Part 2, Week 5: February 18-24
- Katie and Webster
- Feb 23, 2019
- 4 min read
This week we finished up our before school travels and arrived in Sydney.
On Monday, we enjoyed a sunny day in Adelaide! Webster was dying to get out for a game of golf, so we woke up bright and early so he could play before it got too hot. I came along as the professional photographer and caddy for the morning. He played really well and I had fun driving the cart around all morning.
We had a quiet afternoon enjoying some lunch in the city centre. I got my necklace cleaned at the mall and we looked through some shops.
In the evening we went to see A Star Is Born FINALLY. We went to the premiere with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in London four months ago but still hadn’t seen the movie. We went to a little local theatre because the tickets were really reasonable. We ended up watching the movie in a theatre with only 12 seats! It was a great movie and the small theatre setting was really neat too.
On Tuesday we spent most of our morning and early afternoon touring the Adelaide Oval. The Oval is a big stadium used for cricket, rugby, and soccer. We were lucky to be on a very small tour with a very passionate guide who made sure we saw everything we could. The highlights of the tour were going inside the old scoreboard, visiting the players change room, and walking out on the pitch.
After the Oval, we headed back into town to visit a Farmers Market for lunch. The prices were a little bit higher than we expected but it was fun to see what all the stands were offering.
Our next stop was Haigh’s Chocolate Factory. We had seen lots of advertisements for this chocolate factory, so we had to check it out. We were able to get on a tour in the afternoon to see how and where they make their chocolates. Haigh’s is only in Australia but has been family owned since they opened. Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos, but it was still a great tour. We really recommend it if you are ever in Adelaide, it was completely free, and they give you lots of samples :)
We ended our evening at the Fringe Festival watching street performers. The Fringe Festival is a big outside arts festival where people sing, dance, unicycle, do any “act” they can to make some money - it was really interesting!
On our way back we quickly stopped in a restaurant called Wok In A Box. Surprisingly, it was SO yummy and very reasonably priced.
On Wednesday, we woke up early to head to Sydney! Our flight was about 2 hours and 20 minutes but we ended up being delayed by 45 minutes. We arrived in the city at 2pm, got an airport shuttle, and headed to our AirBnB. In Sydney, we are staying in two places during our four months here. For the first five and a half weeks we are staying with a family in a little suburb outside of the city. They have a beautiful home and are very friendly. They have a little boy Gabriel, who is on vacation and we haven’t met yet, and a puppy, Luca! We really lucked out! We spent our evening settling in and getting some groceries for the week.
On Thursday, we had a nice sleep in and got most of our laundry done. We were both exhausted from travelling for over a month and sightseeing so we wanted a day to just relax. In the evening we did some shopping to get Webster’s bike helmet, school supplies, and lunch containers for school.
On Friday, I had my first day of school! It was exchange student orientation. I took the train out to my campus, which is 40 minutes outside Sydney for a full day of programming. We were welcomed to the campus from administration and then had a morning of learning about Australian culture. In the afternoon I got to meet other exchange students from all over the world. I made sure I knew where all my classes were before coming home so I would be all set when classes begin. It was a good, but long day!
Webster spent the morning at home relaxing and unpacking a little more. In the afternoon he went into the city centre to pickup his new bike! Webster is planning to bike to school every day because transport is pretty expensive. He was lucky to find a great quality, used bike in our area.
On Saturday, we enjoyed a big breakfast at our AirBnB and then headed to the waterfront to see the Opera House! The weather has been gross and rainy the entire time we have been here so we were hoping for a sunny day. Sadly, it rained off and on all day so we didn’t get to explore as much as we wanted. We headed back into the city centre to wander around, find some lunch and browse some souvenir shops.
We finished our night with a Netflix movie!
On Sunday, we woke up really early and had pancakes! The funny ones that come in a jug…so weird! Then we headed off to the Botanical Gardens for a great view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. It was the FIRST sunny day we had since we arrived, so we wanted to make the most of it. We walked through the gardens all the way to the shore. There were tons of yachts and big boats anchored in the harbour, even a few cruise ships in the port. We spent some time wandering around the shore and taking photos - it was beautiful!
In the afternoon we met with some other exchange students who are in Sydney for school. We went to a cool rooftop bar and chatted about school, where we travelled before arriving in Sydney and what we plan to do afterwards. It was nice to chat with some other people who were also new to the city. We made plans to catch up next weekend and go to the beach (if it is sunny!).
In the evening, we got some laundry done, prepped lunches for the week, and wrote the blog. This week coming up, Webster has some school orientation activities and I am on a mission to find a job! Our list of things to do in Sydney is 3 pages long already, so we will keep you posted on our adventures!
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