Sydney, Baby! NSW, Australia

Day 1

On Friday November 9th at 3:00 am, my roommate and our friends Matt and Jordan were brutally awaken by our alarm clocks to get ready for our 6:20 am flight to Sydney, the most well known city in Australia. We called a cab on a rainy morning and rode to the airport. As we were boarding the plane, a rainbow reassured us of the weather and we smiled as we set off for our adventure in Sydney.


After an hour long flight to Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, we arrived in the airport. We caught a shuttle bus to our Hostel, Harbour City Backpackers, and checked in. After receiving our keys and heading up the stairs, I opened the door to our room, looked in, paused, and closed the door. My friends, confused by my actions, looked at me quizzically as I explained that there was someone sleeping in my bed! So, I went down to the front desk and had the following conversation:

Me: Ummm, there's a strange man sleeping in our room.
Girl at Desk: (not remotely shocked about this finding) Really? what room are you in?
Me: 202
Girl: hmm, 202.....Ooooh It's just Dave.
Me: just Dave!?
Girl (picks up phone): Hi, can you get Dave out of 202, I've booked some people in that room.
Girl (to me): OK, you should be all set!

Moral of the story, it's JUST Dave sleeping in my bed, and, well, I guess it's better to know that it was just Dave than to not know who was there before!!!

After Dave left, we settled into our room, and headed out to the city. Friday was a cool, cloudy day, but the rain held off while we explored. We first had lunch at a restaurant that our cohorts raved about, called "Pancakes on the Rocks." "The Rocks" is a historical village in Sydney, which was the site of the first European Settlement in 1788. It was originally the first Convict town, but is now a Port City housing many shops, galleries, restaurants, and even weekly markets. 

After finishing our pancake lunch, we hopped a train to Sydney's Olympic Park. What we envisioned to be a bustling tourist activity was quite the contrary. The park was nearly empty, almost like the feeling of a theme park in the off season. We wandered through the entrance finding a monument area with pillars naming events and athletes from the 200 Olympics. To go into the main stadium, you have to book a tour, so instead we visited the gift shop. We then walked over to the Athletic Center. The Athletic Center is what used to be the warm up arena. The track from the main stadium was relayed into the Athletic center after the Olympics to allow for a more purposeful stadium. The warm up track was then relayed in a stadium for the junior Olympics. It was exciting for my roommate and I to run a lap on the 2000 Olympic track!!

We also visited the Aquatic center where our other friend swam in the Olympic pool. Although it was disappointing to not find a crowded, magical tourist hot spot, it wasn't until after we learned more about the stadium that we felt content. We discovered that after the Olympics memorabilia was only manufactured for a short while longer and tends to sell out almost immediately, thus explaining the lack of souvenirs. We also learned that, of course, they cannot only use the site as a tourist attraction. Because of the millions of dollars that went into building the stadium, they now use it for other activities and events. Seating was removed, and buildings were changed and renamed. The area is known as "Olympic Park", but the buildings are only the "Athletic Center", "Aquatic Center", "Telstra Stadium", and others. The official "Olympic Stadium" is now in Bejiing, and will be wherever the most current Olympics are after that. It has changed drastically, but was none-the-less an educational experience. 

Following our self-guided tour of Olympic Park, we took the train back to Darling Harbour. Darling Harbour is parallel to Sydney Harbour and is the home of the Sydney Aquariam, Wildlife World, Convention Center, and Chinese Friendship Gardens. It is also the home of ferries, restaurants and shops, it is basically a suburb of Sydney. When we got to Darling Harbour, we went into the Aquarium and saw hundreds of water creatures. We found Nemo (and Dori, and Marlin too!) , stared at a crocodile, and walked under the famous tunnel while watching turtles and sharks swim over head. We even saw penguins!!! 

After the Aquarium we walked back to Wooloomooloo, the suburb where our Hostel was, and had dinner at a small Italian restaurant before retiring to the Hostel for some much needed rest.