Family in SYDNEY!

Hi everyone,

Well it’s finally here – the end of my time traveling down under. I can’t believe the time has flown so fast! I have truly loved seeing and experiencing all that New Zealand and Australia have to offer. The last stop of the epic Solinsky adventure is Sydney. Now I’ll tell you what we have done the past few days here:

Wednesday July 7
Today we flew from Melbourne to Sydney. We got into Sydney around mid-afternoon and it was raining. We came to the hotel, checked in and had lunch down the street. Then we walked down to Circular Quay where we picked up our cruise. We took a Cook Cruise around the Sydney harbour for an hour and a half. The cruise started at 5 so when we got on Sydney was still light, and throughout the cruise Sydney got darker so by the time we came back the Sydney city light were all on. We cruised around the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, past the botanic gardens and around the different suburbs on the harbour. It was a really nice cruise. We even had some complimentary drinks and nibbles. After the cruise we went to the Rocks – Sydney’s oldest district. We walked around there for a while and found an Italian restaurant for dinner. Then Dad and I walked around a little more and went across part of the Harbour bridge which was really cool! Then we went to a delicious Belgian Chocolate dessert place.

Thursday July 8
Today we did a city tour of Sydney with Gray Line. We saw a lot of the city highlights via a bus. We got off at Mrs. Macquarie’s chair which gives a great view of the Habour Bridge and Opera House. We then headed out of the city and went to Bondi Beach. Along the way we saw a great view of the city. Then we had morning tea at Bondi Beach and hung out there for a while. Bondi is one of Sydney’s over 30 beaches. The waves were huge! During the summer Bondi is a popular surf beach. It was really pretty. The tour was good and we learned a ton about the history of Sydney. After the tour we were dropped off at the Opera House. We had lunch and then it was time for our Opera House tour! We had the best tour guide and it was really the best tour I think I’ve ever been on! The tour guide gave us all headphones so that we could hear him no matter where we were – which was awesome! We went in the play and drama theaters and learned that the rooms are very flexible and can be changed into many formations. We then had an intro film about the Opera House. When ideas about the Opera House were just starting there were 34 possible sites and 150 possible designs to choose from. The process started in 1957 with a 3 year target and 7 million dollar budget. The Opera House was finished in 1973 and cost over 100 million dollars. They had a lot of trouble figuring out how to construct it but they really did pull it off! There are 9 halls and 7 million visitors per year. After learning this basic information, we moved on to tourt he different parts of the Opera House. We went into one of the main halls and were lucky enough to see the Sydney Symphony practicing! The sound in the theater was amazing!! It was all natural with no amplification! We then went into the Opera theater which is also incredible, but they are planning on redoing the interior soon to match the original Dutch architect’s plans. They recently renovated the bathrooms to reflect his original ideas and they are actually really cool. Anyways the entire tour was amazing and I love the Opera House more now than I did before! After the tour we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit. Then we headed to Chinatown for dinner. After dinner we went back to the Opera House to see “A Little Night Music” which is an operetta in English. The show was really cute, and I just couldn’t get over the fact that I was actually seeing an opera in the Sydney Opera House!! So cool!! It was a truly amazing, opera-filled day!

Friday July 9
Today we went and explored the Blue Mountains! We had an early pick up at our hotel and then we were off across the Anzac Bridge. Our first stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park. Here we got to pet and hang out with Kangaroos, Wallaby and koalas. The koalas were very energetic: jumping between trees and running laps! We also saw penguins, wombats, emus and a dingo (a crazy wild dog). It was an awesome place! We then went to Leura for lunch. After that we went to Govetts Leap for our first incredible view of the Blue Mountains. From here we saw the spectacular scenery of the Jamison and Megalong valleys, as well as Bridle Falls. From there we drove on to Scenic world. Scenic World is in the heart of the Blue Mountains in the Jamison valley. We went on the steepest railray in the world (and it was so scary!!) to get down towards the valley. From here we had an amazing view of the famous “Three Sisters.” The Three Sisters is this cool rock formation. According to Aboriginal legend Three Sisters was formed by a father who used his wishbone to protect his daughters, turned them to stone, but then dropped the wishbone at the bottom of the Jamison valley, he is now still searching for the wishbone in bird form. Anyways, there was a huge mine exhibit down there which we walked through, and also a cool bush walk explaining about the different trees. We then took a cablecar back up. After we left the Blue Mountains and went to the Sydney Olympic Park. The Olympics took place in Sydney in 2000. We had a bus tour of the different stadiums and surrounding area. Then we were dropped off for a ferry ride along the Parramatta River to Circular Quay. After the ferry we took the train to Darling Harbour where we had a delicious dinner. Now we’re just packing up.

Hope you enjoyed reading my blog these past 6.5 months! Can’t wait to see you all soon!

Sending lots of love from Down Under!