Amber, Ashley, & Hillary Take Sydney by Storm

Well it has been an eventful, fun, and (semi) exhausting week! My sister, Amber, and a friend flew into Sydney Friday, March 14 and just left today to return to Texas. We had a great time exploring Sydney, laying out on beaches, and living it up in the city.We did all of my favorite "ings" : Shopping, Eating, Traveling, Laughing.... Plus it was great to have a piece of home right here with me in Sydney!

This is basically how my week went:

Friday, March 14:
Amber and Hillary arrived and we changed into our swim suits and went straight to Coogee Beach. After soaking up some rays for a couple of hours, we had a late lunch then headed home to shower and get ready for our night! We saw a show at the Opera House called La Soiree, which was a mix of a comedy show, sex show, cirque de soleil, magic, "Magic Mike" and more, each short little independent acts. It was definitely entertaining, and awesome to have seen a show in the Sydney Opera House! Afterward we had a delicious pancake dinner at the famous Pancakes On The Rocks (The Rocks are Sydney's initial settlement).

Going to see La Soiree at the Sydney Opera House

Saturday, March 15
Amber, Hillary, and I went into the city and did a free Walking Tour of Sydney. It was great!! We learned so much about Sydney and the history of Australia, and we visited tons of cool places around the city. (See photos below.) After the tour, we had fish 'n' chips in a cute beer garden on The Rocks then headed to Central Station to catch a bus to the Aussie Rules AFL Football Game, Swans vs. Giants. AFL is a very interesting sport to watch... There are so many guys on the field and they just run around like crazy, hitting and kicking the ball to each other. It took us a little while, but we started to catch onto the rules.

St. Mary's Cathedral (the largest cathedral in Australia) & Hyde Park

Hanging bird cages

Fish 'n' chips

Having a beer in the beer garden with my sister

Sunday, March 16
We watched the St. Patrick's Day Parade down George St. and saw bands, floats, dancers, bag pipers, and the like pass by. We also got poured on - this Sydney weather is crazy! (There's honestly no use in checking the weather each day; it's hardly ever accurate. It's more unpredictable than Texas, which is something I never thought I'd say!) But after the parade we enjoyed a beer (Guinness, of course) at an Irish pub, then sat and relaxed in Hyde Park for a while, where there was a big St. Patrick's Day celebration going on with live music, carnival rides and games, food, etc. Later that evening we did the free tour of The Rocks and ended our night fine-dining on pizza and wine.

Enjoying some Irish Guinness beer in honor of St. Patrick's Day

Monday, March 17
The three of us girls did the Coogee to Bondi Coastal Walk today. It's a 6km walk from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach, hitting 3 other beaches in between, with beautiful sights of the cliffs, beaches, ocean, and true beauty of the Australian landscape. We would walk and lay out at a beach, then walk and swim at a different beach, and continue this until we reached the beautiful Bondi Beach, where we stayed for a couple of hours before heading back home. Along our walk we passed Waverley Cemetery, located right on the coast, and is supposedly the "best located cemetery in the world" with many famous Australians buried there. We also visited Bronte Beach, where Hugh Jackman has a house! Once we got back from the beach, we got a pitcher of beer to celebrate actual St. Patty's Day then went into the city to see the Opera House lit green!

Waverley Cemetery

Bronte Beach

Opera House lit green for St. Patrick's Day

Tuesday & Wednesday, March 18 & 19
Although it may not seem like it, I DO have class, which I went to on Tuesday and Wednesday. So Amber and Hillary took a trip to the beautiful Blue Mountains on Tuesday (see my blog post from when I visited the Blue Mountains for more info & pics!), and on Wednesday they walked the Sydney Harbour Bridge and enjoyed the day on Manly Beach.

Thursday, March 20
Thursday we visited 4 of Sydney's most famous attractions: The Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, Wild Life Sydney Zoo, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, and finished the day in the Sydney Tower Eye at sunset, where you can get a 360 degree view of Sydney and beyond. At the aquarium, we saw SO MANY fish and other sea life and walked through glass tunnels of sharks and stingrays. At the zoo we saw kangaroos and other Australian animals, like snakes, koalas,wallabies, and a Tasmanian devil. The wax museum was creepy because the figures looked so realistic! We took pictures of many famous people including the royal family, Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson, Albert Einstein, Brad & Angelina, Oprah, Heath Ledger, Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Depp, Leoncardo DiCaprio, and more! The Sydney Tower is the highest point in the whole city, so having that bird's eye view was quite an experience!

Koala! - Not a "koala bear"

Chillin' with the Royal Family

I FINALLY MET JUSTIN BIEBER!!!!!

View from the Sydney Tower Eye

Sunset from the Sydney Tower Eye

Friday, March 21
We went back to Manly to visit the Manly Sea Life Sanctuary and then laid out on the beach. It wasn't much of a beach day though, so we came home and rested then had a nice last-evening-in-Sydney dinner over delicious food and vino. Then Saturday Amber and Hillary went to the airport to fly back home, and are currently in the air as I'm writing this!

In the tunnels. Huge stingray!

SHARKS! Eek

So that's what I've been up to. We had so much fun this week and I'm so glad my sister was able to come visit me in Australia! I wasn't able to visit her when she studied abroad in England (I was in high school and couldn't miss that much class), but it is fun to travel with siblings and explore new places. It's definitely a time I won't forget!

Now I've got to clean house and do homework. You know...the fun stuff. Until next time, mate.