Day 12: Onto Sydney

We embarked at 8:15 AM for Melbourne's airport, and arrived in Sydney at around noon. We proceeded to the St. Andrew's University of Sydney, which is where we will be living for the next two weeks. We walked down the street after dropping our bags, ate a back-home comfort food (Mexican), then ventured through the rest of campus, then downtown. Sydney is a MUCH larger city; Melbourne is a San Diego vibe whereas the initial rush of Sydney was NYC or LA sprawl. I'm sure this initial reaction will change as we learn the city, but I feel it'd be easy to get lost walking around town, whereas Melbourne had straight tram lines that were easy to stumble across. We went up in the Sydney Tower Eye to gain a better perspective of the city from an Eagle's eye view which didn't disappoint.

As we walked back to a mall near our residence, we happened across infamous "fox bats." I do not exaggerate when I say they are larger than most birds. There were hundreds swarming around the city parks, and us Americans were the most obvious tourists you've ever seen - standing at an intersection with our jaws dropped wide. Needless to say we received some "what the hell are they staring at" faces. Additionally, parrots and parakeets are free-roaming indigenous wildlife here, and the one's here make some very interesting and rather annoying sounds. It's unbelievable that we've only been here 12 days, yet it feels like we've been here for an eternity. Our feet are raw, our knees aching from the 5-8 miles of walking a day, and the 14-16 hour days seem to never end. I have never known what getting one's moneys-worth was until this trip.