I pet a koala!

We woke up really early this morning to head into town and meet our Blue Mountains tour bus. Unfortunately, we had to sit at the bus stop by my townhouse for about 25 minutes because the bus we were supposed to be on into the city decided to not show up. There were a few other frustrated people with us at the bus stop. I managed to get message Adam on facebook from my phone and get the number for our tour company, as they didn’t provide it in their confirmation e-mail, and call them to let them know we were running behind. It turns out it didn’t matter though because our bus was completely full and skipped the last couple of stops so we still made it to the meeting point on time. We had to wait yet again though for our tour bus to show up 25 minutes later. Overall, a lot of waiting and a little too much excitement considering it was still before 8am.

Our tour today was great. We headed out into the Blue Mountains, which is the mountain range that surrounds Sydney. It was different from the area I travelled to on Saturday though. We stopped at Featherdale Wild Life Park first where we were able to pet koalas and feed kangaroos. My mom even held a snake! There were a bunch of other Australian animals there as well. We located the dingo, wombat, kookaburra, Tasmanian devil, wallaby, and a few penguins, among others. I was surprised by how friendly all of the animals were, and how free. The koalas were climbing the trees right above our heads.

My mom held a snake!

This koala was super photogenic

My new friend, Mr. Kangaroo (or mrs!)

Penguins in Australia! 

After the wildlife park, we stopped at Wentworth Falls. It was a bit of a walk down some stairs to get to the lookout point, but it was beautiful. You can see out over all of the mountains and across to the actual waterfall. We took some pictures and climbed on all the rocks before getting back on the bus and heading to our lunch stop in a quaint little town. My mom and I ended up eating at Red Door, which was a small café. I finally found a place to get an iced chocolate, which I heard is all the rage in Australia (that might be a complete lie). It was pretty good; basically just a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup decorating the glass, a little bit like a liquidy milkshake. I paired that with a ham and cheese croissant. We popped into the bookstore and bottle shop across the street to kill some time as well, but we didn’t find anything.

The mountains near Wentworth Falls

Wentworth Falls

Three Sisters was next up on our tour. It’s a rock formation located in the Blue Mountains. We stopped at a lookout point in Katoomba and took some pictures. It is really weird how the rocks just managed to end up in that formation, but at the same time, I expected them to be more off by themselves instead of just next to the side of a cliff.

Three Sisters

As we were leaving Katoomba, we stopped in the rainforest. We took a scenic railway journey down into the forest. It was actually surprisingly step considering our rail car didn’t have any seatbelts. I guess I didn’t really consider the 52 degree angle fully beforehand. We got a little bit lost wandering along the paths in the forest, but we spotted some really strange trees. There were information plaques on the mining that used to be done in the area too, so that was interesting to find out about. Luckily, a nice couple pointed us in the right direction and we made our way back uphill to ride the scenic cable car to the top. This ride went a little bit slower than the railway so we were able to take some more pictures of the mountains as we ascended.

Scenic Railway

The rainforest is pretty intense

Our final stop on tour was at the Sydney Olympic Stadium Park. It really is quite huge. It apparently cost $3 billion to build on top of the $4 billion spent in roadwork and maintenance to the city. However, they installed solar panels around the stadium to cut costs on some of the electricity used to power the lights and the nearby Olympic Village. They turned the torch circle into a fountain and put up a decorative mindfield of poles to honor the volunteers and medalists, so we took a few pictures. The stadium is used for concerts and conferences now.

Where they kept the torch

In commemoration of the volunteers and medalists

Sydney Olympic Stadium

We took a harbor cruise back to Darling Harbour from the Olympic park wharf. It was actually a pretty informative cruise given by Captain Cook Cruises. Every time we passed a major landmark, we were told something about it, which is much different than when I took the government ferry to Manly. It was interesting to learn though. My mom didn’t get seasick either, which is good.

We walked around Darling Harbour after disembarking, but neither of us were hungry so we caught the bus back to my house instead.

Sightseeing in Sydney

Yesterday, I had to run around campus and get my room and class situations straightened out. The cold water (not that I need it right now) valve in my shower wouldn’t turn on, so I needed to report that to the residential office as well as have my photo taken for my house keycard. Then I went to the main campus building to get my campus ID printed and turn in my add/drop form for classes, which she straightened out right away. I’m in enrolled in all of the classes I wanted now and I don’t have class on Tuesday and Wednesday. After inputting my schedule into my calendar, I even found some other interesting classes that I might want to sit in on the lectures.

