Day 2 of my adventure!

We awoke bright and early Thursday morning to beging our Sydney tour day! We first went to Hyde Park, which is situated in the middle of Sydney. It is beautiful! There are trees, fountains, statues, everywhere you look! The wildlife isn't half bad either. There were birds, frogs, geckos, possums (not like the possums in American, these possums were furry and adorable!), and lots of other fascinating creatures! We walked around Hyde Park for awhile. Russ pointed out museums and statues that were of historical importance. We then crossed a street and sat by a fountain with a gorgeous Catholic cathedral in the distance. Russ explained to us some differences between the states and Australia. He talked about the usage of drugs, alcohol, even prostitution (it's legal here). After that talk, we continued our walk. Russ talked about the terms malls and arcades. Arcades aren't like the ones back in the states, arcades were alleyway like areas inbetween shopping centers. Inside these arcades were more stores. We walked through some and they were very pretty! We stopped by the Sydney Hospital which was very tiny! Not like the hospitals I'm used to! Although it was tiny, like everything else in Australia, it was very beautiful! After the hospital, we walked over the the Art Gallery of New South Wales. We just sat on the steps and rested for awhile. We had been walking for about and hour and a half at this point.. we were a little tired! We then proceeded to the Botanic Gardens. The trees were absolutly breathtaking! I had never seen anything so beautiful! My favorite part, however, was when we walked past a school field trip! We passed about 20 kindergartners n rain ponchos! They were adorable!! Russ talked about all the laws that are currently protecting this garden area. If it wasn't for these laws, the park wouldn't exist, there would be buildings galore. An interesting fact is that the laws are so strict that when buildings go up around the park, they cannot cast a shadow on it. That's why the buildings have funky shapes to them! We proceeded through the park until we came up this large tree. Russ mysteriously walked away and when he came back, upon his shoulders sat two cockatoos. They were adorable! He then handed us slices of bread and told us to hold them up in the air, and the cockatoos will come right to you! So I did as I was told, and in no time, cockatoos came flying to me! It was really cool!! The cockatoo began to walk up my arm and it freaked me out.. haha. He kept walking until he got to my shoulder; it was there that he sat for awhile! It was adorable!
After feeding the cockatoos, we rounded the corner and there I saw it: the Sydney Opera House. It was stunning. It was more beautiful than I ever imagined it to be! It looked like it was floating on the river.. breathtaking! We stood alongside the river for awhile and took pictures. We then walked around the river to go directly to the Opera House. The closer I got, the weirder it looked! The panels on the side, and open front, made it look like snails.. haha. Still beautiful though! Russ explained that there were different buildings inside the the Opera house: the far right is the concert hall and drama theatre, the middle was the main opera house, and the far left was a resteraunt. The Opera House was our last stop on our Sydney walking tour! We were now off to a wildlife zoo!
Right as we got off the bus we were greeted by a joey! It was the cutest thing i've ever seen! He was wrapped up in a blanket.. adorable! I cannot even begin to talk about everything that I saw inside the zoo, so I'll give you some main highlights! The only animals really fenced in were the birds, otherwise, the "fences" consisted of one wooden bar. So kangaroos, emus, and wallabys were just roaming around! It was pretty cool.. you could just go up to them and pet them or feed them. They are such gentle creatures! Except for this one wallaby.. I had food in my hands and he started jumping up and grabbing it out of my hands! It was cute yet scary all at the same time!
After the wildlife zoo, we went back to our hotel! We had the night off and we took advantage of that! A couple of us went out and experience the Sydney night life first hand! I had a blast!
until next time!!