Australia's New York

 

It was Friday morning 5:00 AM and the four of us (Naoka, Walter, Nerida and I) were checking if we had everything we needed, because we would leave for the Gold Coast Airport at 6:15 AM. The flight to Sydney took about an hour, and when we got in the taxi on our way into the city, the road was packed because that weekend was the 'Mardi Gras'. The Mardi Gras is a parade especially organized for people who are homosexual, trans-gender, lesbian, etc. Unfortunately we didn't get to go there because of another party.

Reunited with the Sydney exchanges

The Sydney Tower Eye

Anyway, when we finally got to the hotel where the parents would stay, we dropped off our bags and went sight seeing in Sydney. We first went to Paddy's, which is a big market with lots of souvenir shops and cheap things. After Paddy's walked through the city, had something to drink (a chocolate macchiato!), we went to the Queen Victoria Building, and then walked to the Sydney Tower Eye. When we went up the tower, the view was just stunning. You could see all of Sydney, and wow that is a big city! I think that if you add the area of Brisbane to the area of Sydney, you have the whole area of the Netherlands.
When we had seen the beautiful 360 degrees view and had taken a million pictures, we walked back and passed the famous Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. This was amazing too. From the Sydney Tower Eye you could see it, but its size wasn't really clear, but when we walked underneath it, it was so big.

 

The Opera House was incredible too. We didn't get to actually go inside (Nerida said that the inside isn't even that nice), but the outside was great. In total the building cost 40 million dollars (which is a lot more than it was meant to be), and it was built especially for the Olympic Games.
When we had seen the Opera House from up close, we raced back to the hotel, got ready, and caught a cab to Vapiano's. We waited for a little while, and then we heard people call our names... It was the other exchanges!! Jo, Jas, Alex, and Tash were the first of the Sydney exchanges to arrive at Vapiano's, where we had agreed to meet and have dinner. After half an hour, the boys finally arrived too. It was really good to see them, and catch up with them. It literally was like we had never been apart, it was really nice (the food too ;) and I had a great time!

The amazing pool!

After we had said our good-byes, Naoka and I caught the bus to Circular Quay, the ferry station. We took the ferry to another part of Sydney, because Naoka's sister had hired a house there, where we would stay the next two days. Her other sisters and their partners and children stayed there as well. The house was A-MA-ZING. It was huge and on the top floor, there was the greatest pool you will ever see. It was heated and one side was made of glass where the water ran over the side like an infinity pool. We didn't go for a swim though, and we went to bed quite early, because the next day would be very busy.
When I woke up, everyone was already up 'n running. I had breakfast and then got straight to work. Nimm's birthday was nautical themed so we had to decorate everything, get all the food and drinks ready, etc. Everyone was dressed up and they looked very nice. I did go for a swim at night, and it was so good! The party was about 8 hours long, so when everyone had finally left I was pretty exhausted and went straight to bed.

 

The next morning I was the last to wake up again. The whole morning I relaxed in the pool, but unfortunately we had to leave around 12:30 PM, to meet Walter and Nerida at Circular Quay. We had lunch at a small bakery, and we caught cab back to Sydney airport…

My weekend was amazing, and one to never forget! I especially like Sydney because every part of the city is different; one area might look like some tropical town, while another place looks like a harbour, and again somewhere else in Sydney it might seem as if you are in a big city like New York. I loved it, and really would like to come back there sometime.