Sunday, July 12, 2009

Day 2: Come Sail Away

After a much needed shower and good night ( or was it morning's?) sleep, we headed off to sail Sydney Harbor. Oh, excuse me, Harbour. Interesting how both Australia and the US were established by Brits, yet we managed to develop our own type of spelling and they are still stuck on ways of old. (USA, in yo' face!!!)

We divided into groups and piled into three sailboats. My group quickly titled itself "Group Awesome" - so appropriate! Our sea captain then helped us board the "Blue Moon" (again, appropriate). When I told him there was a beer in the states called Blue Moon, he seemed intrigued. But when I then asked for an authentic Aussie sea shanty, he seemed confused.


The students had a great time getting to steer and help raise the sails. We cruised around and spotted some famous Aussie scenery (i.e. The Opera House). The weather was a bit misty, but it provided for some awesum rainbows! (Can you spot the second rainbow?)

After sailing, we took a walking tour of Chinatown. Until the 1970s, Australia had a "White's Only" Immigration policy. Basically, you could only come live in Australia if you were White European, or of White European descent. Once this law was repealed, millions of Asians were finally allowed to move into Australia. The Aussie government built gardens, like this one, to help establish friendship between the people of Australia and its new citizen. I found the gardens very relaxing.

Then it was off to the Opera House for a inside tour. If you think the outside is a bit funky, wait until you set foot indoors. Since the building was finished in the 1970s, the decor was designed to match. Furthermore, in 2008 the Opera House received World Heritage Status, which means any renovations made must reflect the original design concept. I'm talking bright purple carpets, orange padding on the seats, and pink curtains. After going on an interior tour, we played around on the steps to let off some steam.

Off to dinner (chicken or fish?) and then a little shopping before bed. Tomorrow would prove to be much more than I expected.

WG

2 comments:

Heather said...

The trip sounds awesome!!! So happy for your experience! =) Love the novella you left on my blog...too funny. I do have a small favor/request to make. Is there any way you could edit the facebook comment to leave out the blog part? Matt is now on facebook and checks out our sites a lot, but he doesn't know about my blog! He is super private, so I know he doesn't like the idea of a blog. He wouldn't care if I had one, per se, but I'm sure he'd think all this pregnancy stuff is too personal to share with the world. If you could edit the comment ASAP, that would be perfecto! Thanks, chica! ;)

emilysuze said...

I love the idea of the Sydney Opera House looking like a 70's bordello. :) What a fun second day down under!