Ryan's Semester Down Under: July 11th 2016 Exploring Sydney and The Shire

First night at Weerona was interesting a lot of pros about my room and many cons about my room, but I really don't want to complain because I am out in Australia.

This morning Jacinta picked me up at 8 a.m. and we drove into Sydney. The night before I did some research at what I wanted to see and the first stop was the Queen Victoria Building. The QVB had very pretty architecture. All of the shops inside were high end, Coach, Louis Vuitton, etc., so I didn't attempt to go in any (plus I don't really like shopping). Jacinta took me to the second floor and we stopped at this clock.

Here is a shot of the clock from the third floor. They had another clock on the other side but it wasn't as cool and as this one.

As the clock struck ten many parts started to move along with bells ringing. We walked around and took pictures. The dome was beautiful and was very colorful.

We walked along the second floor and all of the fancy shops that we briefly window shopped at and made our way down to the middle of the QVB and took some pictures of the dome and the stained glass and the dome.

Here is a shot of the dome taken from the third floor and the colors that were around it.

Here is a shot from the ground floor.

While in the QVB, I asked Jacinta what is the main type of tea that is in Australia and she said she would explain later. Later after taking a few photos she pulls out her phone and says, "Oh it's down in the basement." I asked what was and all she said was, "Just follow" (and that is how a lot of the day played out where I didn't ask where we were going but just to follow), She took me down to a tea store called T2 that had tons of different tea blends and flavored sugars. I tried a French Earl Grey with some Cherry Sugar in it they had out for testers and it was delicious.

When we left T2 Jacinta explained that some shopping centers are connected underground. So, you could enter one and go to another one and exit in a different part of the city that you entered in.

We then walked out down to a Lindt Chocolate Cafe. Now, Jacinta had warned me about Australians speaking fast and I definitely ran into that there. I ordered a Dark Coconut Hot Chocolate and Ham and Cheese Croissant. They had a special that if you spend $15 you get two free Lindt Chocolate bars I didn't understand what she was saying but in the end I ended up with two free dark chocolate bars.

We stayed there and Jacinta's sister Kate met us for tea/hot chocolate and then we took off again and headed towards The Rocks.

I didn't take too many pictures here which I regret but mainly what it is the Historical District of Sydney with buildings from the early 1900's and so on. There was a little museum we walked through that told the history of Sydney and its early inhabitants. We then walked out to the Harbor and we sat enjoyed the view of the Sydney Opera House.

When we got there I just wanted to sit there across the harbor from it because it made me feel like I was really in Australia because of how iconic it is. We snapped a few photos and then kept walking

This is me just trying to be artsy.

This is the customs house and on the ground floor there is a glass floor with a model of Sydney under it that you can walk over. We walked over it then headed to Sydney's largest bookstore and then back to the car.

Jacinta drove me out of the city via the Anzac Bridge. The bridge' s name stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corp. On one side there is a statue of an Australian Soldier facing a New Zealand soldier. Jacinta then drove me through a couple different districts. I soon learned to just let Jacinta drive without asking where we were going.

Jacinta started to drive down a road with tall trees and bushes on either side and started telling me that this is her favorite place and she goes here every New Years Day. She then pulled off into a parking space and saw some people watching the humpback whales breach off the coast. Then I went off and took multiple photos of the surrounding area.