This week:

Targona Zoo, Monday Feb 6

It has been a few days since I took the time to write about what I have been up to. On Monday, Feb 6 I went to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. It was the most amazing zoo I have ever been to! You have to take a ferry across from Circular Quay (key) to get there. The zoo is across from the city of Sydney. I could not believe how expensive it was to get in. I paid $44! I also had to pay for the ferry ride, which was an extra $11. You can tell the money goes into the zoo because some of the habitats were absolutely amazing.

I loved the otter habitat the most. You could watch the otters swim to the bottom and pick up food and come back to the surface to eat the food. I tried to make a video of them but they swam too fast! The giraffe house was really neat because behind them was a view of the entire city. They have an elephant-breeding program and had 3 baby elephants! They were really cute. They also have a male bull elephant who lives by himself.

I was surprised to see they had 3 tiger cubs. There was this man who was photographing the tigers with a gigantic camera. The best part is the cubs were behind glass. I had to take a picture of him because it was so funny. Perhaps he thought he was in Africa not at a zoo? The day I went to the zoo it was windy so I was not able to ride the cable car that goes above the zoo. I welcomed the wind because it had been really hot. I wore sunscreen that day but not on my legs and they burned even though it was cloudy. I am surprised how quickly I burn here. If I even have a small amount of skin without sunscreen it will burn!

Sydney Opera House Tour, Monday Feb 6

After I went to the zoo I went on a tour of the Sydney Opera House. The building is just beautiful! I am happy I went on the tour because I got to go places inside that I would not have been able to see. We even got to listen to the symphony practice in the main hall. I was surprised by some of the odd choices in carpet in the building. There was a room with bright purple carpet; one with red, and the main opera room had pink seats. The outside has special tiles that came from Europe that are designed to not rust or decay. All of the rain gutters and other things you would normally see on the outside of a building are hidden in secret places. I was a little disappointed about the inside of the building. I thought the inside would just be breathtaking but overall it was rather bland (except for the carpet). The wonderful thing about the building is it will always be timeless and impressive due to its unique design. After the tour I went to the Botanical Gardens next to the Opera House. They were gorgeous.

Opera House Performance and The Blue Mountains

On Tuesday night I went to see a performance called La Soiree at the Opera House. I was so impressed! The show was really fun. It was an acrobatic/burlesque/adult circus type of show. All of the performers were really talented and excellent at what they did. I had never seen a show quite like it. I was surprised that people could bring alcoholic drinks into the theater.

During the day on Tuesday I went on an organized tour to the Blue Mountains and to the Jenolan caves. The cave was pretty neat but the tour group was huge. We had 60 people on the tour. It made it hard to get to see everything. In that area they have several caves I would have enjoyed going into. They apparently have a crystal cave that is really neat. But, we didn’t have time. Outside of the cave is where I saw the platypus! He was just swimming in a pond of water. He moved really fast. After the cave we went to the Blue Mountains and rode on the steepest railway in the world! Apparently it used to be used for coal mining and is now a tourist destination. It sounds way more exciting than it was. After the railway ride we went on a little walk and then rode back up on a tram. Sadly the weather was terrible and all you could see was fog. The fog was actually kind of fun but it would have been more enjoyable to get to see the actual mountains. They are called the Blue Mountains because of a blue mist that forms over the eucalyptus trees but because of the fog I could not see any mist. Overall the tour was OK. I would have had a much better time if the weather had been good. I also didn’t realize we would spend so much time on the bus. The tour guide was pretty entertaining but I think it was too much money.

I was going to leave Sydney on Wednesday but I really needed to do laundry and wanted to a day to get things together before I left. I did manage to go to the super market. I have never had such a stressful experience grocery shopping! I was not thinking about it and went when people got off work. There are not very many grocery stores around so everyone shops there. I could barely move around. It was horribly stressful. I had to buy some new deodorant because my all-natural organic deodorant is not doing anything in this humid weather! I need some chemicals to keep me smelling nice!

When I was on the Blue Mountain tour I met a girl from Perth (which is on the other side of Australia). She was on a trip with her brother and was not having a very good time. We decided to go to dinner on Wednesday. We went to this delicious Thai restaurant. We had to wait about an hour to get in but it was worth the wait! I could not believe how good it was. We had a curry dish with prawns (they had eyeballs attached) and Pad Thai. It was SO delicious. And next to the restaurant was a store selling pirated CDs out in the open! I made a joke about needing to get some and she told me customs would take them away. I think she thought I was serious! We had a good time talking about different things we say and do. In Australia you have the option of paying your rent weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. I also learned the word “wingeing.” I guess that means you are being rude or uptight and if used incorrectly can be very offensive.

