After three weeks of almost nonstop rain, the weather finally got better. We were able to go outside a lot this week, which allowed me to see so many more things. On Friday, we had FRESH, the church youth group, and we went to Darling Harbour to get gelato. While we were there, we went into a mini water park that’s set up in a green space at the Harbour. It was a lot of fun and, after the religious part of the group, we went to get gelato.
This past weekend, I didn’t get to sleep in, but that allowed us to do more during the day. On Saturday, we took a ferry to Manly Beach and got a great view of the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. Once at Manly Beach, we walked around the water and then to another beach nearby. The water was so clear that I could see little fish swimming around just a foot away from me. Because of the heat, we decided to get something to drink so I got a whole coconut from a cafe nearby and Sarah got an iced chocolate drink. We drank them while sitting on a mini rock cliff looking over the ocean. The view was amazing. We then went to a small market and had burgers before heading back towards the ferry.
The weather was even better the next day. Sarah and I spent most of the day at Wet ‘n’ Wild, a water park, and had a great time. When we got into the park, we were given bracelets that allowed us to do something called Tap ‘n’ Play, where we got to reserve our spots on a ride with a long line, while we did something else. After we spent the day tanning, going on water rides and swimming, we went to Featherdale Wildlife Park to see some marsupials. The park was filled with different types of animals, like koalas, dingos, wombats, Tasmanian devils, quokkas, and I got to pet and feed wallabies and kangaroos. The wallabies and kangaroos were very friendly and super soft. I got to see some animals that I’ve never heard of before, and it was a great experience.
On Monday, we had school, and since the forecast for Tuesday looked very good we planned to go to Bondi Beach. Although it was overcast, we still went down to the coast and had a great time. Sarah and I did the Coogee to Bondi beach walk along the coast and got to see some amazing views and really nice beaches. Since it was a weekday, we had the beaches to ourselves and even though it wasn’t super hot, I went in the water. Along the coast walk, we stopped to have a snack on a few cliffs looking over the ocean. We recorded our day, took lots of pictures and then got a giant thing of chips. Sarah brought bread with her to the beach and made me something called a chip butty, which is a piece of white bread with butter and fries. I did not like it, but apparently it’s an Australian delicacy. I tried eating some more chips, but as a North American I was missing ketchup. I asked Sarah where I could get some ketchup, which is actually called tomato sauce here and it’s sweeter. It turns out that in Australia there are no free ketchup packets anywhere. I had to pay a dollar for three mini packages of tomato sauce and I was shocked. Besides the super sweet dollar ketchup, I had an amazing time. We ended the day by getting some gelato from Gelatomessina, which was amazing, and then headed back to Sarah’s house.
Australia is an amazing place and I highly recommend it to anyone. Just bring your own ketchup. I only have a week and a half left here, and I already know that I’m going to miss the country and all of the friends I have made. I have seen and done so much and can’t wait to experience new things in the next week. – Ella Waxman ’19, Student Exchange at Methodist Ladies’ College
