"Do it, Do it, Do it"

Sydney.

Quite possibly the greatest city on Earth, with the exception of it being so incredibly far from the East Coast of the US.

The best way to explain Sydney is as follows: the big city/international feel of Manhattan + the trendiness of Seattle + the cleanliness and outdoorsy-ness of San Francisco.

I adore it, already. The weather has been rather warm - much warmer than we expected. It's been between 75 & 85 degrees on a regular basis. All of us lament not bringing more shorts/sundresses. Veronica - our host - tells us that for about a week in the summer it gets to around 112 degrees.

That is flipping hot.

I haven't even told you the worst part about that: Australia does not have central air conditioning.

But despite the hot summer weather (which won't be around for a good 6 months), I'm enthralled with this city.

We have been down to Circular Quay (pronounced Circular Key) several times to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. We've toured the Royal Botanical Gardens, Hyde Park, and Tumbalong Park . We strolled across the Bridge. We've been to Bondi beach, which you've already read about. Today, we went to Sydney Wildlife World, which is in Darling Harbour along the water. SWW contains numerous venomous spiders and snakes. It also contains the cutest freaking Koalas I've ever seen (granted, they are also the only ones I've ever seen). We met Charlie and Ella. They sleep about 20 hours a day, because they have so little energy from eating food with such little nutritional value. They'd wake up every now and then. We paid an extra $20 (between the 3 of us) to go into the Koala area, pet one on the butt (no, really) and take a picture with them.

I wanted to steal one, but Melissa wouldn't let me.

Koalas take me back to my childhood. I couldn't begin to tell you how my brother, John, and I got obsessed with Koalas, but we did. I distinctly remember having a stuffed Koala named Joey. John had one named Ben and a second one later, but I don't remember his name. I had an earlier Koala, too, but I also don't remember his name. They were ALWAYS boys. We also had statues from zoos that were koalas. Mel gave me a koala clip that lived on my ceiling fan as encouragement to save money to do this whole Aussieland trip. I was so happy to finally meet a real Koala up close. Highlight of my day, I think.

The kangas were really adorable too. Oddly enough, to me, they were laying down on their sides like cows, chilling and sleeping in the shade. Walter commented that maybe this is why we've been sleeping so much here: 'everything in Australia sleeps a lot.' It's true - we have been going to bed much earlier than we expected. But when you're out walking around in downtown Sydney for 8-10 hours, the last thing you want to do upon arriving home is go back out again. So we hibernate for the evening.

We also saw a few other random Aussie animals. The spider/kanga guy liked me. I like Australian men.

In addition, we have spent every single day thus far in a park of some sort, which has been so relaxing. We've taken books every day, but today is the first day any of us bothered to read. And we only read for probably 10 minutes. There's just so much to absorb, to discuss.

Melissa and Walter like to climb trees. I forgot not to wear a dress for only this reason, so I end up taunting them from below, trying to get them to jump 10 feet from their branch to the ground. In all seriousness, I used to do this when I was 10 years old (from the top of the monkey bars) and I don't get why they are so scared.

"Are you going to pay my medical bills if I break my ankle?" Mel asks me. I nod convincingly, replying, "Your travel insurance covers that!" She looks freaked out, and I keep saying, "Do it. Do it. Do it." She then asks if I'll feel bad if she breaks her ankle, and I tell her, "Nope. It's your decision, your action. I'm not making you jump." She looks indignant as she chooses the safer way down. I call Walt "ENTWuss" and he calls me the devil on his shoulder.

When they get down, Mel agrees that the tree wasn't really that far off of the ground. Walt keeps up his charade of it being a silly decision.

ENTWuss.

We stroll back down Elizabeth Street - which we've also been down each and every day we've spent downtown - towards the Starbucks, scouting out a bathroom along the way. Australia, like Europe, is very different about their public bathrooms. They just don't have them. I suppose it has something to do with being a large city or having a large homeless population (which I should interject I haven't seen if they do exist). It's odd to us. We already know the Starbucks doesn't have a bathroom, because we've tried that once already. So we're walking down the street when we spot a 'toilet' kiosk along the edge of Hyde Park.

