Sydney day 3

Waking up again at 5 am, I grabbed some Cocoa Puffs and ate breakfast on the rooftop one last time and enjoyed the dawn of Sydney Harbour. My tour guide once again was outside ready for me when I came downstairs. So nice- worth every penny I paid to not have to navigate around the city to find our meeting spot. 

Today was spent mostly outside of Sydney. First stop was Featherdale Wildlife park. I think I had a permasmile as I walked through taking pictures of all of the animals and dreaming of all of the cool things I'm going to get to teach my class this year!! I kinda feel sorry for all of my parents this year because every kid is going to want to be some sort of weird Australian animal for our First grade play after I get done with them! 

I got to pet a koala... 

Feed Kangaroos... Fun fact- did you know there are twice as many kangaroos in Australia than there are people? 

Listen to kookaburras.... (Those suckers are loud!!- totally had flashbacks of Mr. Clifton, my third grade exchange teacher from Australia, singing "kookaburra sits in an old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he.." I sang it the whole way through the park, haha) 

Wallow with wallabies and wombats... Yes, wallabies and kangaroos were just roaming all around- I almost stepped back onto a kangaroo tail at one point!!! 

You could pet them, then eat them if you wanted to! If it wouldn't have been $15, I would have bought for you to try. 

We stopped at the blue mountains! Beautiful... I ate lunch at a cafe with this view... FYI if you order lemonade in Australia, expect something more like Sprite...

Our tour guide described this place as "the Grand Canyon with gum trees". Very accurate description. It was majestic- just off the left on this pic is what they call "the three sisters" rock formation. He told me some sort of legend about it, but I already forgot it. You can't really tell in this pic, but there is actually a very distint blue haze over these mountains. In case you were curious like me, I asked him what makes it blue-- he said it is the light reflecting off of the oils from the eucalyptus trees, similar to the reason the sky is blue. I bought it. 

I rode the glass bottomed cable car across the canyon ... my stomach only did one little flip the first time I looked down, then it was fun! 

Haha, that actually just looks like a bowl of broccoli.... 

And I rode the worlds steepest railway down into the valley... it felt more like a rollercoaster without seatbelts- 52 degree incline

We stopped at the 2000 Olympic Games sight... we didn't get much time here because we got stuck in traffic, but Manchester United was playing a game there tonight, and this is where the big rugby match was last night! 

I had a sweet family from Canada (French candada) "adopt" me for the day- they had two sweet girls in college that had traveled to Europe alone so they knew my position. They were precious- mom and dad didnt really speak much English, but they looked after me everywhere we went which I loved! 

After a day paked full of adventure, I was exhausted! Me and the girl from Canada curled up and took a nap on the bus back. The bus dropped us off and I had to take the ferry back to Darling Harbour. Aboard the ferry a young man from Germany must have thought I looked lonely and he sat down next to me. He had been studying in Perth and was just taking time to travel around, he had $10 to his name until Sunday... I told him about Ramen Noodles. It's wild how many people I've met from Germany! I have only met one couple from the states! There are so many young people here, I haven't met anyone really close to my age, they are either in college or much older. Why did I not do this earlier? Oh ya, no money. 

and next began the transfer to bondi beach hostel... 

FIRST time to take a city bus (I think) 

With some help from the people at the hostel, I designed a gameplan. The bus stop was about a 15 minute walk from my hostel. Totally not excited about carrying my bags that far, I decided to suck it up. I'm not going to lie- I was a little anxious about looking like a tourist in downtown Sydney, but I just kept telling myself, look like you know what you are doing and they wont notice the 40 pounds of luggage you are toting around! I made it to the bus stop with only a few strange looks. The driver told me where to get off, and showed me where to go, it was about a 10 minute walk. Well once I got off and turned the corner it was a dark street with no traffic. I had little mom and nanny voices in my head and I decided to turn around. I was standing at the corner trying to decide if I should take a taxi or just go for it. Just then a sweet older lady  (aka angel from God) walked by and I straight up asked her if I should be walking down that street alone. I felt the hesitation in her voice and was immediately glad I had thought twice about it. She said I need to take another bus that will get me closer. Welp I only had 1 bus ticket that had already been used. Then she gave me hers!!!! Awwww!!! Seriously... Angel from God. Feeling silly waiting for the bus for 30 mins when I could have walked there in 10,  I made it safe and sound (and exhausted and hungry with blisters and sore shoulders from carrying my bags for an hour and a half) Great times!!! :) 

So when I booked this hostel I knew it would be more on the "surfer side" being at Bondi Beach. However, I did not know it was going to border homeless shelter. In an attempt to make friendly conversation with the lovely gentlemen checked me in, he told me he had been to Texas 13 years ago. I said he must not have liked it if he hadn't been back since then. He said he would love to go back but he got kicked out of the states and since 911 they wont' let him go back because of his "record".... yikes, so glad to know that Australia has decided to let him be in charge of a youth hostel now. Way to believe in second chances.. Don't worry, I snapped a pick of this guy because the story isn't half as good without an image... 

To confirm my akward feelings about this hostel, I make it to my room. It is an absolute pig sty, please see below... 

The pictures don't do it justice because you can't see the dirty dishes or smell the awful stench. Good news, I had a super friendly roommate from India--- she lives there! So, it was like I was staying in her bedroom. She had been there for 4 months. Not daring to venture out in a new neighborhood at 9:00 at night I ate a Lara bar, (thank goodness I brought those!) Face Timed with Andrew and went to bed hungry. Needless to say I slept with one eye open all night. 

SO SO SO glad Ky made me bring her sheet covers!!! Imagine a sleeping bag made out of sheets- those babies were the only reason I didn't go to sleep crying. THANK YOU KY!!!!