Melbourne: Walk to Art, White Night and Heaps of Shopping (and Food!)

Friday morning 5:45 am, Do and I were woken up by my alarm. Opened the curtains to make it easier to get out of bed, which we eventually did at 6:00 am, only to be picked up by a cab 15 minutes later. Since we hadn't had brekkie yet, we went to the Virgin Business Lounge after we'd checked in. I had a pancake with whipped cream and jam and afterwards a toastie because I was still a bit hungry. Due to weather conditions, our flight had been delayed so instead of taking off at 07:40 am we ended up taking off at 08:15 am. I was wearing shorts and a top because I was told it would be sunny in Melbourne, which as a matter of fact it actually was for a change, but it was really cold on the plane so I couldn't really sleep.

After a two-hour flight we arrived in Melbourne, collected our bags and took a cab to our hotel, which was actually just a building renting apartments. Since Melbourne has daylight savings it was already 1 o'clock: time for lunch. Right next to our hotel was a little cafe so we decided not to complicate things and have lunch there. Then we went back to our apartment, put sunscreen on and started walking to another cafe where we had arranged to meet Bernie (Bernadette), the lady who'd give us a tour through the city called "Walk to Art". According to Bella, we had to go east to get there, so I used my iPhone compass to lead us east and we ended up walking 20 minutes in the wrong direction. Apparently either my compass was wrong (Bella's opinion) or Bella was wrong and we had go west (my opinion haha).

Anyways, we got to the cafe a bit later than we were supposed to be but it wasn't really a problem. We had a drink and then we started our "Walk to Art". Bernie took us to lots of little alleyways and showed us basically all the street art there was to see. She also told us some interesting things about how the artists carry out their job; sometimes they abseil down a 20 m high wall in order to create their artwork. She also took us up a building with a pretty view over a section of the city and at the end, around 5 o'clock, we had a drink at a very cute rooftop restaurant with baby pink walls and pastel-coloured sun umbrellas.

We were all pretty exhausted after the "Walk to Art", so we had some bread with French cheese and prosciutto back at our apartment and chilled for a few hours. Then we showered, dressed up and went out to dinner at a barlike thingy as there was no table for 4 anymore at the restaurant we intended to go to. We got back at the hotel around 00:30 and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. 

The following morning we slept in till about 10 o'clock, got dressed and went out for breakfast at a cafe nearby. I had a delicious bowl of vanilla yoghurt, muesli and banana. Coincidentally, the waitress at the cafe was Dutch. Do and I had a little chat with her and it was nice to talk to someone Dutch besides each other. 

Afterwards, we took a cab to an outlet of a particular brand with sales up to 75%. I didn't buy anything though, because the one dress I liked was still 70 dollars and I didn't think it was worth it. After the outlet we walked to a very long shopping street nearby, where we spent a few hours shopping. I bought two dresses and a top there. I also treated everyone to lunch at a restaurant in the shopping street, and I think I can say it was the best lunch I've had here so far. Do and I shared some bruschetta, a hamburger and a spaghetti carbonara and I also tasted some of Bella's chicken salad which was amazing too.

Following lunch, we took a taxi to another outlet but I found this one a lot better because, unlike the other outlet we went to, this one had lots of different brands. Do and I shopped together because Bella had to buy some things for herself, and we were actually the very last ones to leave the outlet. I bought a sweater, a top and two pairs of heels, so all in all I can say I had a very successful shopping day!

We took a cab back to the hotel and chilled there for a bit. We were all still full from our big lunch, so we decided we wouldn't have dinner and just had some bread with French cheese and prosciutto instead. 

Around 10 o'clock, we went out on the streets because White Night was on. This is a festival during which the city comes alive from dusk to dawn (7 pm - 7 am) in a night celebration of music, theatre, dance, food, art etc. There were over 80 acts spread across streets, laneways, public buildings and parks. Thousands of people were flocking the streets and we had to be careful not to loose each other in the massive crowd of people. It was amazing to see such a great number of people out at night and nice to experience the vibe of such a festival, so we were lucky it was on while we were there.

