Freedom in Sydney!

I LOVE sydney! I love it, I love it, I love it!! Today was the best day. We finally have a few days where we are totally on our own to do whatever we want to do! Our schedule has been and will be very planned out and so specific cause it is such a short study abroad. So today was perfect and liberating and perfect!

We all were hilariously trying to organize the group with transport passes. It was hectic and chaotic and funny really. 23 BYU kids with travel backpacks all hustling around trying to get out passes, plan our day and figure out the direction we needed to go. After what seemed like forever (15 minutes maybe) we were heading out!

The botanical gardens were first on the list! It was a beautiful park area but considering its "winter" here, the bright flowers were lacking. But we loved the feel of the gardens regardless! It was really neat seeing the background of the city, a huge famous statue, and big palm trees all in the same frame! This city is the perfect blend of differences; You have the city hustle which is pretty mild, the beachy relaxing vibes and the old town brick and historic feel too. It's just the coolest!

The opera house was a only a short walk from the gardens so that was our next destination! Who knew that the different parts of the opera house were separate buildings! Not me! I was shocked! Looking straight on, it looks like one building. Then look from the side and it's different buildings, near each other obviously but not all one! We took some pictures and explored the place! They have operas, plays, and concerts every day! That place is cookin with business! No wonder the facility is fancy and high tech! The bathrooms in the place were maybe the nicest I've ever used!

We planned on getting on a ferry to go down to the Darling Harbor next but they decided to make a super quick detour to The Rocks-old town Sydney, just to check it out. This super quick stopped turned into like 5 hours of our day! My love for Sydney only grew here! The view of the harbor couldn't have been better and we stumbled upon awesome place after awesome place in this part of town. My two favorites were a famous pancake restaurant and a honey store! "Pancakes-on-the-rocks" is the name and i don't think I'll ever have pancakes quite like the ones we ate here. This place must be like the roscoes or harbor house or corky's at home...known/loved by all and open for 24 hours a day 7 days a week! I shared pancakes with fried bananas, chocolate sauce, cream puffs, chocolate ice cream, walnuts and carmel. Heaven in my mouth!! Their menu had so many options, all with a million toppings! We all were drooling and expanding our entire stay at pancake place! Oh the memories! My second favorite "stumble upon," was this honey shop. The table of free sample could have been good enough for me, but then we started talking to the sweet man who owned the shop. He was a dog rescuer and his dogs are all movie stars! Haha it's awesome! His dog is the main dog in the Great Gatsby coming out! He told us all about this healing honey and how he rubs it on his dogs he rescues then they become movies stars! Too funny! Old town Sydney was a ball!

Next stop, Darling harbor! The ferry ride to get there was incredible! It departed right outside the opera house, went under the famous bridge thingy and down the water to the harbor! We got off and took a loop around the main part of the harbor. There were boats and restaurants and people everywhere and we were all on such a happy high from the day! I saw this massive playground and automatically knew I had to play! I ran right up to this huge spider web tower and climbed to the top! The web was awesome but seriously scary if you were a child. It was huge! Even some girls in our group couldn't go to the top cause it was too high! Anyways, i just loved playing on the play ground area. It was childish fun that everyone needs here and there! An attempt at the chinese gardens was made but we ended up continuing wandering around. This is where we stumbled upon another highlight of my day!! So this street magician just ended his act as we walked up and was playing some classic M.J. while he cleaned up his stuff. So, obviously, we begun to dance. Then the magician man started leading us in a dance...felt kinda like Zumba. We were making such a scene, 10 girls and a suited magician dancing in unison, that people started to join! Our very own flash mob was takin place in the center of Darling Harbor! Gosh it was just so dang fun! It only cemented my smile even more!

We left on the best note and headed off for some din din! Waking the street in the city now, made for the best conversation with Katie. Katie is the coolest! I automatically saw so much good in her when we met and have grown to adore her more and more each day. She possesses the most desired qualities and I appreciate the way she makes me a better person by just being around her. We found some extremely average Mediterranean food and chatted some more. We chose just to walk back to the hostel and it worked out nicely. I love walking, we all know that so it was great!

Day 1 in Sydney couldn't have been better! I'm having the time of life and developing friendship and creating memories I'll never forget! I'm so SO thankful that I have my sweet travel buddy, Kenny with me! She's made it so much fun and I just love her forever! Tomorrow is another free day to romp sydney and I can not wait! Hope all is well at home!