The Australian Dragon

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Saturday 20 July 2019 I was up and at it early today and took the scenic 20 minute walk down to Circular Quay to catch my ferry ride to Manly Beach. Along the way I passed through the Royal Gardens and walked along the harbour. It’s incredible how crystal clear their harbor water is! And in total I saw maybe 5 pieces of trash!! It is also the deepest natural harbour in the world reaching a max depth of 60 meters! The ferry was huge holding probably a couple hundred people and the trip was about 30 minutes through the harbour. It gave a beautiful view of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and beautiful rocky coastlines. Manly had a cool beach town feeling to it and was lined on both sides by huge pine trees! And the water was unbelievably clear!!  The story goes that this area was named what it was, because the people who discovered it thought the aboriginal people who were inhabiting the area were very “manly.” I w...

Friday 19 July 2019 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Today I booked a Hop on Hop off bus tour around Sydney, as well as a tour of the Opera House. As I was making my way to the bus stop, I watched it drive away as I was standing waiting to cross just on the other side of the road. A mother and a daughter visiting from North Carolina missed it as well, so we all waited at the stop for the next one to come, getting to know each other in the meantime. The daughter was majoring in Zoology, so naturally, we both geeked out talking about our majors haha! I made it to the Opera House with enough time to take a couple of pictures outside before the crowds came. Once inside… WOW… an architectural masterpiece in every facet! And the story behind it of how its iconic design was originally rejected by the 3 judges, but once the 4th arrived he was the one who saw its potential! Also in the construction of it, it took them 3 years to find the right shape of the shells to where the ou...

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Thursday 18 July 2019 I landed in Sydney at 7:30 am (Australia time) after a 14 hour flight across the Pacific Ocean from LAX… to which I had a 7 hour layover prior. The flight went well, but it was tiresome trying to fall asleep with a new position each time in not the most comfortable seats. Once we landed and all got off the plane the airport adventures began. They had little kiosks for border check-in, in addition to the booths with people. I used the kiosks, but realized later on that meant I never got my international stamp in my passport:( But you would not believe how crazy the lines were at 8 am! Next came the waiting and watching game for my checked luggage. After that, I was off to customs, which thankfully went smoothly! I got out on the other side to finally see my driver who had been waiting a while and was about to call it quits... thank goodness he didn’t! Watching him drive on the right side of the car on the left side of the ...