Summer Travels 2012 : Sydney, Australia

A local park in the area near my aunt's house.

My trip to Sydney, Australia was meant for us to re-meet family members that I hadn't seen since fifteen years ago. For my parents, it was a matter of seeing how much the cities they once knew had changed in the last decade and a half.

I went there expecting to see the stereotypical Australia: desert and kangeroos, I suppose. While there are more kangaroos than people living in Australia, that does not mean that they`ve infested the cities. I do admit this was both a disappointment and a relief at the same time.

I expected cold and gloomy weather since it is winter in August. I was surprised when it only rained once in the three weeks of my trip. Winter temperatures in Sydney naturally do not hit negative anything, but I had expected more rain (unfortunately a symptom of being a Vancouverite). Instead, we got three weeks of brilliant sunshine with the occasional 40km/h wind on select days. For the most part, it was merely a much cooler version of our summer. We stayed with family rather than at your typical hotel. I learned then that most of my relatives' homes are not heated, and had instead very cold tile flooring throughout the house. Seeing as Australian temperatures remain in the hot and hotter range for about ten months of the year, I could see why.. But this left me super bundled up for bed every night to stay warm, and this meant hoodies, scarves, tights under sweats, socks, two blankets and a portable heater in the corner of the room.

Shopping is much easier without the penny, even if everything was double the price of the same things at home. What was really ridiculously priced was their transit system. We decided to take the Cityrail back to my aunt's home one day. Little did we know that a one-way ticket from the airport to my aunt's home in Canley Vale would cost each of us $16.80! I can only imagine how much it must cost to commute to and from the university everyday.....!

Me pretending to talk to a shark in Luna Park.

I loved that cars are parked on the lawn in Sydney. You know when there is a party or family dinner when there are just cars parked in the front yard. Speaking of cars, Australians drive on the other side of the road, but I did not know it was also a norm to keep left when you`re just walking on the street. You can imagine my confusion, especially on the escalators.

The University of Sydney has some magnificent architecture and I could imagine myself at Hogwarts with a quidditch match above my head as I stood in the courtya--- THEY HAVE A COURTYARD! We also hit the touristy stops: the opera house is as beautiful as it is in photographs, and Luna Park? Free entrance into the park, you just had to pay to go on rides. That should just be a thing.

For obvious reasons, I have not included my better photographs of our trip because my family members are in those photos. But I enjoyed my time in Sydney, and I definitely met all of my family members who live there (THERE ARE SO MANY OF THEM). Mission accomplished?