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Every morning we gather at 9:00 to discuss the day and any information we need for the activities of the day. After our meeting this morning the group split up, I went on the walking tour in the morning. The tour gave us an opportunity to see more of Sydney and learn a little bit about its history. We started in Hyde Park, which one of the governors ruling 200 years ago had decided he would set this park aside so 200 years from then (today) the park would be preserved, not just sold for as property for buildings to be built on. We stopped during the middle of the tour at Harry's a place to buy meat pie with whipped peas and mashed potatoes on top. The place was originally a trailer on wheels and because it was so popular the government put bricks around the wheels so that it couldn't drive away. We ate our lunch dangling our feet into the harbor enjoying the view. Afterwards we walked through the botanical gardens, it was different than most places because they actually encouraged the people to walk on the grass. The gardens led us to a beautiful view of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We had a little time to take pictures then we got back on the bus and drove about half an hour to Featherdale Wildlife Park where we were able to pet many of the animals like koala bears (visitors can no longer hold them because research showed holding the koalas made the animals too nervous and as a result had a shorter life span) and kangaroos.
After driving back to the hostel we had the rest of the night free. I met up with one of my friends from Beaumont, Kaleigh who is from Australia. She met me at the hostel and brought a welcoming bag for me she told me "the Tim Tams are really good cookies found in Australia, the Krispy Kremes were to remind me of home, the vegemite was something everyone has to try in Australia, and the egg was one of her favorite candies" this was really thoughtful of her. We then ran into three other girls who are in my group so they came to dinner with us. We took the train then walked a couple of blocks until we arrived at the Cuban restaurant. While we were waiting for our meals the fire alarm went off because the cook burned one of the meals, so we all had to move to the outdoor patio until the fire department arrived to turn the alarm off. Service is different in Australia is a lot different because the minimum wage is around $20.00 therefore everything is a lot more expensive and it is not customary to tip. After dinner it started raining so we took a cab back to the train station. Once we arrived Kaliegh and I walked to the opera house where we bough gelato on the way and went to the Opera house bar where there was live music. When we arrived back at the hotel my luggage had arrive which is a good thing because I have run out of clothes to wear!!
Love,
Elizabeth
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