Upon landing we proceeded to customs, then picked up our bags, and finally met our friend Kristy outside of security. It was great to finally see her again in person and not just over Skype - it'd been over a year since our Contiki trip together. She very generously woke up at 4:30AM to drive over and then pick us up from the airport. On the way to her family's home in Winston Hills, we took a detour and drove through the Olympic Village used for the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. Even though we only had a chance to drive through, the village looked amazing - the stadiums are all technical marvels, still in use today, and the whole area truly appears to be a sequestered and pure athletic community.
We got to Kristy's home around 8:00AM, met her mom and then quickly headed into town to get our bus passes and some Australian dollars. Then we drove to the bus station and headed in to Circular Quay in central Sydney.
The Quay is the central cruise and shipping port for Sydney, and is bordered on the left by the Opera House and on the right by the Harbour Bridge - both points that we are excited to revisit tomorrow. We walked around the area for some time and then headed down George St. and on to the Queen Victoria Building. From there we visited Darling Harbour and took in some of Sydney's unique street art and fountains!
We picked up lunch on the way back from the Harbour and decided to eat in Hyde Park, in the shade of several large trees and many of Sydney's skyscrapers. Erika described it best when she said, "It's just like London... except for the palm trees." We made some new bird friends... and foes... but were able to enjoy our lunch. Babushka would be proud as I found a wrap with chicken... and beets!
We continued walking around Hyde Park, made our way to the ANZAC Memorial, and even found some modern art installations in the park that we all really liked. If you know about our travels from last summer, you'll recall that this is especially high praise from us! The exhibit was a series of 98 four-sided pillars, with mirrors on all sides that reflect everything that is changing around them.
Finally, Erika and I finished the day with an organized walking tour of Sydney (like we didn't do this on our own already) and were excited to learn the meaning behind the sites that we'd only guessed at earlier in the day. By 5:00pm, with the sun going down and jet-lag setting in we navigated the gridded streets in Sydney, found our bus line, and went back to Winston Hills for a delicious home-cooked meal with Kristy's family.
Tomorrow we are off bright and early to tour an opera house, climb a big bridge over troubled water, and see some Aussie friends who we've missed very much!
Cheers!
-Simon & Erika
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