It's near to the end of my 2nd week in Australia.
Unlike other countries I have visited recently, I had no problems entering Syndey at all. It was a bit strange at the airport to have my bags examined by a sniffer dog, on the way out, (every passenger leaving the terminal had to fill out a card of contact information and then leave their bags on the floor while a dog walks past them).
I am currently in Sydney. I've been doing lots of tourist things recently; visiting museums and shopping, reading maps in the street, walking really slowly in the street, annoying people by counting change and deciphering currency denominations at the cash register, eating a range of vastly different food each day, drinking beer at any time of the day, paying for things with a UK credit card - it not working - then saying "but my bank told me this card would work anywhere in the world" (to be fair, this has only happend once in 3 months), walking against the crowd flow in packed train stations, carrying a full back pack on a rush hour train, spending twice as long at an ATM while the Australian cash machine figues out that my card is foreign and other such incidents.
A few highlights so far have included Sydney Harbour Bridge at sunrise, which was incredible. I will get some pictures soon of it. We weren't allowed to take cameras up with us but we had a few photos taken from the staff. My aunt works there too, so she will hopefully pass on some pictures which I can upload.
Another highlight was seeing my cousins and aunt, who I saw last probably 5 years ago.
This is a group shot that I have of us on Sydney Harbour Bridge. On the far left of the picture is me, next to one of my cousins. In front of me is my aunt and next to her is my other cousin.
Another highlight was being probably a few feet from the biggest crocodile I have ever seen in real life. The crocodile was housed behind the thinnest sheet of glass I had ever seen in an aquarium. It was as single pane of glass that was normal glass thickness. It looked like you could have smashed the glass by punching it. and then been engulfed by dying tropical fish and crocodile.
The croc was in Sydney Wildlife World.
Another highlight was taking this next picture. Not so much a highlight, but reduced me to tears of laughter for about 10 minutes.
It is a picture of my cousin's calculator. He's 17 and currently studying for his HSC exams. He is studying Mathematics and so has to use this scientific calculator. He also has a story to go with the picture on how he and his firneds discovered this and the teachers reaction to them discovering it. The story is hilarious, mainly due to my cousin's portayal of the short-sighted teacher peering at the screen of the calculator. Maybe I'll film him telling the story.
I present to you the Casio fx-9869G AU model's ALPHA button (aka the cock button).
There have been lots of other things that have been interesting too. Some pictures:
Interesting fact: koalas sleep for 18 to 22 hours a day due to the fact that they only eat eucalyptus leaves and so don't have much energy. This is contrary to popular belief that koalas are always tripping off their faces and so are quite dopey. This is actually because a) they have a lack of energy and b) because they are pretty dumb animals in the first place. they have tiny brains. Oh, and they aren't in any way related to the "bear".
Being a a wannabe connisseur of escalator travel, I also have an interesting observation about Sydney escalator ettiquette, but I'll probably confine it to my own personal store of useless information, only for use in pub quizzes or obscure Who Wants To Be a Millionaire game questions. Or maybe I'll tell you if I'm drunk.
Unlike other countries I have visited recently, I had no problems entering Syndey at all. It was a bit strange at the airport to have my bags examined by a sniffer dog, on the way out, (every passenger leaving the terminal had to fill out a card of contact information and then leave their bags on the floor while a dog walks past them).
I am currently in Sydney. I've been doing lots of tourist things recently; visiting museums and shopping, reading maps in the street, walking really slowly in the street, annoying people by counting change and deciphering currency denominations at the cash register, eating a range of vastly different food each day, drinking beer at any time of the day, paying for things with a UK credit card - it not working - then saying "but my bank told me this card would work anywhere in the world" (to be fair, this has only happend once in 3 months), walking against the crowd flow in packed train stations, carrying a full back pack on a rush hour train, spending twice as long at an ATM while the Australian cash machine figues out that my card is foreign and other such incidents.
A few highlights so far have included Sydney Harbour Bridge at sunrise, which was incredible. I will get some pictures soon of it. We weren't allowed to take cameras up with us but we had a few photos taken from the staff. My aunt works there too, so she will hopefully pass on some pictures which I can upload.
Another highlight was seeing my cousins and aunt, who I saw last probably 5 years ago.
This is a group shot that I have of us on Sydney Harbour Bridge. On the far left of the picture is me, next to one of my cousins. In front of me is my aunt and next to her is my other cousin.
Another highlight was being probably a few feet from the biggest crocodile I have ever seen in real life. The crocodile was housed behind the thinnest sheet of glass I had ever seen in an aquarium. It was as single pane of glass that was normal glass thickness. It looked like you could have smashed the glass by punching it. and then been engulfed by dying tropical fish and crocodile.
The croc was in Sydney Wildlife World.
Another highlight was taking this next picture. Not so much a highlight, but reduced me to tears of laughter for about 10 minutes.
It is a picture of my cousin's calculator. He's 17 and currently studying for his HSC exams. He is studying Mathematics and so has to use this scientific calculator. He also has a story to go with the picture on how he and his firneds discovered this and the teachers reaction to them discovering it. The story is hilarious, mainly due to my cousin's portayal of the short-sighted teacher peering at the screen of the calculator. Maybe I'll film him telling the story.
I present to you the Casio fx-9869G AU model's ALPHA button (aka the cock button).
There have been lots of other things that have been interesting too. Some pictures:
Interesting fact: koalas sleep for 18 to 22 hours a day due to the fact that they only eat eucalyptus leaves and so don't have much energy. This is contrary to popular belief that koalas are always tripping off their faces and so are quite dopey. This is actually because a) they have a lack of energy and b) because they are pretty dumb animals in the first place. they have tiny brains. Oh, and they aren't in any way related to the "bear".
Being a a wannabe connisseur of escalator travel, I also have an interesting observation about Sydney escalator ettiquette, but I'll probably confine it to my own personal store of useless information, only for use in pub quizzes or obscure Who Wants To Be a Millionaire game questions. Or maybe I'll tell you if I'm drunk.
I need to know about this escalator thing Raven... got me worried now!
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