Day two:

I am surprised how easily my body has adjusted to being on the other side of the world. I got up today at 7 am but had to take a nap around 5. I started my day by finding the train station, which is close by, and taking the train to Circular Quay When I got off the first thing I saw was the Sydney Bridge next to the Harbor. It was beautiful and absolutely amazing to see. I had no idea I would be so impressed! Around the corner from the train station is the Sydney Opera House. I walked all around the grounds. There is a beautiful botanical garden nearby. There are tons of insanely expensive restaurants nearby. I paid $4 for a muffin, yes a muffin! I suspect my muffin came from Costco if they have them here. Food is pricey here but is outrageous in tourist areas. On food boxes they measure calories in Kilojoules. Kilojoules are about 4 times what a calorie is (I had to look that up).

I had intentions of going on a tour of the opera house today but I got distracted. I am going to go tomorrow. After my expensive muffin was eaten I walked up the street from the Harbor and kept walking around the city. I can’t get over how big some of the buildings are in Sydney. The traffic is intense; it kind of drives me nuts. I would not want to live in this city. I thought the fact they drive on the other side of the road would seem more foreign but when walking around it is not very noticeable. I think driving here would be difficult because they have a lot of one-way roads. People drive like maniacs in the city.

I kept wandering around and eventually found the Aquarium and Wild Life Center that I had purchased a ticket to online. I was quite disappointed. The Aquarium wasn’t bad. I got to see some really neat fish that live in the Great Barrier Reef. They also have a shark tube you can walk through. Overall, it was OK but the Wild Life Center was terrible. I couldn’t believe how small it was! I only got to see a few Koalas (which are quite cute little things), 3 Kangaroos, a really awesome bird that is related to the Emu (he was the most exciting) and a giant crocodile. I was not impressed with the place. Tomorrow I am planning to go to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. I have heard it is amazing.

After the disappointing animal encounters, I eventually found this placed called Market City. If you can image what flea market hell would be like then you will be able to picture this place perfectly. The majority of the vendors were Oriental and all of them wanted to make a deal with me. I don’t know how any of them make money because so many of the booths sold the same things. I didn’t find anything I really wanted other than a shopping bag. I did find a few kids shirts that were cute. I found one with a Kangaroo, which I might need to buy for Lulu in place of the live one she thinks I am bringing her (not sure how to explain why I didn’t bring her one). Underneath the flea market there was the neatest “farmer’s market” type place. There were rows and rows of fresh fruits and vegetables; most of them were grown in Australia (or so they say). I bought some bananas, grapes and a peach. I saw some oranges from the USA. They had a few fruits I had never seen before. It is a bit confusing to me because everything is weighed in kilos. Oh, and they have dragon fruit! Giant ones! If Denny reads this he will be jealous so I will eat one just for him! Above the produce place and the flea market is a mall. The mall has all kinds of stores. This one store had the strangest mannequins I have ever seen. I took a photo of them.

It is so humid in Sydney. The temperature is nice but the humidity ruins it for me. It feels great in the morning and at night but during the day it is miserable. The Scottish girl in my room used to work in Cairns (pronounced Cans, no need for the letter r). She said she cleaned rooms during the wet season there and if she left the door open too long the walls would get covered in condensation and everything would be wet. I think it is now the dry season there so lets hope when I arrive it is more enjoyable. I assume the dry season is kind of like Hilo, HI. They have rainy and rainier. Cairns probably has humid and more humid.

Hostels are not exactly my first choice when it comes travel accommodations but I can think of worse places to sleep. The one I am staying in is part of the YHA chain. It is fairly clean. You have to bring your own towel. I don’t mind that part but I would welcome a hand dryer in the bathroom. This place has a kitchen, laundry facilities, a really small pool and expensive Internet. There is a girl in my room from Canada. We have gone to eat together a few times. I find her to be rather boring but I have enjoyed having someone to eat with. She has a friend here who is staying in another hostel. Her friend has been in the country for the last year and has moved from hostel to hostel. A lot of people live in them long term. The majority of them have a 28-day limit but I think they just say that. I think the YHA hostels are stricter than many of the others.

Surprisingly I have not met very many Australians in this hostel. In my room there is the Canadian girl, two French girls (who live up to every French stereotype I can think of), oriental girls, a girl from Denmark who left today and an interesting girl from Scotland replaced her. We have some new people I have not met yet. I have been surprised by how many of the girls I have met who are traveling alone. I am also surprised by how long some of these people are traveling. A lot of them get jobs but I assume others have trust funds.

People keep asking me for directions and when I start talking they realize I am not from here. Except for this Scottish man who had this intense accent. I could only understand a few words he was saying to me. He said he was from the hills, I don’t know what that means? Perhaps he doesn’t get out much.

On my computer is has Utah time (4 am) but it is 10 pm here. At least it is Sunday in both places!

I have a phone number here but I have no idea what the number is. If you want my number just send me a message.