Day 2 in Sydney 17/09/2012

It had been raining overnight, but when I left the hostel at around 9.30am, the sun was already peeking through the clouds again. I started off at St.Mary’s Cathedral because we only saw it from a distance on yesterday’s walk. When I tried to get back to Town Hall, I got lost yet again and ended up at Darling Harbour which has a beautiful marina and there is even a military submarine on display. Instead of taking the risk of losing my way between the skyscrapers, I decided to take a ferry from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay, which is covered by my weekly ticket. The ride is only about ten minutes, but you get a new angle for the hundreds of Harbour Bridge and Opera House pictures you’re going to take when you’re in Sydney. Since I was already at the Quay, I boarded the famous Manly Ferry and went over there. While it was still overcast in the city, it was bright and sunny in Manly. I spent the first hour just sitting on the beach, watching the surfers do their thing. Afterwards, I went for a walk along the coastline and found one of those small, hidden scenic walks. As usual with these, there were spectacular lookouts over the ocean and I saw a wide variety of plants and birds. While in Manly, I also noticed that Australians are really into running, even more so than people in Germany. Everyone seems incredibly fit here. Or maybe they just hide the lazy people somewhere inland?

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur to me because I had a migraine coming on, but when I got back from Manly, I spent some time hanging out at the Quay with a beautiful view of both Harbour Bridge and Opera House. By then, the sun had chased away the clouds over Sydney, too. I climbed the steps of the Opera House and had a closer look at the building. While I was standing up there, I spotted the Royal Botanic Gardens and decided to go over there for a bit before heading back to the hostel and my Ibuprofen. At this point, I got really close to blacking out and I’m not sure how I managed to keep going, but I did. Yay. From now on, I’m never ever leaving home without a big pack of Ibuprofen in my bag again. Still, the gardens were beautiful, as most parks in Australia are and I was able to take photos of some birds I had never seen before. Government House is located in the Botanic Gardens as well and I took a quick look through the fence (you can go inside as well, but I wasn’t up for that today). Back at the hostel and after the Ibuprofen had done their job, I went to McDonald’s for wifi because the one at the hostel didn’t work on my laptop yet.