You have to pay 50 cents to use this toilet. Mel throws her 50 cent piece towards the slot and the door opens from right to left very slowly. We all peer in to check out the inside and the door then slides back into place with Mel inside.

"I feel like I've just been to the future." Mel comments as she comes out. The toilet flushes and the floor washes itself as the door opens. The sink has a soap/water/dryer output in the same piece.

Weird. But cool.

On to Starbucks, where a cappucino is tasty, and a long black is the closest thing to American Coffee/Cafe Americano. We sit on the patio area of Elizabeth street, watching the passer-bys. Random conversations ensue, as usual.

As we walk back down Elizabeth St to catch the bus back to Kingsford, we spot a shirtless Aussie guy playing football in the park with his friends. Mel nudges me and we stop to try to take a picture... because everyone keeps asking us to do so. It's funny, the awkwardness of trying to capture an attractive guy on digital for your friends without being obvious. Mel and I sit down and fake-self-portrait it. Walt is standing in front, watching us,, and I sense his eyes rolling behind his mirrored aviators. We are cracking up, because the picture we take is a horrible attempt. Walt grabs the camera from Mel, pretends to take a photo of us, and somewhat zooms in on Shirtless Guy. Mel and I continue to laugh hysterically as he snaps the photo for us.

Good sport.

So we have captured one cute Aussie on film. And he's not the cutest we've seen. Or even the guy with the best abs, although his abs were pretty rad.

When we were walking down the sidewalk at Bondi, we strode past a guy doing reverse crunches on the bench of the workout area alongside the sidewalk.

I've never seen a legit 8-pack in real life, until now. Even Walt appreciated the guy's physique. I'm fairly certain the guy's career involved maintaining his perfect 8-pack.

From cute Aussies to church.

We went to Hillsong yesterday for the 11am service. It was NOT what I was expecting. We caught a bus to Central Station, where a Hillsong Courtesy Bus came by and took us to the church itself. We were about 15 minutes late, because we didn't plan the bus schedule thing very well. We pull up to the church, which is the city campus, and it's considerably smaller than I expected. We rush inside and take some of the last available seats, near one of the cameramen.

We arrive in time to sing the last song before the speaker comes on. I fall in love with the song; I've always loved Hillsong's style of music. To be honest, most of their songs have the same structure, but there's just something very genuine about it. There must be 10 people on stage singing and playing instruments, plus a group towards the back that acts as a choir. The song isn't released yet - in fact I think they might be recording it next weekend. More on that later.

The speaker is Hillsong's main pastor, Brian Houston, is extremely engaging as he presents James and the 'word' sermon in a slightly new light. He's a funny guy and his accent keeps me on my toes while listening. He calls people who twitter twits (which I find extremely funny) and he speaks of how it can be so easy to read a beautiful blog while completely disregarding the spirit of the person who wrote it.

I found this part to be thought-provoking. If the words are beautiful, but the spirit is angry or bitter, what does that say to be reading it? It set my mind into motion and I'm still considering his point.

We lucked out, because Hillsong is going to be recording their album next Sunday night at the Sydney Entertainment Center. We had been planning to leave Sydney on Saturday, but thought the experience of being part of Hillsong's next album was too much to miss. Therefore, we are staying an extra two nights. I'm STOKED about being there for the worship, with the added benefit of being on the recording itself. Like I said, I adore Hillsong's music!

I suppose this is a good stopping place for now. We are going to go to Manly Beach tomorrow - shout out to Presh Batmanly! One thing I did NOT expect was to be tan after 6 days in Sydney. I'm gonna work on that some more tomorrow, even though the darkest part of my tan came from simply walking around the city.

Off to eat some Asian food - see? I'm growing already!

- JC