Hello all! Today I participated in a scavenger hunt throughout Sydney in order to get a better idea of where everything in Sydney is and see some of the sights we weren't able to see yet. The competition was called the "Drop Bear Cup" due to a fictitious story Australians tell tourists in order to frighten and confuse them, and amuse themselves. As the story goes, the viscous carnivorous marsupial (featured over there on the left) hangs out in the treetops and drops onto the heads of unsuspecting people, especially tourists. Common remedies according to the Aussies include: placing forks in your hair, spreading Vegemite behind the ears or armpit, urinating on oneself, and speaking only in an Australian accent. You've been warned.
The scavenger hunt went from nine in the morning, and ended around 3:30. It left from our door, and we walked down George Street, weaving back and forth to see famous statues, such as Trim the cat, and parks, such as Hyde Park, the Observatory Park, and the Botanical Gardens. We visited the market right below the Harbour Bridge, which had some really cool stands with cool things for sale, and some really fun Australians to talk to. We talked to one man for quite a while, and he taught us some more Australian slang which was hysterical. We walked to the Opera House, the Circular Quay (which is absolutely gorgeous). Along the way we had to ask locals some trivia about Sydney (which was super fun, especially when we asked questions that they had no idea about, such as who the Lord Mayor of Sydney was, and then they'd become super embarrassed). We had to take pictures with a lot of the sights (which can all be seen with descriptions in the slideshow below). There were also some foods for us to try, and challenges we had to do at the checkpoints, which was really fun as we had to complete a challenge at each one, though we were running really late to one (as the bus system is really complicated here), and we thought they already left, so we stayed on the bus, but as we drove past we saw the group leaders all sitting around talking, so that was pretty sad as we missed out on some major points, but funny all the same. We were all pleasantly surprised when we pulled aside for lunch at a pub and the Kings/Blackhawks game was on. We get points for completing all the activities, and the group with the most (we find out on Wednesday), will get a super nice dinner on BU at a famous restaurant of our choice, which would be awesome, since everything is so expensive here.
Luckily for us, the scavenger hunt ended at Bondi Beach, which was absolutely phenomenal. It was so incredibly pretty, and since they're heading into their winter, it wasn't crowded at all! We had a great time splashing around in the shallows and walking in the completely rock-free beach. The waves weren't huge, but there were some surfers off in the waves, and it was really fun to watch them (especially since some of them were pretty cute, shhhh). We're really excited to come back at some point to do the Cliff Walk, a 5K walk which goes through the cliffs around the beach overlooking the South Pacific. It looks absolutely gorgeous, but we didn't want to walk it today, since the sun was going to set soon, and we didn't want to accidentally stumble off the cliff into the rocks below....ouch.
After enjoying the sunshine, and super warm water (since it had all summer to warm up) we headed up the grassy hill behind the beach to go eat at a restaurant and watch the sun set. Tried my first "flat white", a type of latte-like thing without the foam, but it wasn't as good as everyone promised (which is probably because I don't like coffee), but now I can say I've had it. After making our way back on the bus (rocking that 333 now), we walked back to the dorm, with the intent of showering and heading out for the night, but then we all somehow ended up in our PJs and watching awesome Australian television (and by awesome, I mean terrible). It was really fun and low key, and we're planning on going out tomorrow night instead (we'll see). Tomorrow should be pretty chill, as we have nothing in the morning, and then a trip to the aquarium around three, which should be awesome, especially since its indoors, as it might rain tomorrow. Can't wait!