I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy. - Finding Nemo

So a couple weeks ago I went to Sydney for ANZAC weekend (which stands for Australia, New Zealand Army Corps)...basically its like out veterans day. My flight was Thursday night and I flew Virgin airlines which was totally cool because they had TV screens for every seat! Although, you had to pay after like 20 minutes of watching...whomp. So Ashley, Kelly and I arrived late at night and headed to our hostel, The Woodduck Inn. Man, was it nice there...complete with cockroaches and all! The room we stayed in was sketchy too and smelled like an old smelly man. Granted the three of us and our friends we met up with that were also staying there decided that these accommodations were not up to par.

Somehow, we started talking about hotels and with my brilliant mind I brought up points...low and behold our friends Kyle and Colleen's parents had tons of points for Marriot and they let us use them. We got 3 rooms for 3 nights in a Marriot about a 20 minute train ride outside of Sydney! AMAAAZZZZIIINNNNG! I am forever thankful :) haha. So the next morning we packed up all our stuff and high tailed it out of that disgusting hostel to heaven. The hotel room was beautiful...I could have cried. There was a clean bathroom. A comfy bed. A TV. I could have stayed there forever....but, it was off back into the city to explore.

Our first full day was spent on a hop on hop off bus tour (the double decker buses). It was a really good way to see all the sites around the city. We decided to stay on the bus for the full 90 minutes to see where we would want to go the next day (our ticket was valid for 24 hours). After the tour, we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go out the night. For dinner our group of 12 ventured across the street from the Marriot to a little strip of restaurants. I got Thai. It was AMAZING! I got fried rice with chicken and while it sounds simple, it was just the best thing that has ever touched my taste buds...well almost. It was like Doc Cheys (a restaurant in atlanta) had had a restaurant baby....it was just fate I would find jasmine rice with chicken (my favorite at doc cheys) reincarnated. heaven.

So that night we took the train into the city and headed to Minus 5, Sydney's Ice Bar. It was soooo cool! This was my first time at an ice bar and I would love to go back! It as a brisk 32 degrees F and it reminded me of Chicago..except without the wind which was nice. Inside the bar it was really cool, there were ice sculptures of Sydney landmarks, carvings in the walls and a big ice throne and car! We headed back to the hotel for an early night in. The next morning we went back into the city and got on the tour bus. Our first stop was t a market in Kings Cross where I got a really good breakfast sandwich that I shared with Ashley! YUM! Then it was to the OPERA HOUSE! My friends and I stayed there for over an hour just taking pictures and staring in awe at the opera house and harbor bridge. After that, we got back on the bus and headed to Darling Harbor (where Nemo was found)...my favorite place in Sydney. It looks just like the Inner Harbor and I loved loved loved it! Everything in Sydney ended up reminding me of home :) We headed back to Darling Harbor that night for a good italian dinner with all of our friends who happened to be in Sydney that weekend. I split Spagetti with meat sauce with my friend Megan...yum. It turns out there were fireworks that night for some reason! I LOVE FIREWORKS! that is all. After dinner we headed to what was supposed to be a karaoke bar, The Scary Canary, however, Karaoke had been canceled that night :( Soooo we went back to the hotel and watched TV hah.

Our third day, a group of us headed back to Darling Harbor (can you tell we liked it there?) and went to the Sydney Aquarium! FUN FUN FUN! I saw dugongs and sharks and rays and fishies and nemos and dories and sea horses and starfish! Lovessss it! We took a break halfway through the exhibits and went to lunch at this really yummy cheap place that had the best cheeseburgers I have had all my time in Australia. I also got a cider woo! After our delicious lunch we headed back into the aquarium to to the last few exhibits and then it was back to the food. We went to Lindt Chocolate. Ohhhh boy. I got a Chocolate Lava Cake and a chocolate milkshake. Can you say chocolate overload? Never again people. Never again. Just no. Too much. But sooooo good! Now weighing 15 pounds more than we did at the start of my trip, we headed back to the hotel for a fun night in...watching TV and eating more Thai friend rice :) :) :)

The next day was ANZAC day so Ashley, Kelly, Julie and I went into the city to watch the parade. This parade had been going on since 8am....we got there at 11am and stayed until about 1pm....and it was STILL GOING! I love parades! It was so cool to see how much pride Australians have for their troops. Every battalion, going back to WWI had their own flag, with veterans marching. There were marching bands and bagpipes too! I loved experiencing yet another thing that was truly Australian.

That night Ashley and I headed back to the airport to catch our flight home from an Amazing trip and probably my favorite trip I have taken my whole time in Australia. I really love Sydney and it has definitely become one of my favorite cities. I hope to go back someday!

In the words of Crush from finding Nemo,
Later dudes.


-Melissa


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