little girl, big cities

*view from the Circular Quay train platform*  You can't go to Sydney and not check out the Opera House at least  once. You can go and admire the building from the train platform or the top of the steps leading up to it, you could take in the view from a boat in the harbor, you could take an aerial approach and gaze at it from the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge; you can take a tour of the building, or you could even take in the view from your seat at a show, smiling like an idiot the entire time. Basically, it's a requirement in some way, shape or form, to get your butt down to the Opera House and just soak up it's awesomeness.  You could even just sit around and have an awesome time, drinking awesome shooters, and listen to awesome music, and then just soak up it's awesomeness (there's an indoor/outdoor Opera Bar on the lower level).  *Opera Bar* *North Shore High School* So whether you're pretending to be Cady Heron for the nig...

Sunday funday was filled with early morning mass, a walk through the botanical gardens, a quick stop by the opera house, and a trip across the harbor to Manly beach. Not a bad day down under if I do say so myself. Sydney does 3 things exceptionally well: their french fries, their coffee, and their beaches.  They're almost as beautiful as they are delicious:  But with Sydney-siders doing well in 3 of my favorite departments, I don't think I'm ever going to want to leave.  Cheers Katie

(cont.) After hanging out with our furry friends, we left through the gift shop and I thought it'd be a fabulous idea to pick up an Australian flag as a little room decor for when I got home. Picking up the flag, I was confused, and then pretty quickly after that absolutely horrified when I noticed that there was a spider the size of a golf ball clinging to the corner of it. I dropped it and almost started crying, a woman started laughing at me, she passed me a spider free flag (that she inspected herself to make sure it was safe), and I felt like I was going to throw up for the next two hours. Great fun. After a quick stop for lunch in a town at the base of the mountains, we started our drive up to the top, finally arriving in Katoomba and stopping at a place called Echo Point to have a look at the Three Sister rock formation. After that, an aboriginal guide gave a talk about aboriginal culture (and even had us participate in a traditional dance - pretty rad ...

First stop of the day was the Featherdale Zoo and the only thing on my mind was the kangaroos I was going to be petting and feeding for an hour of pure bliss.  Never have I ever been more excited to be at a zoo lemme tell you. I was actually jumping up and down like a sugared up 5 year old kid I was so excited. B ut first, we hung out with some other pretty rad wildlife for a bit.  I almost cried I was so excited when we entered the kangaroo pen. Little kangaroo food in a waffle cone??? Best $1 I ever spent. (And going back for round two later on was a no brainer.) Small, cute, furry little things, I was tempted to put one (or six) into my purse to take home. And as if I wasn't happy enough, we went on to the koalas and got to pet them (super furry and adorable I want 7). And then some penguins. And then of course back to the kangaroos again. (co...