When you cross the road it can be confusing here because we would look the other way for traffic. In Sydney I almost ran into people because we walk on the right side of the street and they walk on the left. I have to keep reminding myself that when I almost get stampeded it is because I am on the wrong side of the street! If I rent a car I should probably figure out which side of the road to walk on first.

Thursday, Feb 16

The hostel I stayed in while in Sydney was in a great location and I was able to get on and off the train quickly and could walk almost anywhere I needed to go. I had a wonderful stay in Sydney but I am really excited to leave. I enjoyed the city but it was too busy for me. I usually really like big cities but I did not love Sydney. I am so happy I went though because I got to see some amazing things.

I am now on the Australian Greyhound. I had to board at 6:45 am. I only have about 45 hours of bus riding until Cairns (yikes). I will probably do an overnight trip one day to burn a few hours. The bus is very nice and not scary like the American one. It is mostly full of tourists/backpackers. I have enjoyed the ride so far. The scenery has been nice. The view near the highway reminds me a lot of Hawaii and Florida. All you can see is green trees.

Port Macquarie

So, hostel number two in Port Macquarie was terrible and gross! I was thinking about staying two nights until I got there. It was so dirty and run down. The bedroom was maybe 12 X 12 and had 6 people in it. The light in the bathroom did not work and it smelled nasty. I ended up getting a hotel the second night which was fantastic because I was able to sleep really good since I was not in a room with strangers! The hostels are nice because you meet interesting people and never feel lonely. I can usually find someone to do things with.

Port Macquarie was a lovely town. I don’t think it is a very big stop for most people going up the coast. I noticed a lot of Australians went there. They had campgrounds and a lot of family activities. I enjoyed how easy it was to navigate my way around the town. They had a lot of fun shops to visit. It was right by the ocean. It did not have the prettiest beaches but they were still nice.

On Sunday, Feb 10 I went to the Koala Hospital. It was so wonderful! They have an area that has trees the koalas like to eat that they can climb up so it feels rather natural. When wild koalas get diseases, hit by a car, fall out of a tree or injured in some way they are sent to this hospital. They had one big boy koala that was a permanent resident of the hospital. He originally came in because he was hit by a car and then came back twice because younger males drove him out of his territory. Koalas have a small area they live in so they are easy to track down.

They also had a blind koala. Sometimes they have to remove their eyes because they get diseases in them. When they are blind they run around in circles all day. I thought it was sad to watch the blind koala. The baby koalas, which are called Joeys, are so cute to watch. They are more active than the old ones. Sometimes they find orphaned Joeys who come and live there until they are large enough to be released into the wild. The goal of the hospital is to rehabilitate the koalas but if for some reason that can’t happen they end up staying forever. There was one koala that was going to be released into the wild again the day after I was there. They had little koala graves that were pretty cute. I guess the koalas adjust to humans quickly. The hospital has this special “milk” mixture they feed them that the koalas really like. But it is not really milk because they can’t have milk or sugar. Once the koala eats it they realize they are nice people who will help them.

An interesting thing I learned is that koalas don’t usually drink water. They get all of the water they need from the leaves they eat. The best thing about the hospital is it was free! The first free thing I have seen!

Saturday, February 11

I walked around Port Macquarie during the morning and looked at a few shops. I went into a museum about the history of the town. It had items dating back into the 1700-1800s. The town was used when they would ship convicts to Australia. There was a list of names of convicts who were in Port Macquarie and there were about 10 Spencer’s on the list! I could possibly be related since I had family come from England.

After the museum I went and got my luggage and boarded the Greyhound again. I met a nice Canadian girl in the hostel so we sat by each other on the bus. I am now in Coffs Harbour. The receptionist told me that the last hostel I was in is pretty horrible and that he tells people to avoid staying there. When we got here I got excited that the building was so nice on the outside and I had not even been inside yet. He said he knew there was a reason he liked Americans. He told me when he visited the USA that people would ask him questions like “do you have TV in Australia” and “what is your pet kangaroo named.” He said he would play along and say “what is TV” and “skippy.” This place is superb compared to the last one!

I am not totally sure what I am going to do here but I will figure it out.