Sydney, Australia

You know that place that you've wanted to go to for so long, that you don't even remember why it was on your list to begin with? Yeah, for me, that was Sydney, and to a large extent, Australia in general.

Dates: May 15 - May 20

Since this was one of the top places on my list, I figured I should spend the most amount of time there. Actually, this is just how the flights worked out, but I like to thing it was fate that I was in Sydney for the longest amount of time of any city.

Accommodation: Hostel - Bounce Sydney

To be honest, it's been a long time since I stayed in a hostel, so I can't really tell you how it was compared to others I've stayed at. What I can say is that it was pretty cool that they had lockers with chargers inside of them, so you could charge your stuff while it was locked away. The staff was nice, they had events every night, but I don't know, I just wasn't feeling it.

Itinerary (I say itinerary like it was planned, but it's more like "how things ended up working out"):

I'm still figuring out the format of this, so let me know what you think.

Day 1

• Circular Quay (pronounced "key") - This is probably the main area of Sydney. All the ferries take off from here, all the cruise ships dock here, and many of the iconic Sydney architecture pieces are right here, too.
• The Rocks - Oldest area of Sydney.
• Manly Beach - Supposedly named so because the Aboriginals that lived here were more manly than those the British had encountered elsewhere. Hung out with my sister's second friend (like second cousin) all day here.
• Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) - Museum that houses contemporary art (shocking, I know).
• Marquee - Popular club in Sydney, owned by the same folks as Marquee in Vegas.

Selected pics:

Day 2

• Darling Harbour - One harbour away from the Sydney Harbour, lots of cool stuff here like restaurants, a park, etc. Most of the business in Sydney are located between Sydney and Darling Harbours.
• Queen Victoria Building - Huge shopping mall with, according to Wikipedia, "Romanesque revival" architecture.
• Chinatown - Yeah, Chinatown.
• Sydney Opera House - Most perfect building I've ever seen.
• The Ivy - 5 story club owned by a really rich dude whose dad got rich by being in the mafia, and was sent to jail. Kid decided to legitimize the family money and build a really popular club that has a pool area (where people can get in), a changing room area (with a dance floor that plays hip hop), and a courtyard (that plays EDM). Hung out with Sisco, an old friend from study abroad, here.

Selected pics:

Day 3

• Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach Coastal Walk - Really scenic walk along the eastern coast of Australia.
• Centennial Park - Token large park in the city.
• AFL Stadium - Just walked by this, but pretty self explanatory. 

Selected pics:

Day 4

• Art Gallery of New South Wales - An art gallery in New South Wales (the state Sydney is located in). Australians are really creative with their naming system.
• Mrs Macquarie's Point/Chair - Scenic point where you can catch the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge in one frame. Named after an old governor's wife.
• Hyde Park - Park dedicated to ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps).
• St. Mary's Cathedral - Big(gest?) cathedral in Sydney.

Selected pics:

Day 5

• Blue Mountains - Scenic mountains outside of the city. Lots of cool hikes and aboriginal history here.
• Featherdale Wildlife Park - Basically a zoo where you can see animals and play with koalas and kangaroos.

Selected pics:

Day 6

• Sydney Harbour BridgeClimb - Really unique experience where you can walk along the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Did this with Navs!
• Dr. Seuss Art Museum - Art museum where you can buy pieces of Dr. Seuss' work.

Selected pics:

Random tidbits:

• Australians are huge on coffee. And brekky (that's breakfast).
• Free WiFi is pretty hard to find in Sydney. Didn't realize they were still in the 18th century here. That's all I've got to say about this.
• If I had to pick the 3 most picturesque places I've been, they would be (in alphabetical order):
• Dubrovnik, Croatia
• O'ahu, Hawaii
• Sydney, Australia
• There are way more British tourists here than I expected, and not nearly as many Americans.
• There are these random signs that say "VIP Lounge" everywhere (literally 2-3 per block) in Sydney CBD (central business district). Apparently, they're bars that also have some casino aspect to them. That took me a really long time to figure out.
• Australian Football is actually pretty cool to watch. The best thing about it is that it's a lot more free flowing than American football. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch a game while I was here.
• Missing the Hawks beat the Wizards to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time ever sucks. It's hard finding a bar that is open with the 14 hour time difference, and I can't find WiFi to stream it on. I know, #firstworldproblems.
• Asian food in Sydney is awesome, probably due to its proximity to the homeland. I had Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Japanese food while I was here, all of which were incredible.
• There are a bunch of people who move here for months/years at a time on what's called a "Work and Holiday Visa". Details here. It makes sense, because it's so far away that to explore appropriately (and cost-effectively), it's the easiest thing to do. Something to think about in the future, but it's only good until the the age of 30 (I can't believe that I'm at the point where that's a caveat...).
• Public transportation is interesting (aka confusing) here. They have a bunch of different ways you can get places, e.g., passes by # of days/$ amount, different zones (distances), different types of transportation (bus, train, ferry) and various combinations of all of those. The simplest way to get around is using an Opal card, which is completely $ based and works on all transportation methods. Here's the cool part about the Opal card: There's a maximum amount you can spend per day, so if you travel more than the maximum amount, the rest of your transportation for the day is free. And the limit is pretty low; it can range from something like $3-4 on Sundays to something like $15 on weekdays.
• Sydney did a really good job of having free exhibits at every museum or art gallery I went to. They had some paid exhibits as well, but it's nice to see free stuff for those who want just a taste.

More lessons learned:

• I'm actually really, really sad about something from this trip. There's a yearly festival called Vivid Sydney (http://www.vividsydney.com) that starts on 5/22 this year, which happens to be the day I leave Australia. Unfortunately, there's not a lot I could do about this (having found out about it upon arriving in Sydney), but it's just something I'll have to plan to come back to in the future. Basically, they install a bunch of interactive art around the entire city in the form of lights, music, etc. If you're too lazy to check out the link, here are some photos from Google images. It seriously looks incredible.

Next up: Melbourne, Australia