Sydney and Bondi Beach

Our trip to Sydney and Bondi Beach were for only a weekend. I left directly after giving a presentation in my Aboriginal Studies Tutorial for the airport to catch a flight to Sydney. Upon our arrival we made our way to the hotel located near Darling Harbor. Sydney is much larger than Adelaide, but was not overwhelming with people. We toured areas in the city such as the Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. We were able to get a couple pictures of both the bridge and the Opera house when we were standing in the Botanical Gardens outside the Opera House. While walking through the garden I looked up in a tree to be grossed out by the number of bats hanging in the tree. In the garden the bats are viewed as pests because they often kill trees, because there are so many of them. These are not the normal bats we have at home, these bats are about the size of big squirrels with a brown body and black wings. After we wondered around the gardens searching for an exit we went to the Sydney Skytower. This building was an observation point to look out over the entire city. From this point I could see the bridge, the Opera House, and far off in the distance the Olympic Stadiums. Unfortunately, I was unable to travel to the Olympic stadiums, but I did get to travel to Bondi Beach. Bondi Beach is a very popular beach for people of Sydney. From the bus I looked over into town and saw the sea of people gathered on the beach. In Bondi I stayed in a hostel where I didn't get too much rest. When I checked into the place they gave me two sheets and a pillow case. I found my room and bed with no pillow so I made a pillow out of a few dirty clothes stuffed into my pillow case. I slept pretty bad that night listening to a person in the room grind away on their teeth. The day before I signed up for some surfing lessons which I needed to catch a bus for at 8:30, so I woke up early, packed my stuff and had some cereal I bought the day before. We traveled about an hour south of Bondi to a private beach only accessible through a 4WD vehicle. It was interesting driving along the beach, parking up against the dunes, and calling that our camp for the rest of the day. We first began our surfing on the beach where they taught us the main idea of surfing and how to stand up. I understood the idea of surfing but understanding and putting into practice are two different things. My day was filled mainly of missing waves, nose diving into the sand underwater, looking for the next wave, and always paddling. I did however manage to catch a couple of waves which I rode all the way to the beach. I'm glad we did not surf at Bondi because I'm sure we would have all been made fun of by people who know how to surf. With tired shoulders, nappy hair, and a slight sunburn I headed back to Sydney to meet up with the rest of our group for our last night in Sydney. To end the trip we went to have some pizza, but not a regular pizza. I got a crocodile pizza and Molly got a kangaroo pizza (meat that is). Crocodile takes alot like chicken with a hint of seafood fishy taste. We headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before our 4:20 wake up to catch our flight home for a day of classes. Sydney was a very different experience compared to Adelaide or Cairns with the large city and not as laid back. I enjoyed the city but wish I had more time to tour the Olympic Stadiums and also to visit the Blue Mountains. My most enjoyable moments while in on the trip was witnessing Blue Whales jumping out of the water off the coast of Bondi Beach. There was at least 3 whales but there possibly could have been 4 or 5. I didn't see it the first time one jumped out but saw in the ocean a very large foamy area. I watched in this area for a few minutes and began to see spurts of water shoot up from blow holes. I sat and watched the whales for about half an hour. In this time they propelled themselves out and splashed back into the water 4 times. It was an amazing site to see as I sat out on an area that jutted out into the ocean.