Day 3 in Sydney

G'day mates!

I figured that was a phrase that was just used in the U.S. a lot to portray Aussies.. little did I know they really use it... A LOT!

So we are just starting out our 3rd day here in Sydney. A little disappointed this morning.. due to the wonderful weather we have been having here, our hot air balloon ride was cancelled. We will be calling them shortly to see if we can reschedule for tomorrow.. our only open day left. I just peeked outside and the skies are relatively clear (or partly fine as they like to say here). Should be a pretty good day.. for SURFING!!

I guess maybe I should start from the beginning of our trip for those of you who did not receive my email.

The flight here from LA was not near as bad as I thought. I got to watch the first ten-15 minutes of Benjamin Button and Rachel Getting Married before I fell asleep. Then after I got a good 8 hours of sleep I watched Doubt and all but the last ten minutes of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Then it was time to land in Sydney!!

We made it through customs, so easy! And we boarded our train to take us to our hotel. Once we stepped off the train we were greeted by both the Sydney Opera House AND the Harbor Bridge.

We made it to our hotel.. the plush Marriott right in the middle of everything. We can see the Opera House from our window in our room.. very cool!



Once we unloaded we were off to Circular Quay (pronounced KEY) and got our tickets for that afternoon's ferry ride.

Since we had a couple of hours to kill and we weren't tired due to our sleep on the plane, we decided to head over to Sydney Tower to do the SkyWalk experience, where you are literally strapped to the building walking over glass platforms. We got to see the city from VERY high up! It was awesome! I never realized how HUGE Sydney was.. they say that if you start driving from the middle of Sydney in any direction, you can drive for 2 hours and you will still be in Sydney.. just to give you some perspective.

After the Tower we went on our harbor cruise, it was informative but kind of cheesy.. Then we (or I) decided to end the day at 5pm. After numerous attempts to wake me up.. Brian gave up and let me sleep for a full 12 hours.. the jet lag finally kicked in!

We had an early start the next morning with a backstage tour of the Sydney Opera House. It was awe-inspiring! We got to see the insides and backstage's of each of the 5 venues. Then we ate breakfast in the green room amongst staff and performers. We were so impressed, we decided to book tickets for Thursday's showing of Jerry Springer: The Opera.. yeah you read that right! How could we miss a show like that!!

Then, after an afternoon of naps and exploring the city by monorail, we went on the famous Bridge Climb.. SO AWESOME!!

We were lead by a very nice looking Aussie named Dylan.. a little too short for me.. sad I know! All was great as we ascended the bridge.. until we reached the top.. when a huge rainstorm came through. We decided to wait it out.. at the top of the bridge (not the best place to wait out a rainstorm in my opinion) so that we could still get good pictures. Although we were pretty wet.. it made for a better adventure right?? It finally cleared and the pictures were taken, and we began our descent. It was definitely a very cool experience everyone should get the opportunity to try!

We were so exhausted by our two climbing trips for the day, and since we had to be up at 4am to go ballooning, we went to bed early again.. at least I did : )

We woke up at 4am only to be disappointed with the news that our trip had been canceled.. so we replanned our day. First we are going to be doing a hop on hop off bus tour of the city. And once we stop at Bondi (pronounced Bond-eye) Beach.. we are going to go SURFING!!!! I thought it would take some work convincing Brian to surf, but he is all about it!!

Alright.. that leads me to right now.. waiting for our bus tour to start (its only 8:46am here).

Hopefully I will update you again tomorrow!

Also, I plan on posting pictures to go along with corresponding posts when I get back from my trip. It is an easy way to show everyone my pictures!!

Until a later time!

Amber