Sydney Day Two

Today was a somewhat lazy day. We stayed up late (midnight) talking to two Canadians we shared a room with - they were just finishing up a three month tour of Australia so they had plenty of advice and suggestions. It's been great meeting people on this trip that have either been to or are from the places we are going. The Australians we met on the Routeburn Track in New Zealand gave us some great advice and more people along the way have recommended some of the same or different things.

After waking up around 9 AM we had breakfast (scrambled eggs and cereal) and did some laundry. It was overcast in Sydney so it was hard to get motivated. Not long after lunch we finally got out of the hostel and took the free shuttle bus down to Circular Quay. We spent most of the day walking around admiring the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well as the opera house. The opera house really looks better from farther away than close up.

We made our way along the shore to Mrs. Macquaries Point where you can get a good view of the opera house and the bridge at once.

Even though it was cloudy there were some blue patches in the sky and visibility was good below the clouds. We hopped back on the free shuttle and went to the Sydney Skytower (we had tickets from the four-in-one deal we had purchased the day prior).  It was neat to see the city from above, but really a lot like any other sky tower in any other city.  We didn't spend too long there.

Each night at the hostel in Sydney they featured a different dinner made by the hostel available for purchase.  Tuesday night is $5 burrito night.  With a deal like that we couldn't pass it up, especially as we hadn't bought anything for dinner that night anyways.  One option for topping was tomato chutney which added an interestingly sweet flavor to the burrito.  They were yummy if not authentic.
During dinner I started up a conversation with a guy wearing an official looking tour shirt, asking him what he does. The schools (or just private schools? I forgot to ask if it was a public or private school thing) in Australia have the kids go on a field trip (camp) of sorts for a couple days during the school year.  Every grade does something different so all the kids get to do all the trips as they pass through the grades. The guy I was talking to worked for a company that organizes the year ten trip which was four days long.

The year ten "camp" includes:
- a day as a backpacker (staying in a hostel, seeing the sites, traveling by public transport)
- a day in the wilderness (tramping, hiking, camping, whatever you want to call it)
- a day as a homeless person (they allegedly sleep on the street)
- and a final day that is similar to the Amazing Race (a scavenger hunt made up of clues throughout the city)

For the backpacker day the students are each given $10 to spend at the grocery store for lunch, dinner, and breakfast.  Most of the kids team up and pool their money together and make food together. We saw lots of pasta which is pretty much how it goes when you're backpacking on a budget.
In the morning we are taking a super budget airline to Melbourne for a couple days.