This morning (Sunday) we got up, packed our bags and checked out of the hotel. Do and I made a ham-cheese panini for breakfast in the Virgin Lounge at Melbourne Airport. We also went back like ten times to get another bowl of mini chocolate chip cookies. They were delish. Our flight was not delayed this time, so we landed in Gold Coast around 3ish, collected our bags and took a taxi home. I then unpacked my suitcase and cleaned my wardrobe, room and bathroom, so I'm all neat and organized to start a new week of school. I actually realize now that I've only got 3 more school weeks and 2 weekends left; I can't imagine it's gone so fast! I guess time flies when you're having fun hey?

Scones, More Rain and Principal Showing Youtube Videos

Monday and Tuesday were just normal school days again. We had a whole school assembly Tuesday afternoon and the principal Mr. Crawley showed us some youtube videos, so that was pretty funny. I can never imagine our principal Mr. Leuiken showing us youtube videos haha. We had musical rehearsals after school, but we left half an hour early because Bella had an appointment at the physiotherapist. Hans and I went to a shopping mall where I got some sushi for afternoon tea and we did some grocery shopping. When we got home I cleaned my room, which, for the record, I've kept very clean so far for my standards. So Mum and Dad, I bet you're very surprised with me but no worries, I'm sure I'll fall back into my old lifestyle when I'm back in Holland. ;)

At night we first watched a movie with the whole family and then I skyped my friends Marie and Elisa, who were enjoying their holidays. We just chatted away and talked about what we've been up to lately, so that was good. We also tried to add Colette to the conversation, but unfortunately that didn't really work because she doesn't have very good reception at Caitlin's house.

Wednesday morning we had hospitality again and this time we baked scones! Georgia and I were assigned pumpkin scones and they ended up tasting really yummy, even though we did have some troubles with the oven at the start. For the last 15 minutes or so we sat around the table in the lounge room and shared all our goodies. I tasted some blueberry, chocolate, pizza, pumpkin, date and dried tomato scones. Some of them were not so good, some of them were but it was nice tasting all the different variations and comparing them.

In the afternoon I went over to Nay's house for the first time, which is about a 10 minute drive from our house. Nay's mum Jean is a teacher at St Hildas, so normally we would have had to wait at school till 4:30 pm, but Jean was sick so she didn't go to school and instead she and Nay's sister Arden picked us up at 3:30 pm. The house was located in a suburb called Benowa which I hadn't been to before. All the houses and streets there looked even more similar than the ones in the suburb Bella lives in, which is called Surfers Paradise. Overall, however, I did notice that the houses here are generally much lower than the houses back home. When we got home Do and I had some frozen berries and sugar bread for afternoon tea and afterwards we went to Do's room and watched a few episodes of Cougar Town. We intended to go swimming but unfortunately it was raining yet again. Seriously, I reckon it's been either rainy or overcast for at least 4 out of the 5 weeks I've been here. For the record, I'm in Aus-tral-ia, the country where it's supposed to be freaking sunny 24/7!

Today (Thursday) Bella had touch again in the morning so Do and I decided to run along the cross country track as we don't really like touch. After about 5 km we felt like we'd done enough for the day so we got breakfast at tuck shop and went to the library. After school Bella, Do, Kaia and I went to Pac Fair, where we did some grocery shopping and got some sushi for afternoon tea. Afterwards, we had an appointment at 'the eyebrow bar'. Do and I had never been to something like that before so it was pretty funny to go there, sit down and have somebody wax your eyebrows in the middle of a shopping mall. We didn't get them majorly changed though, as it was our first time ever, but I was positive about my first experience!

After Pac Fair we quickly stopped at Nay's house to get Do's suitcase because she's coming with us to Melbourne tomorrow! We figured it would be more convenient if she stayed the night because we have an early flight tomorrow and this way we wouldn't have to go past her house in the morning. 

