Sydney Sightseeing with the Girls

It's been exactly one week since landing in Sydney although all I've done makes it feel like three weeks have gone by. Picking up from where I left off at Manly, things have gone really well! The girls and I had two more days in Sydney but with checking emails in the hostel internet cafe and figuring out schedules, it was hard to get started before noon both days. On Sunday, Charlotte, Jeanne and I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Sydney by Circular Quay. It was really cool to see the Native Australian art and the pieces were nice - some I would have hung in my own house. But, of course when it comes to contemporary art, there are always the weird things. I couldn't help but let my comments tumble out when we saw the collection of topless photos of a native woman and the HHH photography series by a female artist where all her subjects wear black cloaks with HHH written on the masks.

We met Charlotte's Dutch friends at a cafe and played asshole, or President, a card game that is now quite popular here! They knew what it was before, but I was happy to reignite the spark for this incredible game and we played for an hour at our table after finishing our sandwiches. The boys left us to go to Wollongong (a city just over an hour out of town) and us girls picked up dinner and made our plan. We all agreed to catch a movie and got tickets to see Sherlock Holmes in downtown Sydney. The price for mine, an adult ticket, was $17!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. The girls got to pay a student rate, which was still pricey. We split a large popcorn and a water and watched the movie which is incredible! There's lots of great music, lots of action scenes, some amazing dialogue which I had trouble catching thanks to Robert Downey Jr.'s impeccable Holmes interpretation, and a great performance by Jude and Rachel. The story was great, I highly recommend the movie. We finished off the night with drinks at the local bar and I went back up to my hostel room. The other three girls were sleeping and I was the last to come in.

The following day was Charlotte's and my 'admin' day. I opened up a bank account and Charlotte talked to a travel agent about sightseeing options. The travel agency we went to, called Tribal Travel, is co-owned by a Torontonian guy who I chatted with about missing Timmy's and Kraft Dinner. He'd been living here for five years and hasn't gone back to Canada! The girls and I then mooched through the botanic gardens which are amazing. It's so cool to be in the middle of what looks like a rain forest, and then look up to see the tall buildings of Sydney. The Flying Foxes, or 'vampire bats' as they look like to me, are everywhere, dangling upside down from the trees. My co-worker Mary D. told me about them and they didn't disappoint. Our last few days in Sydney were really great but I think I'm ready for Dane's and Melbourne now. I meet Dane at 5pm tomorrow (Monday)... updates to follow!

(Pic: Flying Foxes hanging upside at Botanic Gardens)