Saturday, September 13 me and Jess left the Grand Forks airport for an hour and a half flight to Minneapolis in a tiny airplane. When we arrived at the next airport we had to run to our next terminal to make it there for our next flight. Without time for anything else, we jumped onto the next plane, which was a lot bigger than our last plane. A 3 ½ hour flight brought us to the L.A. airport. We had a few hours to kill there, but first, we had to figure out how to get around the airport, which was huge!! But eventually we made our way to our next terminal and grabbed a bite to eat, then hopped onto our double Decker kangaroo plane, and off to Sydney we finally went! After 15 hours of flying, which mostly consisted of us sleeping and eating, we stepped out into the Australia air! And we loved it! So we grabbed ourselves a taxi and found our way to our Hotel. We stayed at the Glenferrie Lodge for 5 nights, which was a cute little place a short walk away from the Sydney harbour.
So we got to our hotel and turned on our TV, only to find 4 channels, which were all news, so we watched the sunrise show or something. Turns out there was an Australia Olympic homecoming parade, and we thought it might be close to where we were at, so we decided to go for a walk. We walked over the Sydney harbour bridge and ended up at circular quay (pronounced key), we wandered around there for a while, then found where the parade was, so we watched that, which was sweet as! After a lot of picture taking, we took a ferry back to our hotel, and went for an early night.
12 hours of sleep later, we felt great! So we made our way back to circular quay, and checked out some shops, later, we decided to get a tour of the opera house, which was awesome! We had a pretty low key day, and went to bed early again, as we had a big day ahead of us.
The next day we walked over to circular quay again, grabbed some starbucks and hoped onto our tour bus with Activity Tours to the Blue mountains, it contained:
-Visit to Featherdale Wildlife Park, simply the best wildlife park in Sydney. Hand feed Kangaroos, pat Koalas and see over 2000 different types of Australian animals including Crocodiles, Tasmanian Devils, Wombats, Fairy Penguins, Dingoes and Snakes.-Have your photo taken with a Koala
-Receive a Free souvenir Koala
-Stop at the Sydney 2000 Olympic site where you can take photos and see Stadium Australia, The Superdome, The Aquatic Centre, The Olympic Village and more.
-National Park walk to view spectacular water falls
-The Three Sisters at Echo Point - hear the aboriginal story of this world famous rock formation
With our friendly relaxed tours there's the opportunity to meet fellow travellers from many different cultures and countries.
-Walk through temperate rainforests
-Opportunity to purchase authentic returning boomerangs made by one of the local tribes ( while stocks last ) and learn about Aboriginal ( the indigenous people of Australia ) culture.
-Visit the Scenic Skyway, Scenicsender and the Steepest Railway in the world with time to do the rides
-See the mountain villages of Katoomba and Leura ( the heart of the mountains ). See why they call Leura the garden village.
-Breath in the fresh mountain air as you view the huge valleys of Australia's " Grand Canyon " - the Megalong and Jamieson Valleys
-Travel on the spectacular scenic cliff top drive
-Get off the beaten track - visit Sublime Point for the best untouched lookout in the Blue Mountains ( our small group sizes are permitted here ).
-Enjoy afternoon tea in a relaxed country setting.
-Cross the picturesque Nepean River
-Finish your enjoyable day by taking a river cruise ( included ) from Homebush Bay down the Parramatta River and into Sydney Harbour. See the waterfront properties and enjoy the unique views as you go under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and cruise into Sydney Harbour. See the Sydney Opera House close up before arriving at Circular Quay where your tour finishes.
Our last full day in Sydney, we had a nice relaxing morning, then got ready and got dressed up for our last evening alone! So we went for a nice supper and then went to a comedy show at the opera house… just because we could!! It was quite funny, although sometimes inappropriate. But despite that, we enjoyed it. Turned out to be our latest evening out yet.The next day we taxied off to the airport to be picked up by our unknown YWAM friends, to make our way to the base near Wollongong… or the Gong!
