Aussie Adventures: Day 5

After a couple long days we wanted something nice and relaxing while we can still see a lot of different things. 

To start off the day we went to go to the Gardens right by the opera house, surrounding the governors home. These were absolutely beautiful. It overlooks the entire Sydney harbor and it is full of interesting things like weird trees, flowers, and sculptures.  

Brittany and I had split off the group and were walking around together. We were captivated by the chandeliers that were in the governors home. There were some cleaners there and he let us inside! It was pretty sweet. That home is absolutely incredible. It was built in the early 1800’s and had most of its original furnishings. It was so lush and posh.

After we finished walking around the gardens we took a ferry out to Darling Harbor. It was a really fun environment. It had a battle ship museum, art museums, titanic museum, malls, shops, and other shops. 

After that we headed straight for the temple! That’s right we went and did baptisms in the Sydney, Australia Temple. This was such a pleasant experience. Getting there, not so much, but everything else about the temple was absolutely wonderful. I truly think that it is one of the most beautiful temples. It is so small but absolutely beautiful. It sits on the top of the hill in a dark area and it literally glows with all of the lights on it.

We had gotten lost and asked the people walking on the streets if they knew where the LDS temple was and a lady we asked said that if we just walk up the hill we will see a pretty white building with a big gold ball on it and that was it! I couldn’t help but laugh when she called the angel Moroni a big gold ball.

I had been in contact with the President Barr, the temple president, for about the last month of New Zealand working something out so we could come and do baptisms. He had told me that they don’t usually do baptisms during the week, but he wanted us to have this experience and so he called in special priesthood holders just for us. When we had gotten there we realized that all the priesthood holders were from their YSA and the YSA couple. That just made me laugh.

After we did baptisms the YSA couple and the YSA men took us girls out to dinner. These guys that we met really are hilarious. They were so sweet and kind. They were so much fun to be around. It was so kind of them to take us out to dinner.

Not only were we not expecting them to take us to dinner but they also took us back to the hotel. On the way home from the hotel they decided, “Oh hey, we will just give you a private tour throughout Sydney too! That would be fun!" And it was. 

They took us down to the Olympic stadium! We were really excited about that because we were planning on going down there by ourselves just to look about it. The YSA leader told us so many interesting things about it that I had no idea. For example, did you know that they build pretty awesome apartments for each individual athlete? The outside of the arena also has all of these poles sticking up out of the ground. You would think that they were just for an artistic touch, but they actually are covered in carved names of all of the athletes.

Going to the temple and meeting these wonderful people was probably the highlight of the entire time in Sydney. 

Aussie Adventures: Day 4

We eagerly woke up early and headed out for the town. I’ve officially decided that the train system in Australia is hands down easier to use than the bus system in New Zealand.

To begin our wonderful time in Sydney we went to Featherdale Wildlife Park. When we got there we met up with Brittany and Micah (2 girls we were in New Zealand with). It was so good to see them! This was probably the coolest thing ever.

Here are some of the highlights:

Petting the Koala Bears: Yes, we got to pet real koala bears. They are absolutely adorable. They have really soft and thick fur with dark, long, sharp nails. Their noses are probably the cutest thing ever.

Feeding the Kangaroos: There were tons and tons of kangaroos just hopping around the park. It was awesome. There were small ones and bigger ones that were so friendly and just wanted to be around people. There were some other kangaroos that were too big and unfriendly that were in their own areas. We were given food in ice cream cones to feed them and it was so funny to see the kangaroos try to take the entire cone from you. It’s amazing how strong those little fellows are!

Tasmanian Devil: I didn’t know these things were actually real but they are! Who knew. They really do just run around in circles. I don’t know why you would want the feeling of constantly being dizzy but apparently they like it.

Birds: My dad had constantly told me that Australia has some amazing birds and wildlife all over the place. When we were here it became evident to me how beautiful some of these birds really are! They have so many different colors that make them so interesting. 

Snakes: I really really hate snakes, but I semi-conquered my fear and held one anyways. It was really gross. 

Penguins: There was an entire area of cute little penguins! Who are we kidding, penguins are adorable.

Crocodile: The crocodile that they have at the park was a little over 12 feet long! This particular crocodile has to be alone at all times due to previously eating the crocodiles he was meant to breed with. Simple misunderstanding.

We then went down to the harbor bridge and the opera house. It’s crazy to think that I was at some of the most famous places in the world. The pictures of the opera house are amazing but nothing compares to actually being there, being able to touch it. We took a tour throughout the opera house and it was so simple, yet elaborate. That building has the best acoustics I have ever heard. We walked into one of the concert halls and a piano was being tuned at the same time. We were at the very top of the theater that seats over 3,000 people, and the piano sounded like we were sitting right next to it.

After we took our lovely tour we were given an awesome offer. If you take the tour of the opera house and their happens to be a big show going on that night you can get tickets for only $25! We were just saying how we were dying to see a show in the opera house and so when we were given this offer we had to do it! The show we got to see was TONY BENNETT! We were all super excited for this. We were sitting on the side but, in the words of Brittany, “close enough to see the bald spot on the drummer.”  He was such a cute old man. If he ever made a mistake he would cover his mouth and open his eyes nice and wide and chuckle at himself. He also was the funniest dancer. When he showed us his awesome dance moves he would cover his mouth and chuckle some more. He also made very powerful eye contact with Brittany and I. Needless to say it was an awesome show.