We left Hobart around 5:30 at night and arrived in Sydney around 7. Not a long flight at all and I read the entire way there so it went by quickly. We took the train to Kings Cross to the hostel that we booked for the weekend. Lindsay or I had never stayed in a hostel before and for all of you thinking about the movie where people get chopped up and killed.....it is NOTHING like that. This place was very safe and kinda more cool to stay in than a hotel. Also we learned that Kings Cross is the prostitute area and the place to go out for a good time. No worries didn't see any and we both had enough money that we didn't have to work the corner for a few extra bucks. ; ) We got a 4 person room so when we showed up we were sharing with two other guys that were from Germany. They turned out to be really nice and oddly enough it wasn't weird to stay in a room with two people you didn't know. I think that everyone just seems to feel comfortable and want to do their own thing that they don't get in anyone else's way. So here is a picture of the hostel (sign), our room and the toiletries that they left in the room. Yes those are condoms...don't worry mom and aunt Kathy, we didn't have any use for them.
Lindsay and I chose not to eat before we got on the plane because we were dying to get some good sushi. We were lucky enough to have a japanese restaurant that was right next to the hostel we were staying at. So we popped on over next store to the Moonstruck (I believe that was the name) restaurant and dined on some sushi. I got a california roll, a prawn roll and miso soup. And Lindsay got the rainbow roll, salmon roll and tuna roll. She really wanted eel but they ran out and she was not happy about it, yet the food was still awesome. Here is a picture of her rainbow roll. Very colorful.
The food was awesome and we were full so we decided to take a walk and explore a bit before returning to the hostel. We were located on Victoria Street in Kings Cross which is a busy street so we walked down to see what else there was to see. There were plenty of restaurants and shops and bars so we decided to keep those in mind for the next day. We did end up stopping at a gelato shop and got some. The place was PACKED but we soon found out why because it was awesome!!! Not that expensive and just to die for it was so good. We headed back to the hostel after our gelato and head off to bed because of the big day we had planned.
We woke up around 8 or so and headed down to breakfast which they served free of charge. I hear that most hostels don't do this and it was one of the reasons we stayed here. So after breakfast we head off to the Paddington Market that our friend aka Tasmanian mom told us to go to. So off we walked which was about a 20 minute walk away and headed off to find something to buy. Here is a picture of the market area. Oh and by the way, we had the best weather here except for maybe a few hours.
Can you believe that the first thing we found to buy was something to eat. It was a blueberry muffin and it was the best muffin that we have ever eaten. It was fresh and full of blueberries. Here is Lindsay very excited about eating it.
No worries after the muffin we went real shopping and I ended up buying a thin silver ring that I have been wanting forever and Lindsay bought a dress. One of the best things about Australia is all the markets that they have. So if you have markets around where you live go out and support those people. Some do it for a living and you can really find some cool things. But back to Sydney....so after the market we walked back to the hostel to drop off our stuff and then decided we waited long enough and it was time to see the Opera House. So off we walked and headed up to the Mrs. Macquaries Bushland Walk. It took us about 20-30 minutes to walk around this and finally coming over a hill we saw it. This was the image we saw and I will never forget it.
It was so surreal that I still can't believe I have seen it, let alone touched it. I have waited forever to see this building and I still have trouble believing it as I am writing this and even showing you the pictures. So here are a few pictures of the Opera House and the bridge with and without Lindsay and I in it.
After spending about an hour taking pictures and walking and staring at the Opera house we decided we were very hungry. So what better meal to have was fish and chips. We had been waiting all day to get some and so we did. We sat in the harbor, ate and enjoyed the beautiful day that we were having.
After lunch we moved onto the Rocks which is on the other side of the harbor and there was another market going on here. This one was not as good as the Paddington market and it actually reminded us of state fair where they sell stuff in the expo center. So we left that area and had a seat and a drink at the Lowenbrau. Finally a good german beer. But the real show was this dog that was there. It was like no one had ever seen a dog this big, so people just kept coming up to take pictures and try to pet it. It was insane how many people came by and actually got annoying. We were sitting right behind it so we were all in the action and probably most of the pictures. Here is my beer and the dog.
We decided to then take the ferry over to Manly so we could see the Opera house from the water at night. The ride over was a little chilly now that the sun was going down. And then on the way back it was a little wavy. So as we were sitting in the front, the ferry hit a huge wave and it splashed a ton of water up and soaked us! Here we are soaked and now inside since we were freezing.
After the waves calmed down we moved back outside to get some amazing pictures. Here is the Opera house at night. It is just as incredible at night as it is during the day.
Once we got back onto land we walked back to the hostel to shower and get ready for the night. Since we had walked down Victoria Street the night before we found a restaurant that we wanted to try out. It was called Mad Pizza and bar and it had the best pizza that we have had so far in Australia. We got a half and half so we could try more than one of their choices. So on one half there was pumpkin, feta, cheese and onion and then on the other side there was pepperoni, kalamata olives and cheese. Both were incredible. Here is a picture of half of it because we were so hungry that I forgot to take a picture before we began eating it.
If you could believe it we still had time to do one more thing before turning in for the night. We went to the pub that was really close to our hostel called the Kings Cross hotel. It had five levels on it, each one catering to a different theme. We mostly stayed on the bottom level and just hung out but moved up to each level to check them out. After seeing that they weren't as good as the bottom level we headed back down. Some guys approached us and we all began talking. They were from Ireland and were pretty cool, but because Lindsay and I were so exhausted we headed home. But I leave you with a picture of Lindsay and I enjoying ourself at the bar and just loving life!
Day 2 of Sydney will be coming soon!
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