At home, we sat outside with Kaia, Hans, Rory and his friend Emma. We just chatted for a bit and the Torv's gave Emma a goodbye present because she's going traveling in Europe and she'd been working at the Courthouse (their restaurant) for the past few months. Bella went out for dinner with Craig so Do and I just had dinner by ourselves. Then we went upstairs because I still had to pack my suitcase and right now I'm about to finish this blog post and go to bed. I'll tell you all about Melbourne when I get back on Sunday!

Sydney Siders Come to the Coast

Yesterday morning (Saturday) my alarm went off at 5:45 am for the third time this week, but this time it was for a good purpose. Namely, our four friends from Sydney were coming up to the Gold Coast to spend a weekend with us. These were two Dutch girls from my school, Colette and Annabel, and their Australian hosts, Caitlin and Evie. Initially, Annabel and Evie would spend the night at Nay's house, but we organized a big sleepover so Annabel, Evie, Nay, Do, Colette and Caitlin all ended up staying at our place. 

After collecting the Sydney siders from Gold Coast Airport (and some yummy pancakes for breakfast while we were waiting for them to arrive), we separated and went to our own houses. We made Caitlin and Colette some breakfast and afterwards the four of us chilled in my room because we had lots of catching up to do. It was nice to hear how Colette has been experiencing the past few weeks of her exchange and I hadn't really talked to Caitlin either after she left Holland, so it was good hearing what she's been up to as well.

Around 11 o'clock we were driven to Dreamworld, which is a theme park on the Gold Coast. We met up with Do, Nay, Evie and Annabel in front of the park and went in together. Unfortunately, it started raining during our first ride, which was quite painful actually since the raindrops were falling down on your face while you were upside-down, facing the sky. When the ride was finished we rushed to the closest shop we could find to buy ponchos. Afterwards, we went on a few other rides and around 1 o'clock we had lunch at a restaurant in the park. It was pretty gross actually, you could only get fast-food and the fries I ordered were really sloppy...

As well as a section with rides, Dreamworld also has a wildlife section. After some discussion, we decided not to go to White Water World anymore, which is interconnected to Dreamworld, but visit the wildlife section. Luckily for me, some tame kangaroos were hopping around there! One of the points on the bucket list my friends gave me was 'pet a kangaroo', so I'm glad I got one step closer to fulfilling the list!
In the wildlife section, you could also pay for photos with a koala, snake and crocodile. Even though I was pretty scared (not for the koala; it was so cute), I had a bit of a 'yolo-moment' and decided to do it. The koala was the first in line, and it was like a dream coming true holding such an adorable, soft little animal. I didn't want to let go, but unfortunately there were some other people eagerly waiting to hold my baby, and the snake and crocodile were eagerly waiting for me to hold them... 

'Luckily for me' I was the first one in line to hold the snake. Sweaty palms, shaking knees... You know the feeling. When I sat down on the bench, the lady tried to comfort me by telling me some things about the snake, including the fact that the snake could bite, but had never done it before. Well thanks a lot, sitting there knowing there was a chance the creature I was about to hold would bite me was very comforting indeed. Not.

It already started with some difficulty in positioning the snake for the photo. It was crawling down my neck - talk about shivers to the max - and its head kept facing me (not the direction of the camera which it was supposed to be looking at). The sight of the flicking tong moving towards my skin gave me shivers through my spine and I couldn't even be bothered to worry about my fake smile which would turn up on my photo. I was relieved when the lady finally took the snake from my shoulders and luckily the crocodile was more willing to cooperate.

After collecting our photos we went on some more rides, including the 'Giant Drop' (a 115 m free-fall ride), and around 4 o'clock we were picked up by Kaia. At home, everyone showered and then we sat outside for a bit and had some nibbles. Hans had prepared a lovely dinner with beef, potatoes, pumpkin, lamb and salad, and to top things off we had some ice cream with crushed Tim Tams for dessert.

