Our first night in Sydney, we arrived pretty late so we went to a wood fired pizza for dinner and then went back to the hostel for a lazy night in. After traveling nonstop for so much it was nice to just relax for one night.
The next day we started off with a 5 mile run through Hyde Park, the Royal Botanical Gardens and to to the Sydney Opera House. This was our first time seeing the opera house. It was such a beautiful sight, we did not even mean to run to it, we were on a paved path along the water and turned a corner and there it was! Once we got back from our run we toured the Sydney Olympic Park. This was one of the tours on our trip I was really excited for! As a group we toured the ANZ Stadium, the athletic training centre and the olympic aquatic center. I loved touring this stadium and seeing how they run the facilities today. It is really quite amazing what they do to keep the stadium still relevant even after the Olympics in 2000. After the olympic park we walked around Darling Harbour.
The next day we walked around the St. Mary's cathedral, Hyde Park, and the Royal Botanical Gardens. We went to lunch at the Sydney Opera House Kitchen before our tour of the opera house as a group. After the opera house tour, we grabbed some bikes to explore the rest of the city. We rode through The Rocks, and then over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I love exploring the city on bikes, it is such a quick and easy way to see the city.
The next day we traveled to Katoomba for our one night stay. Katoomba is located in the Blue Mountains of Australia. When we first arrived, we were able to go to this beautiful lookout of the Three Sisters. For lunch we went to The Yellow Deli, it was so so good! All the food was homemade from scratch from Community members, we think Amish. I loved the little amount of time we had in Katoomba, the scenery was so beautiful!
When we got back to Sydney we had one short day before heading to Cairns. This day was a day full of shopping before we ventured off to the aquarium. The aquarium in Sydney was incredible, it had four shark tunnels! After the aquarium we stumbled upon Angel Place, which is a small alley way where a couple hundred bird cages were hung over the street. It was so interesting!
The next day we headed to Cairns, it was so warm and beautiful there. The entire time we basically spent on the beach relaxing, swimming, laying out, listening to live bands, it was perfect. Our group had a BBQ together for dinner which we watched the sunset. In Cairns, we went on a Daintree River Cruise, which had so many crocodiles and other rainforest animals. After the river cruise we went to the Gallo Dairyland. When we came home the rest of the night was supposed to be spent getting dinner, except Mikyla and I didn't get dinner. We got our nails done. Much needed spa time.
The next day we went to the Great Barrier Reef. I am kind of a pansy when it comes to the ocean. I am mostly afraid of sharks, but I faced my fears and conquered the ocean. Once we arrived to the reed location we suited up and jumped into the water. The fish we so vibrant and beautiful! The Great Barrier Reef lived up to everyone's expectations.
This whole trip was more than I ever hoped it would be. I loved every second of it! I loved going on adventures and being able to see the rest of the world (while getting school credit!). I would not change this experience for anything.
No comments:
Post a Comment