A Night at the Opera

Leaving New Zealand was extremely sad, but I didn’t have much to complain about since I was just heading back to Australia! School has, however,  proven to be more and more like real school since I've gotten back and I’ve been pretty busy with exams and papers. Don't worry, Mom and Dad. I still find time for fun! ;)

A few days after I got back from New Zealand, Billy came to visit Sydney!  His first full day we did a free walking tour of Sydney, which was actually really great! The tour guide was really friendly and gave me lots of tips on places to eat/go out/visit/ etc. and I learned a lot about Sydney that I hadn’t heard before. Later that evening we did the full Coogee to Bondi coastal walk, watched the sunset over Bondi, then topped off the evening with a nice cold beer and some potato wedges with sweet chili sauce and sour cream (aka the best food Australia has). On Saturday a charity surf competition was on in Manly, so we went to check that out. The surf teams were made up of one surfer, a rugby player, and then a “celebrity,” although none of the names made a difference to me. We DID, however, get to see Kelly Slater surf, which was pretty cool! After Kelly surfed we just walked over to Shelly Beach, which is a much quieter, relaxing beach, and soaked up some sun. At the recommendation of Steve, we topped off the beach day with some Nandos pitas and a jug of Sangria! Although I had to spend my Sunday morning and afternoon studying, we went to check out the Opera House and the Royal Botanical Gardens Sunday evening. At one point Billy commented, “sorry, you’ve probably seen the Opera House millions of times by now.” True, but does seeing the Sydney Opera House really ever get old? NOPE!!! After watching the sun set over the city, which still has to be one of my favorite things to do, we got some of the famous Harry’s Meat Pies (again at the recommendation of Steve).  

 

 

Monday, we took a ferry from Darling Harbour over to Taronga Zoo to visit some Koalas and other creatures! It was a pretty exciting day because normally zoo animals all just sort of lay around, but these animals were all crazy! We got to see some elephants eat peanuts out of boxes and play in the sand, gorillas wrestle, a baby gorilla play, tigers wrestle and play in water, and some not so active Koalas sleep and eat! Not only were the animals more exciting than other zoos, but this zoo literally has the best location ever, as it’s in Northern Sydney and overlooks the city center. One of the coolest spots was the Giraffes because right behind them is the city skyline. After the zoo we went to Scubar for $10 unlimited pizzas and crab racing! Although my crab didn’t win, or for that matter even move, my roommates did get 2^nd place and she won a free Scubar T-shirt!  

 

Last weekend I was lucky enough to get to go INSIDE the Sydney Opera house instead of just admiring from the outside. Nope, I didn’t do a tour, but I did get to to see Pirates of the Caribbean with live orchestra in the largest theatre (it’s not a big deal or anything). The movie played on a big screen TV with just the voices while the Sydney Symphony played the soundtrack to the movie all the while the famous Richard Kaufman conducted. The first time they started to play the Pirates theme song I got the biggest Goosebumps and I’m pretty sure I just sat through the rest of the movie with a huge smile on my face. It was absolutely unreal! After the show, we hung out at Opera Bar and had drinks while looking out at the Harbour Bridge. It will definitely be pretty hard to top that night!