Australia: Sydney & Carins

We arrived in Sydney yesterday at 8 am. We didn't get more than a few hours of sleep on the plane so we arrived to our hotel like zombies. We were hoping to check in early and get some sleep but the room wasn't available till 11:30 am so we did what any normal backpacker would do; we went to an Internet cafe! We were able to upload all of our photos and videos from Japan and I was able to play a few hours of StarCraft! Man I missed video games! We ended up staying up as late as we could, 7 pm and woke up bright and early at 8:30 am.

Today we went and saw the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was really fun and awesome seeing such major symbols of Australia. The best thing about being in Australia so far are the people. They are so friendly and funny and everyone we meet cracks at least one joke before seeing us off. I mean everyone, bus drivers, security guards, etc. I love this place! Even the accent is really cool.

On our way to the Opera house we also heard some Native Australians, Aborigines, playing their special long wind instruments. Like the one they played in Crocodile Dundee! Except they had rock music in the background...

Oh, my dad told me we should climb to the top of the bridge but we settled for a walk across it on the sidewalk because it costs $300 AUD about $250 USD to climb it!

After visiting Sydney in the South East we flew up to Carins in North East Australia. We added this stop to cut down on the cost to flying to Papua New Guiena (PNG) because our flight to PNG wasn't included in our Round the World ticket.

We had hoped to go out on the Great Barrier Reef in a glass bottom boat. But when we found out it was very windy and that it cost $200 AUD per person we decided to save our money and do something else instead.

When we arrived in the morning I (Jason) was really wanting to get out and run around so I went swimming in the pool a few times at the Mission Guest house. I even rented a bike and rode it as fast as I could into town and back. I also discovered that Australian food is really good. They make pies: Steak & Potatoe, Shepard's Pie, etc. They are really good. They also have some really great Burgers & Milkshakes!

We stayed up late in Cairns and had a really good talk about how we were doing. The next day we rented a car from the Mission House and went to the zoo. I know it sounds boring but it was really fun. We saw: Kangroos, Panda Bears, Snakes, Crocadiles and alot of other things that are native to Australia.

After the zoo we went for a walk on the Beach. It was beautiful. It was really a fun, wonderful day!