So back from Australia. The trip was good, but every single thing that
could go wrong went wrong with the travel. I've been back for two weeks and I've finally
worked the courage up for writing this. :3
Going to Sydney the
plane had problems(Apparently, there was a fuel leak and the fuel pumps
weren't working right) so we were diverted to Brisbane. Meet these two
awesome couples headed home to Sydney area so I got to hang out and
relax with them. It ended up taking me 6 hours to finally get to Sydney
from Brisbane. Me and my sister did a bit of sightseeing with what was
left of the day, saw the Harbor Bridge (walked across it) and the Sydney
Opera House and just odds and ends. Next day, we flew to Cairns and
after that we walked around it was beautiful and rented a boat to look
for crocodiles. My sister doesn't drive boats really well...and yeah no
crocodiles in sight. Then walked around a bit more and found a Games
Workshop store, got two of the limited edition novella's they had in
stock.
Spent the night in a hostel, then next morning on a boat
to the great barrier reef. Got horribly seasick in front of a lot of
cute guys that where on the boat, but it was still beautiful but sadly
couldn't see the reef well. Spent the evening recovering then the next
day flew back to Sydney. Did more sight seeing, saw Hyde Park and
relaxed more to recover from being ill.
Next day saw the House of
Parliament, State Library and a art museum. The State Library had an
amazing photograph display of pictures all of the world that told
stories they where really touching and interesting.
Sunday, went to
church. Then saw Darling Harbor and Chinatown which where beautiful.
Walked around Hyde Park saw the old barracks and court house in Sydney.
We where wondering why it was so dead as we walked around then we found
out. It was some sort of Catholic holiday when like a 100 priests a
cardinal and a couple thousand people started walking down the street.
My sister literally said, "Is the pope here?" I almost facepalmed.
Evening went to her church at St. Andrew's Cathedral.
Monday,
went to see a whole bunch of old ships. The "free tour" which was
looking at the outside and reading about them as it cost to much to tour
them. Got to go inside a lighthouse also! Which I've wanted to do for
years and here they always cost a ton of money to see. Then went to a
wildlife preserve, saw Kola's, Kangaroos/Wallabies, a huge crocodile and
a ton more animals that the names escape me. Walked more and just went
to random places and went back to the hostel early.
Tuesday,
took a train out to the Blue Mountains. Was a long but nice ride through
the countryside, turned out the Blue Mountains was actually freezing
cold so only stayed a little while mostly saw the "Three Sisters" which
is this rock formation the aboriginals have a interesting story behind.
The whole area is very sacred to the aboriginals so it was neat to see
that bit of history. (Did I mention on the train to and from the Blue
Mountains I re-listened to part of audiobook Abraham Lincoln: Vampire
Hunter? I keep for getting how much I enjoy that book. Went out to eat
and relaxed and went to my sister's bible study(which was erm very
interesting).
Last full day, Wednesday bought some gifts to take home
and took the bus to Watson Harbor and spent a few hours looking around
it was really nice.
I honestly can't remember what day we went to Bondi Beach, but it was beautiful and clean. I really loved it.
Thursday
got to the Airport early. Me and my sister were flying with different
companies/flights but were leaving 30 minutes apart so my parents could
pick us up at the same time. My flight was delayed 10 hours because of
electrical problems(They had to fly a new plane in).
They put me up
in a hotel for the day which I mostly just relaxed and watched TV and
wrote in my traveling journal. Then showered and went back to the
airport and flew home. Again I was blessed had this awesome couple who I
sat by so it wasn't nearly as stressful a flight as I thought it would
be.
US customs where horrible, but at least I was home. Basically,
Australia felt like California except no Latino's and was cleaner and
had weird electrical outlets. Oh and they had accents...:P
