The plural of Platypus is…Platypuses! Guess where I learned that? The Sydney Aquarium!

Today was one of the greatest days I have ever experienced. We woke up early to take the express train to Sydney. I said goodbye to the quiet mountains and beaches of Austinmer and hello to the city of Sydney. After dropping my bag off at a hostel, we ventured to Paddy’s Market, which is a good old-fashioned flea market. Jake and I went and explored the Sydney Aquarium while Cait went to see an old marine ship exhibit because she had seen the aquarium a few weeks earlier. The aquarium has two underwater glass encased tunnels, which fish and rays and sharks and dugongs (sea cows) swim all around you. I loved seeing the marine life that Australia has to offer.

Next door to the Sydney Aquarium is Wildlife Sydney. It’s pretty much a zoo that has many animals that are indigenous to Australia. Originally, we were only going to go to the aquarium, but then a cute girl was standing outside holding a cool looking lizard so we decided to check it out. The power of marketing eh? I’m really glad we decided to go to Wildlife Sydney, because I got a chance to see Kangaroos, wallabies, and Koalas! There were also emus, crocodiles, a plethora of poisonous snakes, many colourful birds, and a whole lot more. I’ll upload pictures when I get a chance.

From there, we met back up with Cait and headed to the Centerpoint Building, which has the most amazing food court ever. It’s a very posh area, so all of the food vendors were very high quality as if you were ordering from a real sit down restaurant, but the prices were very affordable. I had pad thai and it was delicious.

Then, we headed to the Royal Botanical Gardens. Wowzers. What an absolutely beautiful area. The plants and the trees were breathtaking. There were so many birds, and hundreds of HUGE bats resting in the treetops. I walked around for about 2 and a half hours just taking everything in. I got some wicked shots of a monstrous spider that I’ll be sure to post later.

The Operah House was the next stop on the “see Sydney in a day” trip. I didn’t go on a tour, but I walked inside the building and took lots of pictures. Maybe I’ll save the tour for a rainy day.

To cap it all off, in the evening we went to an Open Air Movie on the harbour. This was such a cool experience. A big screen was put up on the waterfront overlooking the Opera House and the Harbourfront Bridge. After dinner and drinks (fish and chips) we sat down to watch a screening of Crazy Stupid Love.

I said goodbye to Jake’s family, and now I’m writing from my hostel bed. I’m Scuba Diving in the morning! Its gonna be really hard to top today!