I’ll be taking Children’s Literature; Travel, Tourism, and Cultural Production; Identity and Difference: Introduction to Anthropology; and Societies of Europe this semester. I’m also considering sitting in on Introduction to Sociology as well as Human Evolution and Diversity. I’m still amazed by the sheer amount of classes that I find interesting in Macquarie’s course books. I really should have gone to a big school.

The library here is huge. It has 5 floors

I spent the afternoon on campus before meeting up with Sarah to head into the city. Macquarie put together a evening harbor cruise for the international student orientation, but we wanted to wander around a little bit before it started. We ended up not having to pay for our train ticket for the 40-minute journey there because the computer systems weren’t working and they told us to pay on the other end, but we snuck out instead.

The city is so pretty at night. The sun was setting on our way there, but when we got to the city there were so many lights. We looked in a couple wine and souvenir stores before wandering down one of the more expensive streets in the city. It had the Ralph Lauren and Ugg stores on it, among others. It was so pretty to walk down though. All of the men were walking around in suits, fresh from the offices. The storefronts were painted in various old school village colors. But here’s a picture, instead of me describing it.

The Sydney Bridge at sunset

Expensive shopping street downtown

The harbor cruise left from the Man O War steps, which took us forever to find. When we finally did, we realized that they had just told us to get there at 6:30 and the boat didn’t actually leave until 7, so we sat around shivering with probably 200 other international students. Everyone seemed like they were in groups or already knew people, which makes sense because orientation for them has lasted all week instead of just starting on Wednesday. I was relieved to see the boat had an enclosed dance floor on the first floor when it actually pulled up. There is no way to describe it though other than a party boat.

Our view while waiting to get on the boat

We devoured the free pizza the moment we stepped onto the ship and then everyone raided the bar. It was way too expensive for me though. Beers started at $6 for a bottle and that was the cheapest option. Smirnoff Ice went for $10 a bottle. We spent the three-hour cruise alternating between dancing on the first floor and taking pictures from the top deck when we got too warm inside. The views were really pretty. If the point of the cruise was to meet new people, then it wasn’t really successful. We talked to a few girls that live in the village, but nothing really came of it. I figure I’ll meet more people once classes start.

Makenzie, Sarah, and Miranda on the boat

Going under the bridge

A fair we passed

At the end of the cruise, I did start talking to one of the guys who worked on the boat though. He’s apparently a full-time engineer that works in the Papau New Guinea area and works for his friends that own the boat on the side. He seemed really nice. He was telling me about his travels. I think it would have been fun to meet up with him at some point later on so he could show me around Sydney, but that would have been awkward to bring up. I mean, he was at work.

We did have to pay for the trip home on the train, once we finally found the train stop (the boat let out at a different place than it started). It was only $2.40 for the trip though, so that isn’t too bad. I wasn’t exactly excited to walk all the way across campus in the freezing cold when we got back though. I passed out the second I walked in the door.

It’s good that I got some sleep though because I was up bright and early again this morning at 8. Our Sydney city tour, scheduled especially for our group, left at 10:30 and we stopped at a couple of lookout spots around the city and took classic tourist pictures in front of the bridge and the opera house, as well as the edge of the harbor. We also went to Bondi Beach, which was nothing special. There was barely anyone in the water except for surfers because it’s so cold. I took a few pictures and wandered into the beachfront stores, but everything was really expensive. I was glad that I ate before and didn’t have to buy lunch. One of the guys in our group was impressed he was able to get a full meal for $12, but that still sounds expensive to me. I don’t think I’ll be eating out very much here. Things are so much cheaper in Ohio and Michigan, especially my Qdoba burrito for $3.15.

Bondi Beach

At the end of the tour, we stopped at the Cargo Bar on the waterfront and were given a free glass of wine or beer. I got the chardonnay. It was okay, not the best. It was nice to sit on the patio and people watch though. I also found out that they sell pretty good $10 steaks Monday-Wednesday to attract business. I was impressed by that considering their drink specials on Monday-Wednesday are $10 cocktails.

The night was spent with more grocery shopping, but this time at a large market instead of the ones in the mall and it’s a good thing we went because we found out things are a little bit cheaper there. Then Sarah and I hung out with her roommates, who all seem really nice. One of them has a job on campus and he was instructing me on how to apply. I’m trying to convince one of the two who have a car to go on a road trip to Melbourne during exam period.