Awesome Sydney!

Sydney's Harbor Bridge
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19 hours of travel time brought us into Sydney, Australia.  One tip:  don't book a budget accomodation after a  19 hour trip, we didn't and I don't know what I would have done if we did.  After 17 hours in a plane you really want a good shower and a good bed.  We spent our first day in Sydney relaxing and adjusting.  We just so happened to arrive on Anzac Day which is like Veteran's Day.  This is the only day 2 up is legal.  2 up is a gambling game that is played in every pub in Australia on Anzac day.  Everyone get around in a circle and you bet on whether or not the two coins flipping in the air are going to come up heads or tails of one of each.  Everyone gets drunk and bets and sometimesthe bar offers drinks, like free round if 2 heads come up.  pretty fun.

The Bats that live in the Botanical Gardens
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Sydney is clean and beautiful and they speak english so that was a good feeling.  It was nice to not have to plan my sentences before speaking.  We did it all in the first 2 days a city tour in a open top bus, the martime museum, the botanical gardens, Darling Harbor, the aquarium, we went to a musical "Dusty" about Dusty Springfield the singer and we went to the Toronga Zoo.

Then Kate ad Maffu, our aussie mates we met on the Galapagos Cruise, picked us up and took us through a whole bunch of things they planned.  the First night we went to the Gold Class movies which is the BEST!!  You pay more for the seats, but you sit in recliners and they bring you your food, snacks and drinks right to your table at any time you want(Ben relax maybe they will bring the concept to the US).  It is a great way to see a movie and much thanks to our mates who brought us there.

Sub at the Martime Museum
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The next day we did Bridge Climb.  This is where you climb the aussie beloved Harbor Bridge.  It is a great time and I highly recommend it.  Pictures speak louder than words to I will leave you to see them.  That afternoon we got lunch, which for me was fish and chip (everywhere here) and for michael was Kebab (the other fast food everywhere here) and rented a boat to take out in Manly the beach just north of Sydney by drive or ferry.  The water was pretty rough so we just stayed out long enough for lunch and to enjoy some warm weather.  We headed back that evening to our mates' house for our big night out. We went to dinner in "the Cross" which is a chic area of Sydney, which is ironically the red light district.  We had a great dinner at a hip spot and then walked around to take in the "scenery"  pretty interesting.  We were going to go to a club, but I was still not adjusted to the time and I couldn't make it as I was literally falling asleep in the car.

Toronga Zoo
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The next day we went to a market In Gleb which is a cute bohimian area of town. And that night our mates hosted a BBQ at their house and had a bunch of friends over. Literally there were "Shrimp on the Barbie", but that saying is weird because they call them prawns.  It was a great time, we played Tabu and the girls won of course. But what was nice about the whole time was that it felt like home, like something normal and not a travel thing.

The last full day with our friends we went to a rugby match.  it was a really cool game because it was 2 rival teams, Manly v Palmaetta, with a lot of history between them and it was a close game down to the last second! After the game we had dinner at a fabulous Vietnamese restaurant.  the Asian food here is really good,the Mexican food is terrible, but the Asian food is great.

Michael and Maafu cooking Shrimps on the Barbie
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We left our friends for 3 days and spent our time in Manly a beach just north of Sydney(you can reach Sydney on the ferry).  And that is where we learned to shread!! Yup we took surf lessons and are now officially surfers.  Yes we got up and I am a little bit better than Michael, but I also had surfed before in Hawaii.  In Manly we spent most of our time on the beach.  We also stayed at a pub stay.  Which is just a hotel over the bar. There are a lot of pub stays in Oz (that's Australian for Australia).

Darling Harbor
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We had one last Kebab with our friends that last night in Sydney then it was off to Melbourne.

Overall Sydney is a phenominal city! (much better than another Sydney we know)

See ya Sydney!