 There are amazing types of buildings found on Sydney Harbour. We enjoyed seeing them while on a Captain Cook Cruise. (Click on photos for larger images.)
Part One
My trip to Sydney
THURSDAY AND FRIDAY—Because this past weekend was Easter, the entire university had Friday and Monday off, followed by a tuition free week. I don’t have classes on Thursday, so this means that I get an eleven-day vacation!
Heather’s mom, grandma and cousin were planning a trip down to visit her, and I was invited as well. The plan was to meet in Sydney, spend a couple of days sightseeing, and spend the rest of the week back in Perth. Heather and I were scheduled to fly out on the red-eye flight on Thursday, and the flight did happen. It was just the problem of getting to the airport which posed more of a challenge. I plan on writing about my trip to Sydney for the next couple of weeks, so I’ll give you the whole story later!
 Photo, right: Darling Harbour in Sydney.
We made it to the Sydney international airport (where we were going to meet Heather’s family), only to find out that their plane was delayed and we had an extra two hours to spend in the airport. At this point, I was pretty tired, and I know Heather was too; so all we wanted to do was get to the hotel, take a shower and relax. Well, we waited and found Heather’s family and took a shuttle to our hotel, The Menzies. This is a beautiful hotel, located within walking distance to two of the main attractions in Sydney, Sydney Harbour and Darling Harbour. We settled into our hotel and made our plans for the day. Friday was to be spent in Darling Harbour, followed by an early night, and Saturday was going to be spent in Sydney Harbour, with plans for Sunday to be determined later.
Darling Harbour is a large part of Sydney, filled with many little shops and exhibits to look at. There is an amusement park located at Darling Harbour as well as many other activities, including the aquarium, to enjoy. After a considerable amount of walking, and being awake for nearly thirty-two hours straight, I slept almost thirteen hours before I had to get up and take part in more sightseeing.
SATURDAY—Although not all of our activities were planned out before traveling to Sydney, we did plan on taking a boat cruise of Sydney Harbour. We took one through the Captain Cook Cruises and had a great time. Not only did we get to see the main sights of Sydney Harbour, but we also got to learn about the suburbs of the area. Due to the popularity of the Harbour, waterfront property is very highly valued and houses seem to be built one on top of another in order to make the most of the space. While the weather was far from perfect towards the end of the cruise, we still got to see an amazing amount of sights, and didn’t get too wet in the process!
 Photo, right: Heather and I standing in front of the tallest shell of the Opera House.
After the cruise, we walked around the Harbour in an area called The Rocks and took a tour of the Sydney Opera House. What an amazing building! We then had some dinner and returned back to the hotel. Heather, her cousin, and I took a walk back down to the Harbour to get some pictures of the Bridge and the Opera House at night.
SUNDAY—Since Sunday was Easter, we found a church to go to, and then returned to our hotel and got ready for another day down by the Harbour. Heather’s cousin, Jean, had been talking constantly about doing the Bridge Climb, since she didn’t ever plan on returning to Sydney again. We looked into this and found out that there was room for Jeannie, Heather, and I to climb the bridge at 5:15 that evening. I was a little nervous, but I’m not sure if anything can compare to the adrenaline I felt during the abseiling, so I went for it. The view of the city was amazing, especially since we got to see the sunset and the moonrise during our climb. When we finally reached the top of the bridge, we took a couple of moments to realize what we had actually done…I still find it hard to believe! The climb down wasn’t too exciting, but it’s a pretty steep trip. We were all pretty tired after the climb, so we went back to the hotel and then Heather and I walked back to the Harbour to take some more pictures.
 Photo, left: We reached the upper arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge during our guided climb. At the summit, the 360-degree view is spectacular. The climb is a 3-1/2 hour experience.
MONDAY—This morning, we spent a little more time wandering around downtown, had some breakfast and made our trip back to the airport. It was a quick trip across Australia, but definitely one of the most enjoyable parts of my trip so far!
Until next week,
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