Sydney!
It's early! 8:45am, to be precise, and I'm sitting in a Starbucks, listening to Ella Fitzgerald, and sipping a vanilla latte. I wish I were rich so that every morning could start like this. . . my hotel is FAB. Right on the harbor, very swank. . . aw, there are the two cutest little birds hopping around the cafe. It's raining outside, and they're taking shelter. Stupid birds. OK, first off, the Sydney Airport is so freaking organized! Granted, we landed at 6am, so there weren't a lot of people around to cause a fuss and make the lines long. But I was still out of there and at the hotel before 8am, which was amazing. Sadly, my hotel room wasn't ready - and after 30 hours of travel from Boston (including layovers), all I wanted was a shower and clean clothes.
Fortunately, my hotel was wonderful. They set me up in the gym so I could shower, and held onto my stuff until the room was ready. And location! Perfect - the Aquarium was right across the street on Darling Harbour, which is where the ferries and water taxis and whatnot live.
I love and live for aquariums, so that was my first stop. The Sydney Aquarium rocks like a big rocking thing. First off, it's a nice size - you can get through it in a few hours without rushing, but there's enough to look at that you don't feel cheated. Secondly (second off?), a kicking shark tank that is seriously the coolest one I've ever seen. You walk down about a million levels to this section that's completely separated from the rest of the Aquarium. Inside the tank itself, it's all gloomy with wonderfully spooky music piped in, and oh, the sharks! Silent and spooky and beautiful. Grey nurse sharks, sting rays, giant turtles (or tortoises, I don't know from shelled creatures), all gliding around you and over you and completely ignoring you. Of course, they probably couldn't actually see us gaping at them, because of the reflective properties of water and whatever. Regardless. Go to the Aquarium. Go early in the morning or late at night, avoid the screaming kiddies, and just bask in the coolness of it.
After the Aquarium, I took a ferry over to The Rocks, which went under the Harbour Bridge and past the Sydney Opera House.
Lex: Is it time to talk about the Sydney Opera House?
Click here to watch Lex get his teach on.
ames: no, we didn't do that until the next day, remember?
Lex: Yes, but I know so much about it! I studied and everything. Dude, I'm so blurry. What happened?
ames: New camera. I was still learning. Be quiet. You can talk about The Rocks.
Lex: Whoo!