- At the airport in Sydney we met Matt Krok and Ben and Abby.
Who is Matt Krock? Matt Krok and his family are saints. Sister Krock was serving a mission in Invercargill. Upon hearing that we were traveling to Sydney she opened up her parent's house to us. Her parents are also serving a mission (in Japan?) and so the house is lived in and operated by friends and family. This is code for "this house is always full of young single adults.)
At this particular time the Krok resident was a hotel for about 14 NZ kids. Dang. They really were looking out for us. I truly learned a lot about being a good Samaritan during my time in Australia. - Matt took our bags to his house and so we could go see the city. So we didn't waste any time. First stop: Darling Harbor. Okay, so it wasn't actually our first stop. We may or may not have gotten a bit disoriented at the Central Point For some reason I really struggle when I can't navigate by mountains. AND it was drizzly. I had no idea where the sun was so I had no idea where East was. So we wondered around buildings that eerily reminded me of Wall Street. Until BAM! There it was. Shopping central: Darling Harbor. We saw this really awesome swirling fountain of doom.
(Across the harbor and near the tall buildings is where the Aquarium is. Just for future reference)We also hit up Chinatown. I really think that China will one day rule the world. They just keep staking out major cities. One day, you just wait, they'll all blitz the place and suddenly we'll find ourselves waving the red flag with yellow stars. But until that day, we can all appreciate the cheap shopping such Chinatowns provide. I got some magnets, postcards, boomerangs, kangaroo crossing signs, and some sweet earrings.
And then at 3:42 we had to start walking because we have no rented car. :( We are reliant on the public system and the bus doesn't run very late. Public transportation now holds a special place in my heart. I have grown very close to the bus schedules and train patterns.
- Town hall= get on train, ride for a long time, off at...
- Parrmatta= take bus 603 to .....
- Castle Towers = wait for a long time next to the bench where the birds filled the trees. And I mean filled. I felt like I was in the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds. The sound was deafening. Get on the 639 bus and this is the only bus NOT covered by our pass so we had to pay $4.
I told the bus driver, "If I have to pay that much every night I'm a goner. What if I make you cookies?" *laughter*
"Where are you from?"
"The States-Utah"
"You Mormon? Yeah my brother is there. Actually I knew you were either Christian or Mormon when you offered cookies."
That bus driver's name is Tony.
Here is a few of our crew enjoying one of our many hours on one of our many buses.
- Then we hopped off that bus to get right on another bus. We didn't get off at a stop or anything, the bus drivers just tell us that our transfer is here and then we transfer onto the other bus on the street. I guess they're all just tight like that.
- So we got on this other bus and I saw a girl holding flowers and asked her if it was for a special occasion. She said it was her 21st birthday. I said, "Well, what's your name and we'll sing to you." So we sang happy birthday to Caitlin. We were only there just long enough to sing and then we were told to get off the bus (because our transfer was there, not because of our singing) and then we got on the
- last bus with the old man driver who had to get directions to our stop from a teenage boy.
- Then we were off at Jones St. and looked for number 6.
Wednesday, April 6th
I'll spare you the details, but we took 4 hours of public transportation getting to the city. The highlight of today's agenda: Opera House. This is Erin inside the Opera House. I took the picture and right behind me there is a guy washing the windows outside the Opera House. Check out my listitup blog to see Cool Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Sydney Opera House.
We also got to see Kurt Elling rehearsing. Can I say that almost nothing is better than free live music.
After the tour we had lunch and checked out the Botanical gardens.
Here is us at the Wishing Tree. Instructions: walk around three times forwards and three times backwards and then make a wish.
We also made a point to find (or make) 42 Wallaby Way, as in the very 42 Wallaby Way of P. Sherman from the movie Finding Nemo.
Then Brooke, Stefanie, and Erin went to a show at the Opera House while Megan, Mary, and I checked out the bridge and went home. We spent a lot of time talking to Paul. Paul also lives in the Krok's house. (Below is the view of the Opera House from the Bridge)
Thursday, April 17
Paul rode with us on the bus. He works at a bakery.
We are actually getting to know a few bus drivers. They love us. Maybe they just love us for our accents.
After we did an awesome job with our buses and trains we got to see the Sydney Aquarium. That is a real shark you see pictured. They have gigantic tubes you can walk through and you are surrounded by sharks. That was a pretty cool thing to see but didn't make for such cool pictures. 
I turned around. He was talking to me!?
He said, "You want a tasty kebab? They are so delicious"
"This man is going to swindle me into buying a kebab," I thought. But that was okay because it was a kebab.
He turns to the lady behind the counter and says, "Whatever this girl wants she gets. Okay? It's all on me"
And then it occurs to me that I am being hit on by NOT the store owner. Yikes! He offered to take me in his jeep to see the city tomorrow night.
I ran away.
Friday, April 18
Today we took the ferry to Manly Beach. It was drizzly and so it wasn't the best day. But that didn't stop us from having fun in the sand.
And of course you have to look MANLY on Manly Beach
Then we split up: Brooke, Mary, and Stefanie went to Paddy's Market again while Megan, Erin, and I had the most amazing adventure. In fact, this adventure is so amazing that it must be written in a separate post.
Since it takes us 4 hours to get home and the latest one of the buses runs is around 7:30, most of our days end around 4. That kind of puts a damper on a vacation. And that REALLY bites if you want to see the Opera House at night.
Solution: rent a car.
So we rented a car for one night and got to see Sydney thriving in the dark.
Note: the picture does not do it justice
Saturday, April 19
It's a good thing we rented that van because the buses don't run on Saturdays. Whose idea was that? So we packed the car with as much luggage as possible and then Mary and Erin drove us to the nearest train station. Erin and Mary took the luggage and met us at the airport. Megan, Stefanie, Brooke, and myself lugged what didn't fit in the car as we took a few trains to the Sydney airport. It looks like a fairly simple procedure when typed in an orderly paragraph but I assure you that today was nothing short of hectic.
We met KPax and Haeree's group at the Sydney airport. That was a joyous reunion if I have ever had one. Yelling and hugs and songs all around. No one really understands the bond we all share. I'm not even sure if any of us in the bond understand it. But for some reason we just love each other. A lot. And if we cause a scene in a major airport, who cares?
We flew from Sydney to Auckland and we left Megan there where she will be for 5 days...alone...while she waits for her family to come enjoy New Zealand with her. That was heartbreaking. She cried. We cried. We left. She stayed.
And then we landed in Fiji....
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