Sydney, Days 2 & 3: Definitely a Sunburned Country

Ahh, sunburn. You and I are going to have a fun relationship, I can tell. Normally I don't burn, I just tan. It's nice. Not so in this country, apparently. Probably because I only had two days of spring after long months of cold and dark where I didn't see the sun for days at a time and my skin is not at all used to this (much like The Great Sunburn Incident of Spring Day 2008). But I thought about that! I brought the super extra heavy-duty sunblock stuff Bobby's parents gave me for Christmas! It must not be enough and/or I keep missing spots. Either way, I am much much more colorful than I was a couple of days ago. Totally worth it, though.

Day 2:

I sunburned the backs of my hands. What a ridiculous place to get sunburned! I even thought ahead. In the morning I thought "Wouldn't it be ridiculous to get sunburned hands? I should put sunscreen on them." so I did. And then I went to the bathroom and washed my hands and didn't even think about it. Oops. Stupid hygiene. But it was so worth it! What was I doing when I sunburned my hands, you ask? I was climbing this:

The Sydney Harbor Bridge. Here is another picture of it:

If you look closely at the second picture, about halfway up the first part of the arch you can see a little row of blobs. Those are people climbing. It's AWESOME! This is a huuuge touristy thing to do in Sydney. People told us we would have to book way in advance, so I was nervous when we just walked in yesterday. We asked if there were any available tours that day and the woman told us there was one leaving in about five minutes, and did we want to be on it? Absolutely! It turned out to be a four person group. Me, my mom, and a father and daughter from Denmark. His name was Klaus (which for some reason does not stop amusing me) and hers was Reagan. Danish is fun to listen to.

Also, our climb leader was really great. Her name was Lynsey and she was hilarious. She knows basically everything about the city, mostly ridiculous things, like how "Government House" was built in the exact replica of the MacQuarie's wife's Scottish summer home. The convicts building it told him maybe he should make some changes, because we're in the southern hemisphere now, but he told them to shut up and build his house. So it faces South, instead of North, and is always cold and dank and dreary. She also told us about how when the plague came to the poor area of Sydney the government walled off the whole area and almost burned it down. What stopped them was that the locals managed to stop the spread of plague, by having rat killing competitions. At the end of every day the person with the biggest pile of dead rats would get five quid. This is the sort of history I love! She also showed us where Nicole Kidman lives. We asked her if she had ever taken any celebrities up the bridge (there are tons of pictures all over the headquarters of Pierce Brosnan and people climbing the bridge) and she said once she lead Trent Reznor! Super great. Apparently he's hilarious. My favorite thing, though, was when I told her I was here studying biology she talked about how she'd love to go to the Galapagos someday, "to see all the really freaky creatures there". A little bit I wanted to shake her and ask if she realized where she lives. The platypus, for crying out loud! I mean, lots of others too, but...the platypus! ...Anyway,

We also climbed a freaking huge bridge! It was amazing! The ladders were a bit nerve-wracking, also anytime you could see through what you were walking on, but mostly it was fantastic and the view was spectacular!

They made us dress like that, it was not my fault.

After that, we went to the other major Sydney icon, the Opera House.

The tour was lovely. The guide was named Neville which made me happy. They showed videos about how it was made, and even had one of the architect talking about it, which was all pretty interesting. The outside of it and the theatres are beautiful, but if you ask me a lot of the rest is sort of...depressing. Lots of grey concrete, even when gracefully arching, is still lots of grey concrete. The theatres were fantastic but we were not allowed to take pictures inside them. They have an organ with over 10,000 pipes! I want to play it!

Anyway, lots of walking/climbing so we pretty much went back to our hotel and collapsed. I watched entertaining Australian television. They have a reality show where people compete to see who is the best at throwing dinner parties!

Day 3:

Today was a beautiful day (like all the days so far. Oh summer in January, you are the best thing!) so we set out first by train and then by ferry (Dear Twin Cities, please get public transportation like Sydney! It is fantastic!) to Manly Beach (best thing ever. Everything is better with "manly" in front of it. "Manly Grill" and "Manly Council" (written on public notices) were my favorites, I think). I had seen a brochure which would help me fulfill a lifelong dream: Manly Surf School! So I bought a two-hour lesson and was terrified but also ecstatic! There were a whole bunch of other people, lots from overseas, and it was a calm day, apparently perfect for learning. Paddling was hard and I fell a few times, but eventually this happened:

I made it all the way to shore at least a couple of times! It was SO. MUCH. FUN! When I live by the beach (it will happen, frankly I can't understand why anyone wouldn't!) I will get good at surfing and surf all the time!

Of course, all that fun did come at a price (besides the money I paid them to teach me). Even though I put on the spray stuff and then the cream stuff they gave me, apparently I did not realize what an awkward tanning position you are in for surfing. I sunburned the backs of my legs (which is making sitting in this leather chair super uncomfortable) and my elbows. Ow. Again, though, completely worth it.