Tawnya & Jodi's Big Adventure: Sydney I (May 19-23)

Sydney, Australia! Home of the opera house and er...soccer playin pandas?!

And so our adventure in Oz continued in Sydney, tourist mecca of the South Pacific. So we did nothing less than any other nerdy tourist, armed with our city map and camera we attempted to hit all the hot spots and main attractions under a 4 day time limit.

We discovered it to be a fabulous city and likened it to New York, in an Aussie sort of way. A lot smaller than the Big Apple, but huge by our NZ city standards! We realized that it had been a long time since being in a proper "big" city. We stayed right in the center across from Hyde Park which provided us with an excellent vantage point to see all areas of the city almost completely by foot. We did bite the bullet on the last day (kinda backwards) and jumped on the city tour bus which took us where our 'Number One Shoes' couldn't. (Anyone who's been to Auckland has been dragged to that store and loved it!)

Here is a photo tribute to our must see sights in Sydney...all the token Aussie tourist photos included. We had a fantabulous time and discovered that it would be an amazing place to live...hmmmm

DAY ONE

On the way to Darling Harbor:
- a pack of city police
- Tawnya's first encounter with a koala
- the 'pigeons' of oz, these were everywhere, even in food courts, very weird at first, then you kinda just got used to them
- random shots in and around Darling harbor

- Aussie kids on a field trip, coincidently in Aussie colors with Aussie hats!
- Jodi's first encounter with a koala
- Jodi in a tunnel in "The Rocks" area near the bridge, the first settlement in Oz. This tunnel took over 20 years to make as the rock was hand chipped away by prisoners.
- Victorian apts in The Rocks, love these!

- Under the Harbor Bridge and more streets and buildings in the Rocks area. It was here that we realized how much history Australia has and how old it is. This revamped area used to be swarming with disease and crime as a colonial port, lots of cool little alleys and walks which are undoubtedly haunted...