Greetings from Australia!

 

I can not even explain how amazing everything is here! We just finished our 4 day stay in Sydney and it was absolutely wonderful! The plane ride was not so great, but once we got here it was totally worth it! The first day we visited Hyde Park Barracks and the Australian Museum. Both out tour guides were so informative, but I feel like I learned so much at the museum through our guide Laura. The next day we visited both the Sydney Aquarium and the Taronga Zoo. I forgot how much you can learn by just watching animals! I saw a platypus for the first time ever and touched a sea cucumber, named "burnt sausage". The zoo was especially incredible! I was just a few feet away from kangaroos and wallabies! Besides the Australian Animals at the zoo we saw the cutest one-month-old baby elephant playing with his mom! The next day we went for a hike in the Blue Mountains with Ranger Warren. We learned about the geography of the Blue Mountains as well as about the various types of plant and animal life. I was much too close the the funnel web spider, the worlds second deadliest spider, then to be comfortable but she was in her home, not bothering us. Our free day the following day we spent on the gorgeous Bondi Beach. Even though it did rain a bit, Alison and I adventured through the tide pools and up to a cliff where we got a great view of the entire beach. Dinner at the Australian Hotel with the entire class that night was delicious :)

 

We arrived in Canberra just yesterday and it is a beautiful little city. The layout of the city is very interesting as it was a planned city to be Australia's Capital (similar to our Washington D.C.). Today we had a great view of the layout and took some amazing pictures. Parliament house was beautiful and we learned a lot about the symbolism of the architecture and the interior design of the building. It was also very neat to see how Australia has fused different ideas from both the British and our own United States government, to create a hybrid that works for them. During our trip to the US Embassy that followed, we heard a ton of interesting information about the great relationship between the US and Australia. The ANZAC Parade and the War Museum were both very moving. The memorials that line the ANZAC Parade are not only informative, but beautiful pieces of artwork as well. I wish I could share everything we have done but there would never be enough time or space for that :) We are off to Brisbane tomorrow! Back to share more stories later!

 

Angelica Schmitter