My trip to Australia - Part 1 -

Hello guys, about 10 days have passed since I got back from my trip to Australia. It was sooooooo great! I was going to update my blog while I was there, but I had so many events that had no time to do that. My stay was short, but I just cannot find any words to describe how much fun I had during those two weeks.Today I'd like to share some pics that I took during my trip.


As I told you before, what made this trip special was the fact that it was my first overseas trip. For this reason, my flight to Sydney was one of the most important parts that I was excited about in my trip. This time I used cheap flights from Jetstar.com , and also I booked window seats so I wouldn't miss the beautiful view from the window. Luckily I got to see the earliest(maybe) sunrise in the world through the window  and it was really amazing.  Although I couldn't sleep at all on the plane(because I was too excited), my 10 hour flight was pretty good - I enjoyed watching some new released movies and listening to music, etc,.


After the transfer in Gold Coast (I changed my cloths at the airport -  cause you know, now it's summer in the southern hemisphere, so it was fricking hot and muggy! I had 2 opposite seasons in just 24 hours...crazy, isn't it?) I flew to Sydney airport, and there I finally met Kara, my friend from Canberra, for the first time in 2 years. She used to be an exchange student at my university in 2009, and I was a tutor of her as a member of a volunteer club for exchange students. She is now still studying education at the University of Canberra to become a P.E. teacher. She is the best friend overseas I have ever met, and since she went back to Canberra I was really looking forward to seeing her again.She came to Sydney airport all the way from Canberra to see me, and was waiting for me in front of the exit. On seeing me she ran to me and gave me a big hug. I was so happy that I felt like I was dreaming. 


Sydney


Sydney was such a big and beautiful city. Not to say it is as big as Tokyo(Of course the scale is much bigger than Tokyo,though), there were a lot of skyscrapers and traditional buildings everywhere. Even though I'm not really used to such a big city since my hometown is kinda country, I came to like this city quickly because it was clean & not as busy as big cities in Japan, such as Tokyo and Osaka.

Queen Victoria building

Sydney tower

The first thing that surprised me when I came to Sydney was that there were a lot of Chinese people on the streets and at first I even felt as if I came to China, not to Australia lol.I guess this is because there is a big China town in the downtown area, but I'm not sure because I don't see so many Chinese people even though we have a big Chinatown in my place as well.

Especially the harbor area was really beautiful and I liked it a lot. After meeting up with Kara at the Sydney airport, we had lunch at a nice restaurant viewing this beautiful harbor, and walked around this area.

My first meal in Australia! 

9 AUD. It was really good, a little too much for me,though.

At the Sydney harbor, there were some Aboliginal people playing live with their traditional instruments. Their music was pretty cool.

Opera House! 

Sydney Harbour Bridge.

There were a lot of people running on the bridge. Not only on the bridge, I saw lots of people running as exercise everywhere in the town. 

 The view of the harbor from this bridge was fantastic.We didn't go bridge climbing tho - because it was too expensive.

This is the hostel called  Westend Backpackers Sydney that we stayed in while we were in Sydney(About 30 AUD per night). Staying in a cheap hostel was a good experience for me, even though we got in a small trouble; Kara booked a female room with 6 beds beforehand for the sake of security, but when we went into the room after check-in, what we saw was 3  British + 1 French guys !!!! It turned out to be a mistake by the staff and we asked them if we could change the room, but it was too late. We ended up staying the first 2 nights in a unisex room with 6 beds, with those 4 guys. At first I was a little worried about getting in troubles since it was the first time I shared a room with people whom I never met. But actually, they were pretty nice people. I gave the French guy a Hachimaki(Japanese headband - like this) with the word 日本(Japan) on it that I brought as a souvenir from Japan, which made him sooooo happy. He thanked me again and again (which even surprised me lol)because he was a huge fan of Japanese anime and movies. On the 2nd evening a new person came to stay in our room, and happily enough, she was Japanese who is currently working as a physical therapist in Kanagawa!! She was on holiday at that time and was sightsee ingSydney just like we were. What a small world!! She, Kara and I hit it off immediately and went out for dinner together in the evening. It was such a good encounter. 

Sydney's night was also amazing.  Especially the night view of the harbor area was breathtaking. Sorry the pics below that I took there are not enough to tell you how beautiful they really were.

  

We had some night explorations in the city of Sydney as well, and it was so much fun! We went to some fancy pubs and bars too, and every time Kara tried to get me drunk(In fact I'm not a strong drinker). At night time, there were a few security guards standing at the entrance of each restaurant and bar, and foreigners including me had to show passports or ID cards to them. Foods were more expensive than those in Japan, but always really good and made me full. I miss them so much right now!!!!

On the 2nd day in Sydney, we took a ferry from the harbor and headed for Taronga Zoo , one of the biggest Zoos in Sydney. The zoo was so huge and there were a lot of unique animals I never saw in zoos in Japan. 

  

Koalas were always sleeping. I think maybe he was hangover.

Giraffes are always able to view the beautiful Sydney harbor from where they are. Jealous.

A Kangaroo! Isn't she cute! 

A different type of Kangaroo.I love the way they are in this pic. 

One thing that I liked about Zoos in Australia is they tried to keep the animals as wild as possible. In most of the zoos that I've visited in Japan, the animals are usually in a small cages or on the concrete floors, so they look a little cramped to me and I don't really like it. This zoo was located on the low mountain and surrounded by trees and bushes, so it made me feel like I was exploring in a deep forest or in a jungle. The animals were playing freely, and thus they even looked happier. 

I had a really good time in Sydney and and I felt I wanted to live there. I highly recommend you to visit this wonderful city if you've never been there, I'm sure you'll like there. Will put up some pics soon of Canberra in the next post.Ciao!