sydney v1.1

our recovery from st. patrick's day took sometime. highlight of the night was micah forcing open the doors to the elevator while it was in motion. he had forgotten he was wearing it, and wanted to leave it back in the room. we had to force them closed again so we could continue our decent. the inside view of the elevator shaft was right out of speed, or die hard if you prefer. the tsn turning point of the night was the scotch traveller we took on the subway. that stuff is pure poison (sorry marysville sisters). we did, however, make it down to the harbour the next afternoon to check out the rocks market, and take in a boat cruise of the harbour. everyone had a great time for the dinner and cruise, and the all you could drink wine and champagne added to the fun. after dinner we took to the top of the ship for some open air views of sydney. after we docked back at circular quay we took in the light show for the sydney harbour bridge's 75th birthday. from a hill in the royal botanic gardens we sat and watched the lit up bridge ahead, and the bats flying above our heads. happy birthday bridge.

on monday lyd's and i hit up the downtown again. lydia did the opera house tour while i walked around the quay. after her tour we met back up and walked across the sydney harbour bridge, and then climbed up the bridge's southern pylon to get the view. note: "tin monkeys" who helped to fasten the bridge together using rivets did not wear safety harnesses/wires. only two fell to their death.

with the bridge conquered we took a train to sydney's olympic park. we thought it was a good idea to check it out as our outdated guidebook says that sydney will be hosting the olympics soon! in all seriousness, the olympic park was definitely worth the trip. we lucked out and were the only two who signed up for the tour on-site, and as such, we were given a personalised tour of telstra stadium where the opening and closing ceremonies took place, as well as track and field events (100m, 400m, etc). today the building allows afl, cricket, soccer, rugby league, rugby union and world cup games in the 83,000 capacity stadium. highlights of the tour were standing on the actual podium used for the medallists at the olympic games, standing underneath the olympic flame and beside the torch used, going backstage into the locker room, warm-up room and medical facilities used by the teams, and lastly, coming through the tunnel and unto the field while our tour operator had the crowd noise simulated. i felt like becks at old trafford.

we booked our surf safari up the coast to byron bay. buying a shark talisman before i go.

finished trainspotting - the account of young scotsmen twisted on junk. moved on to do androids dream of electric sheep?

that'll do, punter.