We have finally safely arrived in Australia, all excited and all healthy. š
As a group we never stop going, once off the plane we made our way to Kings Cross with some interesting shuttle rides to say the least. As many of us noticed Sydney was not quite what we expected. We all felt a bit at home in our cities with the 7/11’s on every street corner and the loads of people filling the sidewalks. As we arrived at the hostel we all felt a little out of place to some extent. For those who have yet to experience college dorm life the hostel MAZE was a place to start with all sorts of craziness and a full weekly schedule ofĀ party events. Getting in late to Sydney we decided to go explore with the group. We explored Darling Harbor at night, having such amazing leaders who never seem to make anything boring Dan and Greta led us to the ferry terminal for a 10:30pm tour and Sydney at night is so breathtaking from the lit up bridge and the twinkling Opera House there’s nothing anyone can do but realize how incredibly lucky we all are. On the way back to Maze I started to realize how much I am going to miss every single person on this trip. We have all gotten so close to each other and have made relationships with on another that no matter what you’ll always have some to lean on our laugh with we have made it this far with no flights some flaws but nothing we hold on to for more then a day.
Day two in Sydney was a late start because we had the luxury of sleeping in! As always we had something fun planed for the day, thanks to Casey and Kristen who put together a Scavenger hunt for the group. We basically had all day to go around the city and get the answers to the questions or even act things out, such as ” Make a proposal to your partner and have a passer by take a picture of the event.” Or ” Photo Bomb a picture.” The scavenger hunt ended at meeting at Manly beach with a BBQ idem giving to each pair at the beginning of the hunt. We all ended up getting on the same ferry to Manly beach ironic that we all are starting to think alike. On the ferry ride Andrea and Alistair acted their proposal out in front of everyone Andrea did the asking and Alistair who gave off the surprised face unfortunately declined which then ended with Andrea’s acting skills of a slapping him in the face… yikes. When we arrived at Manly beach we all went our wondered around and for us California girls we felt at home with surfers and ice cream everywhere! Later at the BBQ we had a feast of Prawns on the Barbie and hot dogs and veggies with a lovely treat of ice cream sandwiches. As Dan and Greta added up points from the hunt the winners were of course the team of three Matt, Alistair and Andrea their prize was a triple chocolate cake! If only we knew…Ā Having a lovely time all together some of the group met some locals and even though we’ll remember them it’s possible that they will not remember us. Then again it is summertime Down Under and all anyone can do is have a good time. On the ferry back to the Harbor all of us a little sleepy from the days adventure we all continued to laugh and joke and congratulate our winners.
Day Three in Sydney was our free day! Some of the group went back to Manly Beach and the others went to Bondi Beach for surfing! Matt, Alistair, Francesca, Krysten and Caroline(me) got a free ride with a local church group run by a university in the area. We met some very cool people including Pedro our surf teacher from Brazil who is also a Pro Surfer, and two other girls that I couldn’t remember their names even if I tried and another American from Chicago who was a very nice guy as well. The whole group fed us Nutella and bread and juice as well. Can’t complain. The day was beautiful and the water was so clear that you could see everything. The beach was packed as well, We started the day around 8am and spent a lot of time at the beach until 1pm or so the 5 of us got lunch and strolled the Art by the Sea which was basically very abstract art sculptures on the cliffs along side the ocean. Back in Kings Cross we did not have much time to get ready for our show at the Opera House! That’s rightttt Opera House show! When we finally all arrived we got our tickets to a show called No Mans Land, I am not the best person to ask what the show was about but it was basically a 4 man show.. I think.. I fell asleep.. oops. It was still very exciting to be watching a show there so no complaints. After the show we split again for food and more sightseeing some of us got sushi and some walked across the bridge. We all went to sleep for our last night at Maze and woke up ready to go to the Yoga Retreat!
Stay Trendy Sydney.
Caroline Malloy