Sydney

This year's big port call was in Australia! My friends Taylor and Mike and I flew out a few days early to go see Sydney before meeting up with the George Washington in Brisbane.

Sunrise over Australia!

St. Mary's Cathedral...BEAUTIFUL church

Ohhh how I miss good coffee!

midday ice cream break! 

25 Weeks!

Walking the Harbor Bridge

On our way up the lookout tower...

 at the top of the lookout tower!

We went into Queens Mall for breakfast (so much breakfast on this trip!) It was really pretty!

The Opera House! We took a tour inside and it was very, very cool. I had no idea how many theaters there were inside and the history behind the design. It was amazing!

The walls

 The Sydney Opera House Barbie! (for upwards of $70!)

A very rainy day at the Royal Botanic Gardens

We had dinner with the girls from the Antietam (a detachment destroyer; they were in Sydney so I got to see some of them from Alex's squadron!) at a German restaurant, it was yummy and so fun! There were "activities" that we were invited to participate in; yodeling, hammer and nailing, bell ringing, drinking contests, etc. 

I got conned into participating in the last performance, where the other girls got to ring bells and he wanted me to sing or yodel (WHAT?!) and instead let me play a Tuba....Safe to say I was terrible at it!

It rained the entire time we were in Sydney, but we were treated with a beautiful double rainbow!

On our last day in Sydney, Mike an I walked about 20 miles to Bondi Beach!