a starfish bish

After 17 hours on a Qantas airbus from Dallas, we arrived in Sydney at 6 am. The humidity inside the airport gave us a hint of what we were up against. The palm trees outside were another hint. On what our tour guide would later exclaim was a gorgeous day, the city was stunningly tropical. And hot. Already stinky from the plane ride, the route from the airport to our hotel made us un-smellable. And shockingly, our room wasn’t ready at 7 in the morning, so we showered in the fitness center and ate breakfast before our “Essential Sydney” tour at 10:30.

What I, someone who never liked history class, remember from the tour:

Sandstone is hard, but soft
Australia was originally a penal colony, but all the criminals got along pretty well when they got here because the jail was an island surrounded by sharks, and nobody wanted any part of that
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is impressive, and I think it was finished in 1932
Mrs. Macquaries ordered the construction of a hospital and the Royal Botanic Gardens. Thank you, Mrs. Macquaries
The Australian navy is kind of a joke
Real estate in Sydney is very expensive
Keith Urban is Australian?
Red Bark Trees shed their red bark in January, and then they’re white which is confusing
During the 2000 Summer Olympics, the beach volleyball event took place at Bondi Beach, which is a historical landmark for surfing because I think it was one of the first places where it was filmed, maybe
You can’t pronounce “Cairns” with the “r.” You have to say it like “cAAins” in a really nasal voice

It was really a very good tour. Maybe I should have taken notes. In the middle of it, we stopped at a yacht club for lunch, where I had my first legal drink. I’ll be 21 in March, but the drinking age in Australia is 18. Since I won’t be in the US to celebrate, my parents and I decided to celebrate it while we were all together during my first two weeks in Australia. So, my first legal drink was a beer called Fat Yak, and it was pretty good.

After the tour, my mom and I went shopping, and I was starting to fade. It was about 2 am in Virginia, and that’s 1 hour past my bedtime. We looked through some stores and wandered through beautiful Hyde Park. The trees are elegant, enormous, and arch over the paths to create tunnels of greenery- echo chambers for birdsong. It’s a romantic spot, and my heart ached at the beauty and for my love back home.

Something shocking: Opal Fossils are a real thing. In Australia, fossils are pretty rare to begin with, and opalized fossils are even more so. However, just like any other mineralization process, silicon dioxide and water can seep into the spaces in rock left by decaying animal bones, shells, or wood to create a dazzling fossil. An opal museum in Sydney showcases these rare finds for free (of course, the museum is attached to a jewelry store), and my mom and I stumbled upon it on our quest to find a new memory card for her camera.

So far, I’m most struck by how the city incorporates nature and the outdoors in its form and function. There’s an unbelievable amount of green space here. Enormous trees line the streets. Buildings with balconies seem to be the rule instead of the exception. Even the color of the buildings, brown instead of grey, make it settle gracefully into the landscape. I didn’t know much about Sydney before I came here, and I still don’t know very much, but I’m ready to admire more of it tomorrow.

My pasty ass made it one full day without getting sunburned. After a morning at Bondi Beach, I was a healthy shade of pink, and I had no regrets about it. The spot lived up to expectations, with white sand, blue waves, and no trash to be seen. Clean beaches are apparently a signature Australian sight, as there’s a strong anti-littering culture throughout the country. We couldn’t spend more than a couple hours at Bondi, because that afternoon we had a date with the Sydney Harbour Bridge, specifically the very top of it.

The bridge is 134 meters (about 440 feet) tall, and I’m not a fan of heights. However, after chickening out of climbing the New River Gorge Bridge, I was determined not to let my fear get to me. There are two main options for seeing the Harbour from the bridge: you can walk across the flat part like a normal person (only about 50 meters above the water) or, for the people who don’t value their lives, you can go to the very, very top of the bridge. We did the latter.

Of course you’re strapped into a harness, and it’s very safe, but the less logical part of my brain wasn’t so sure about that. My legs shook quite a bit during the parts when I needed them to work the most (climbing up and down some ladders, etc.), but of course the view made me glad I did it. It’s a great way to see Sydney and learn about its history, and you get some pretty cool photos out of it.

Loose articles are absolutely prohibited. This is because the Sydney Harbour Bridge is a bridge and there are cars and pedestrians going across it. A cell phone dropped from 275 feet above you becomes a pretty dangerous projectile, and a seemly harmless bucket hat can become distracting if it lands on your windshield. However, BridgeClimb provides straps for your sunglasses and special baseball caps that can be attached to your harness because, and I cannot stress this enough, the sun is ruthless in Australia.

The climb took a whole afternoon, and by the end we were ready for a classic Aussie pint. We were in bed by 8 pm.

We spent G’day 3 at the Taronga Zoo, which is accessible from the southern side of the Harbour via a ferry. We had a behind-the-scenes tour with a keeper named Heather, who was passionate about preserving environmental diversity. She explained that Australia is home to countless ecosystems that are completely different from anything else on the globe. Our understanding of these ecosystems is often less than comprehensive. Koalas are a great example of this. Especially in light of the recent bush fires, there have been lots of videos circulating around the internet of koalas being rescued and rehabilitated. However, koalas need somewhere to go once they’re all better, and it’s not as simple as plopping them into a eucalyptus tree. Koalas are very particular about the types of eucalyptus leaves they can eat, so they move from tree to tree looking for leaves with just the right oil content. A koala that can’t move from tree to tree must travel on the ground, making them vulnerable to attacks from invasive predators like dogs and foxes. Koalas thrive in large, continuous groves of trees where they can search for yummy leaves in safety.

There are countless variables that go into preserving a species like the koala, and sometimes saving the animal itself is only a tiny part of the battle. What Heather said about comprehensive conservation really stuck with me. It seems like a necessity if we want to ensure the long-term survival of the species we’re trying to protect.

And koalas are so worth protecting! I was always aware that they were cute, but seeing them in person was a whole new experience. They’re unbelievable. What gave them the right to be this cute? After visiting them, I have a theory that Baby Yoda’s design was inspired by a baby koala. Here’s my evidence:

G’day 1: Sydney

G’days 2 and 3: Sydney