March 5 - Exploring Sydney

This morning I took the ferry from Rose Bay to Circular Quay (pronounced Key) in the city center to get to the free walking tour. In Sydney, a lot of business people take the ferry to work – it is so normal here but so fun for me to see! We turned a bend on the boat and the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge popped out, and was definitely a million dollar sight. As the opera house approached I was getting more and more excited. I could not peel my eyes away from the large overlapping concrete shells.

The weather today was overcast but I didn’t care. It was still stunning. I met my friend Matt from Chicago at Archibald Fountain in Hyde park (about 20 minute walk from the ferry stop), and we caught up for a little bit! Our tour guide had a very strong eastern European accent, and it was difficult to understand her a majority of the tour.

Nonetheless, we learned the history of Sydney which included a lot of history about convicts ("The Rocks" in Sydney is an area where a lot of convicts lived and drank/gambled, etc) and the early explorer Macquarie (everything is named after him here!). Afterwards we went to the Glenmore for lunch and Corey met up with us to get a drink at Hero of Waterloo. We took a ferry back and I packed up my stuff. Then Charles’ roommate Jackson took me over to Lee’s (a U of I alum) in South Coogee. It was very generous of him to do that! I met some of Lee’s roommates. A bunch of guys and girls from all over the world. Then Shaina got there (a friend from U of I) and we all chilled for a while.