Sydney and the Snowy Mountains

Dear Friends and Family,

          Three weeks ago we went to the most well-known landmark of Sydney, the Opera House. We had some troubles getting there because there was track work and the trains were not running for about half the way we had to go. We had to ride a bus to where the trains were running and then catch a train to Sydney – it was very slow!  Once we got to Sydney, we walked around the Royal Botanical Gardens. We saw lots of cacti to my dad’s delight. After going to the Royal Botanical Gardens we went to the Sydney Opera House for a tour which was very interesting. One thing I learned is that the roof weighs 160,000 tonnes (four times the weight of the Sydney Bridge) and there is not one support beam in the whole Opera House. Another thing I learned is that in one of the theatres the organ has 1,200 pipes. After the Opera House tour we went to an aboriginal art show. At the art show there was a man making a painting by doing dots. He told us that he has to get up after about 2 hours because he starts to see stuff. After the art show we went on top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was very cold and windy on top of the bridge.

Sydney Opera House and Bridge in background

The next weekend we went to the Sydney Aquarium. We got to the aquarium by taking the train half way there and then we took the ferry the rest of the way so we got a great view of the Sydney Harbor and Bridge.  We went to the dugong talk. A dugong looks like a manatee except it is smaller, it’s only found in the southern hemisphere, and its tail is more like a whale’s tail. One dugong consumes 40-50 kilos of lettuce a day. The keepers sink one tray of 12 heads of lettuce every 15 minutes from 7 am to 8 pm for the dugongs (see one of the dugong’s eating at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBAcBCUGmKY) . In the enclosure there were also sting rays (click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu2fOoGy2Fs  to see one swimming). I learned that there are 600 species of sting rays in the world. I also learned that crabs have tooth-like structures in their stomachs. Japanese crabs can grow up to 3.8 meters long from claw to claw. They can also live up to 100 years of age.

Since we didn't send any photos of the Great Barrier Reef you'll have to settle for my mom's reef aquarium photo instead.  Below is the "dugong diner"

This past weekend we went to the parliament house in and we also hiked the tallest mountain in Australia. We went on a tour a of parliament house which is in Canberra in Australian Capital Territory (like Washington, DC in the US).  I learned that the parliament house has 4,500 rooms and has 2,500 clocks. I thought that was amazing. All the clocks go off for four minutes when parliament is about to vote.

On Saturday we hiked up Mt. Kosciuszko which is the tallest mountain in Australia (2228 m high which is lower than the town of Mammoth) and is in the Snowy Mountains on the border of New South Wales and Victoria. At one point I was the highest person in Australia. There was enough snow to have a snowball fight. My mom and dad used Australia’s highest elevation bathroom. After the hike we went to Australia’s highest restaurant and had a drink. Then we went bobsledding on a track, not on actual snow. There was only snow near the summit. Then we took my mom out to dinner since it was her birthday. On Sunday we went hiking again. When we were hiking there were a lot of flies which was very annoying. After hiking we went bobsledding again. It was a lot of fun because you could go really fast. 

Highest kid and stuffed giraffe in Australia - top of Mt. Kosciuszko

Alpine hike in the Snowy Mountains

We will be coming home in a couple of weeks and might see some of you. That also means this is the last blog from Australia. L

Travis ;) :D :p