." So all in all, everyone was a little scared at first but we made it through alright in the end with a great panorama of the city.


   We finished climbing and made it back down. Our climbing guide pointed out attractions we could go to afterwards. All of us went to the local mall and it was entertaining; some of us bought souvenirs while looking around at the kiosks and stores.

Our view from the top of the bridge.

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Day 1

       Jan. 19th - 20th, 2012 

      Traveling can be so confusing and we found that out today. Our passports and ETA were with us as we got into the airport and we were ready to go. However, none of knew where the plane's gate was; it was in one of the back corners of the building and we got a little bit lost.

       The flight to New York was bumpy because of weather but overall it went well. The layover was not to bad because the plane got in a little early so we got out faster. The flight was almost 25 hours and it took forever. On the bright side, we got a free dinner that was more of a snack.

       We are still trying to decide between going to the hotel or if we're going to Breielle's friend's house. She only told us a couple days ago that she has a friend who lives up in Brisbane, which is north of Sydney. 

        Everyone is super excited to get out and stretch their legs after being cooped up in the plane all day. We can't wait to get out and look around the city of Sydney; there seems to be a lot of cool sites and landmarks. It's time to go find where to stay and travel all over!

 

A picture we took from the airplane, this is right over Sydney.

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