So the first couple of days in Sydney we have been running around the city non-stop. Which is fun but we are so tired by 4:00pm that we are asleep by 7:30pm haha.
On Friday we arrived at our hostel called The Asylum :) it is pretty much what you would expect from a hostel, needs some updates and such but overall not bad. The people are really nice and everyone just hangs out in the common area mainly. After we took showers and relaxed for a few minutes we went to the bank and made sure our accounts were all set up and good to go. The lady who helped us was very chatty and loved talking about her trip she took the States.
Once we finished at the bank we were off the Opera House to see the piers and the Royal Botanical Gardens. The Opera House is gorgeous and from the there you can see across the bay to the harbor bridge and downtown. While walking around near the harbor there was an aboriginal man, I got to take a photo with him :) He called all the girls 'sweeties' .
Aboriginal Man
Opera House
Opera House and Harbor
Then we were off to wander around the gardens. Australia has the most interesting trees! The interesting thing about these trees is that there is bark on the lower half of the tree but on the rest of it the bark has been completely stripped off! I think the trees are a mix of Tim Burton and Dr. Seuss haha. After the walk we just went back to the hostel, relaxed and went to bed at around 6:30pm :)
Saturday Activities:
Saturday was one of our adventure days! We decided we were going to go to the Koala Park Sanctuary outside the city. At this park you can touch and take photos with a Koala and see other animals including dingoes, wallabies, and many different bird species. However, on the way there we took the 621 bus from downtown Sydney and had the funniest old man bus driver ever! He told us to sit up front so he could talk to us and tell us places we needed to go. Once place he recommended was a bakery that had $9 brownies that he said were the most delicious things with a great cup of coffee (we couldn't go since we are on a budget). He also called ahead to another bus to 'make an arrangement for us' in case we didn't feel like walking the bus would stop and pick us up. He was so thoughtful.
Kyra and I both got our picture taken with a Koala who was 11years old. We learned from the Koala Specialist that koala's were used for their fur a long time ago but that stopped because the fur would soon deteriorate after being made into a coat; this saved the koala species, fun fact for the day for you guys!
She was so soft!
While walking around the Koala Park we noticed an area that said you could feed and PET a KANGAROO!! So guess what we did......
Look how close!
Kyra with her kangaroo
You could pet them and they wouldn't move. So once we figured that out, what came next....
Selfie with a Kangaroo!!! haha
Petting the kangaroo's was an amazing experience! If anyone plans on coming to Australia you must go to the Koala Park Sanctuary!
Once we left the Sanctuary I did something that made me say "OH MY GOD, I'm turning into my mother!!!" We went into a garden nursery so I could look at the different flowers they had HAHAHA. There was a flower that I absolutely fell in love with, it's called Camilla!
Below are images of it. The way the petals are in all intertwined was just amazing.
After that we walked back to the hostel and just chilled. And that ladies and gentlemen was our first couple of days in Sydney!
I will update again soon once we go on the Hop On Hop Off tours :)
Till next time-
Courtney
