dude, where are the whales?

g'day from sydney! so i got into sydney yesterday to meet up with the fam for the weekend before bringing them back to melbourne for the week. i got in at about 3:10ish in the afternoon and caught the shuttle to the hotel. ahh, i also forgot how much i love staying into hotels over hostels. you never realize how luck you are until you are forced to backpack around australia sleeping from one hostel to the next. now, don't get me wrong...i've met some awesome people and had some great times at these various hostels and backpackers resorts but there is nothing like a nice hotel. ahh, sweet life.

so it was a beautiful day in sydney when i arrived....about 75-80 degrees which was a nice contrast from the 65-70 of melbourne. we didn't do much last night as they are still pretty jetlagged so it just mainly consisted of me writing emails just to stay up later last night. i felt like an idiot because i shouldve called sam and stella then but it completely slipped my mind. i also feel bad asking the fam to let me go out because they are here to see me and so i feel obligated/i want to spend as much time with them as possible.

today, was pretty great. i got to see the harbour bridge and the opera house which were honestly two of my main objectives in this trip. i mean, i think thats the main objective for at least 99.5% of the people who come here. and it was a gorgeous day so it was absolutely perfect. the opera house was as unbelievable as the pictures make it out to be and the INSIDE is even more outstanding than the outside. we went on a guided tour and we had a great tour guide named Peter who was very engaging, funny and intelligent. my favorite part was definitely the concert hall which holds the largest pipe organ in the world. over 10,000 PIPES! insane!! the hall itself was absolutely outstanding and definitely the highlight of the entire structure. i learned so much that i would have never known about the strucutre and everything so if you ever get to australia (which you must) and you ever get to sydney (which you will) you must go on the opera house tour. trust me, looking at it from the outside is a great post card but seeing it from the inside is magical.

now, i really wanted to explore the rest of the city...check out the chinese gardens, the royal botanical gardens, the government buildings, maybe the aquarium (with the largest collection of species from the great barrier reef)...you know, do all the touristy things that you are supposed to do. but, the fam really wanted to go whale watching (which i have never done), so i was down for it. we got on the cruise boat and made our way throught the habour (which i didn't realize how HUGE it was...and beautiful) and into the pacific. we were cruising a long in the pacific when all of a sudden we ran into this storm. smack. i felt like i was in castaway without being castaway so i guess it was more like the perfect storm...but you get the picture. up and down, side to side...i definitely was very very very queesy throughout the whole ordeal. and we tried to ride through it but it definitely wasn't working and the storm wasn't holding up at all so we ended up having to turn around. goodbye whales. actually more like, dude...where are the whales? so, on my first trip to go whale watching i don't even get to see any whales. i saw some when i was at fraser island and i didn't even have to leave the shore. so i think that when it comes to whales...i'm going to stick to the beach and seaworld.

by the time we got off of the water, everyone was pretty starved. so we ran some errands and ended up going to this dinner across the street from the hotel called "mama's kitchen". it was actually delicious. i had pesto pasta with chicken which was phenonemal and also Pumpkin soup. i know alycia, you're proud of me. so now we're back at the hotel just relaxing because tomorrow we're going to the blue mountains! i might go and hang out with sam at her apartment later but i am strangely tired and we have to be up way early in the morning for our trip. but yes, i am soooo happy that i am going to the blue mountains because it was definitely on my top 10 of places that i wanted to see in australia. and sofar number 1 and number 2 have yet to be fulfilled (the rock and the reef). but about that...i'm hoping to get at least ONE of those done after my exams are over because i found out earlier this week that i have about 11 days between my last exam and when i leave for the states (don't even get me started on that). so i definitely need to organize a trip of some sort. i also decided that i want to come back to sydney again with some friends because not only did i really not to get to explore the city as much as i would have liked...well actually that is the main reason. oh, and i also definitely want to be able to hang out with sam and stella when i come and visit.

i'm sure you guys are wondering how i feel about sydney compared to melbourne. well, i think sydney is gorgeous (probably just as pretty) but it is so crowded here. now, don't get me wrong...melbourne definitely gets insane during the weekends and definitely during the day but sydney is a little ridiculous at some point. it is definitely the NYC of australia. i also believe that most of what happens in sydney happens in the CBD (central business district). however, in melbourne that is definitely not the case. most of the culture, diversity and just as much fun occurs outside of the CBD which i definitely love. definitely more tourists in sydney and sydney is taller but mainly there are more tall buildings. i will keep my eyes out for some other stuff but i think thats for now. i will probably come back to this monday (maybe tomorrow if i'm not too tired) but oh lordy, im 3 days away from being 20 and i haven't even begun to think about it. hope you enjoy your weekend! cheers!