Today, being Explore Sydney Wednesday, my day started out going with Adam to Pancakes on the Rocks. This pancake place is at the Rocks right off of Sydney Harbor. Everyone that has been to Sydney keeps telling me that I need to go there. They say that it is something that you have never eaten before for breakfast. Right when I walked in and looked at the menu, I knew I would feel extremely sick after eating and probably gain 100 pounds, but it would be totally worth it. Why Pancakes on the Rocks is famous is because they put ice cream on top of their pancakes with so many other delicious, yet not nutritious, items such as chocolate fudge, fried bananas, chocolate chips, and so on. It was a hard choice, but Adam and I decided to get different types of pancakes and share. Since Adam is in love with blueberries, he ordered white pancakes with blueberries and vanilla ice cream on top.
I ended up ordering one chocolate and one white pancake with one scoop of vanilla ice cream on the chocolate pancake, and one scoop of chocolate ice cream on the vanilla pancake, with chocolate sauce dribbled on top.
It was so delicious, yet so rich for breakfast. Luckily we went around 11:30 a.m., so it was closer to a time that would be acceptable to order something like this. Either way, I am on vacation for 4.5 months, so I should just live it up, right? By the time I finished the pancakes, I just could not eat the ice cream. Adam ate the ice cream with the pancakes, but I just could not force myself to do that or I might have exploded. I think next time I will order the banana pancakes or maybe just stick with the original plain pancakes with just syrup on top :).
Adam had to go to an art museum for one of his classes, so me being the nice friend that I am, told him I would go with him. I am not a big fan of art museums which was why I was not thrilled to go, but I actually thought this one was a bit interesting. We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, which is on the Rocks at Sydney Harbor.
The museum featured an artist who was from New Zealand. Most of his artwork from a distance looked like photographs, but when you got up close it was actually paintings. He did some sculptures such as one that had a metal figure sticking out of a bunch of cardboard boxes that said something like imported from New Zealand. Just going to this museum made me really excited to go to New Zealand in 2 weeks!
After leaving the MCA, we went on over to the Sydney Museum. Since it was raining outside most of the day, we had to do our Explore Sydney Wednesday indoors to avoid the rain. I was excited to go to the museum because I do not know a lot of the history about Sydney, let alone Australia. Arriving a month ago, I knew nothing about what the city even looked like. There were a bunch of different parts of the museum featuring different things about Sydney's history, which led me to understand things a bit more. When we first walked in, there was a case with a bunch of different things that are indigenous to different countries. This may be hard to see, but this is what it looked like:
I looked at the United States cubes, then to Australia's cube. Right when I looked in, I think I might have shed a tear. They put kangaroo skin into the cube!!! These cute little kangaroos that just hop around and store joeys in their pouches were skinned and put into the cube! I guess it was showing things about Australian culture, but they could have put a plastic kangaroo in the case. Even though I was distraught and may cry myself to sleep tonight, I still took a picture :)
We then went into a theater that was showing old films of footage of when things like the Sydney Bridge was built and the history of Sydney. We watched the film of the Sydney Bridge, where I learned so much about it! It took 6 years for the bridge to be built, and it was finished in 1932. They gave numbers of how much steel was used and how many people worked on the bridge, but I do not remember. I cannot believe that they paid people back then to climb the bridge, and now people have to pay to climb it! It was interesting to see how something that was built so long ago still looks the same and is in perfect condition. In the footage, it was shocking to see the scenery without the Sydney Opera House, since it was not built yet! Every time I walk by the bridge or see it from a glance, it makes me realize how advanced mankind actually is to construct something so massive and important.
I wanted to see the history of the Sydney Opera House, but was not sure if a clip from the movie was playing. There was a whole section on the history of the Opera House, and why the designer picked the shapes he used. They made a replica of how the designer made the points and shapes of the building.
There was also a sign next to the description of the Opera House, that I found meaningful of the design:
There was a section in the museum that I found interesting about the Aborigines. You always hear about the Aborigines while being in Australia, but I never knew much about who they are and why they are so symbolic of this country. I realized when going through the exhibit that the Aborigines were the first people living in Australia, and are like America's Native Americans. When the British started to come into Australia, they took over and gave these people no rights anymore, even though they were native to the land. They got all of their freedom taken away and were inferior to the white people, kind of like the African Americans living in America a long time ago. The Aborigines had to wear tags on them saying if they were citizens or not, in which these people were infuriated because they had to wear something saying they were citizens to their own nation. This just shows that history does repeat itself, and human beings will always be human beings.
There was another part of the museum with old clothing that the people used to wear back in the day. We were allowed to try on some old hats, that were probably replicas, but looked so unique from one another. Adam and I had so much fun trying on these hats and modeling with each one of them. I felt like a little kid again playing dress up!
The museum was symbolic of where it is built because it is right on the site of the first Australian Government House. There was only a piece of the original building still there, but it still felt like I was back in the time of when Australia was first colonized.
After leaving the Museum, Adam and I went to the Sydney Sky Tower, which is the highest point in Sydney.
It reminded me a lot like the Space Needle in Seattle, because we had to take an elevator all the way from the bottom to the top. It took about 20 seconds in an extremely fast elevator to get there. The top of the of Sky Tower is about 1,000 feet tall. When we first exited the elevator, there was a mailbox with a plaque that read, "The Highest Working Post Box in the Southern Hemisphere." I thought this was the coolest thing ever!
I absolutely loved the Sky Tower because I could look out and see exactly where everything was. I would have not appreciated it as much if I would have done it right when I arrived in Sydney because I would have not known where everything was. Now that I have been here a month, I could look out and see exactly where everything is in relation to everything else. Even though I am extremely bad with directions, I still knew where almost everything was. At that point, the sky was clear and it stopped raining so I could take a few pictures!
Afterward, we went on a ride that was included in our pass that was like the Soaring over California ride at California Adventure at Disneyland. Even though it was not as good as the one in Disneyland, it soared us over all of Australia and hit the key spots in the country.
I had a great day, and am SO EXCITED for this weekend! I leave tomorrow, Thursday, and will be in Melbourne until Monday! Seven of my friends and I will be out exploring the city for 4 days! I am sure I will have a ton to write about when I get back, so check back on Monday or Tuesday of next week!
Heaps of Love,
Heidi
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