Sydney

Alright, alright!!
Here goes:

Saturday
We arrived in Sydney early in the morning after our 7am flight (apparently there is a 4:30 in the morning) and after running around the airport in our free shuttle picking up people, we arrived at our hostel.
We knew that Kings Cross was a sketchy place, but we had no idea. There was a sea of neon signs selling sex and sex related toys.
We decided dump our stuff at the "Funk House" where we were staying and get walking!
Our first stop in the rain and fog was the ANZAC memorial.The artifacts and history within the memorial were stunning and the view through Hyde park made the city look like it was in the midst's of spring instead of winter.

In search of food we stumbled upon the the hyde park barracks museum








The museum, while small provided an amazing amount of information and fantastic artifacts from when it opened in 1817. Seeing the difficulty that faced those that first settled here was frightening and amazing that they the artifacts still existed (more mouse bones then I would have liked but whatever).

After our walk we decided the CBD was the place for food. A quick Kebab and we were back on our feet to Darling Harbour, and little did we know there was a huge Jazz festival going on!

The coolest thing ever has to be the pontoon stage, in the middle of the Quay. We sat and listened to some African jazz before moving on the second of three stages and a little shopping in the mall (we bought art!) and then onto the third stage and a walk through the Chinese Peace Garden.
One more classic jazz stage and it was time
for dinner in China town.

A dumpling dinner was the best call for us, as we weren't feeling that adventurous. We didn't realise when we sat down, but we were sitting under a flat screen TV that was airing the World Cup game. I thought they were just amazed at how many dumpling my fat ass was able to pack in!
After our dinner it was a quick train ride back to Kings Cross (what a difference at night time!) and then back to Darling Harbour for a mini pub crawl with Loz.

While no pictures of our encounter exist to protect the innocent, let me just say that Loz is one cool gal. If she and I lived in the same city I think we would be fast friends (not that we aren't now). Her expertise of the city meant we were able to hit up some great bars and even got a ride home! She did lock her doors right after dropping us off, which was a tad distressing. We crashed in our cold hostel room sans hookers and with multiple layers of clothes to protect us from the rampant STDs living in the sheets.


Sunday
In the morning TFG was a sweetie and ran out to get coffee and a "Pie Face" Pie.

Little did he know, but at 7:30 in the morning, all the hookers are out on the prowl, and they are the only ones there. TFG, not being a patron of their services, and it being very early was silly and went to a bank machine. They were like flies to honey. He made the mad dash back the hostel and refused to leave again without me.





























We then made our way down to the Central Quay, walking through the Botanical Gardens.
It was still rainy and gross (I could have used a pair of mittens) so we decided we should do a tour of the Sydney Opera House. I didn't realise this, but the opera house is actually three different buildings and can't house a large scale opera! After a fantastic thirty minute tour of buildings, we took a stroll through the central quay and over to "The Rocks"












We got this beautiful view of the bridge and went through the markets, picking up little gifts for our family.
We watched extravagant candy being made and had some testers, but at $6 for a 50 gram bag, we weren't biting.










A quick tour through the Museum of Contemporary Art, and a look at an exhibit by Sam Taylor-Wood of crying actors and it was back to the hostel.

A quick rest and it was time for a walk around the Kings Cross Area, outside of the two block radius around Darlinghurst road contained some of the most beautiful houses we had seen!





The sun peaked only to set, and we caught a glimpse of light against the high rise apartments across the water, and a little rainbow.
We were in a park with lovely ponds and gold fish bigger then my head.
They were a little odd.


After a quick dinner (not goldfish) we were off to an IMAX movie (I love those things, and it was in 3D no less).


Our Adventures to Manly to come, I must be off.