When everyone had put on their pyjamas we watched the movie 'Looper', but I fell asleep about halfway through because I was so tired from getting up early. I woke up when the movie ended and then Colette and I went to my bed. I wasn't so tired anymore so we chatted in bed for a while, only to be woken up by my alarm a few hours later...

Yup, Bella and I had musical rehearsals on Sunday morning, 8:30 am. The rest slept in, had breakfast and then went out on the boat with Hans. When we finished rehearsals we were picked up by Kaia and had breakfast at a shopping mall nearby. We got home around the same time as the girls who went out on the boat so that was good, because we could leave right away for a walk through Surfers Paradise. We walked along the shoreline and had a look at some sand sculptures because apparently a three day competition was going on. We also had a Golden Gaytime (ice cream), which was absolutely amazing. I'd take a whole box of them with me to Holland if I could.

We had sushi for lunch and then it was already time to walk home because the Sydney siders had to be at the airport again at 5 pm. It was sad to realize that I probably wouldn't see Caitlin and Evie again any time soon, but it was really good to catch up with them this weekend! It's pretty late now and tomorrow is just a normal school day, so I'm off to bed now. Night! X

Business as Usual

Except for Friday this week was pretty much a normal school week, so don't expect anything too exciting for this post and I haven't really taken any photos either. On Monday I had to be picked up at school early to go to the orthodontist, because I'd bitten off a bracket which had to be repaired. Instead of just glueing the bracket back on, the orthodontist decided to redo my entire mouth and torture me for one whole hour… No just kidding, she actually only added two extra brackets, but I must say it wasn't the most pleasant hour of my week.

After my not-so-enjoyable beginning of the afternoon, I decided to go for a run. Bella didn’t go with me this time, because she had to do some homework. I doubt she’d actually done something by the time I got back but oh well, I had an enjoyable run regardless.

 

Tuesday was just another school day. I had two spares during which I worked a bit on my blog, and unfortunately we didn’t have a practical hospitality lesson either, so that was quite a bummer. The day ended with Chapel, which was a completely new experience for me. All the Year 11 and 12’s went to a little church at the campus, said prayers and sang religious songs. A priest led the entire ceremony, talking about all sorts of religion-related subjects and occasionally reading out extracts from the Bible. It was interesting to experience something like this, because I’m not from a religious background or school so I don’t often attend church ceremonies. I do have to say that I was a bit drowsy after sitting there for an hour, but I reckon I was doing a pretty good job since some others seemed like they'd already fallen asleep.

 

In the afternoon, I had to go to the orthodontist again, because the retainer I’d taken with me from Holland didn’t fit anymore due to the new brackets. I had to get it adjusted but I was only in there for 10 minutes or something, so it wasn’t as bad as the appointment the day before. When we got home, Bella and I talked for a bit while she was doing some homework, and at night I just sat outside with Kaia and Hans (Bella's parents) and chatted with them.

 

Wednesday was a bit of a boring day at school, nothing really interesting happened. After school Bella and I caught the bus to Sorrento, where we had some sushi and then went home because I had to study for my Latin test. However, I didn’t have a lot of concentration so I ended up doing everything except for studying, which left me with heaps to do at night…

 

Thursday was Valentines Day and this also meant Free Dress Day at school! Of course, this wasn't something really special for us Dutchies as our school back home is free dress as well, but some girls here were very excited about it and clearly put a lot of effort into choosing their clothes! In the morning I had touch again, which meant my alarm went off at 5:45 am, and as some of you might know, studying till late and then getting up early is not the best combination for my mood. Especially not when we also start the day with an hour of Chapel. Note that I usually doze off during Chapel on a normal day, imagine what it was like when I was tired. Not so great indeed, so you could say I wasn’t in my best mood in the morning. However, after my Latin test it got better because it went really well! In the afternoon, Do came over to my house so we just chilled until dinner, and after dinner she got picked up by Nay’s dad. We have also arranged for Do to come with us to Melbourne next weekend, so that’s really exciting!!

 

BANKSIA! ARE YOU READY? 
ARE WE EVER!

RED WHITE RED

BANAWARA, BANAWARA, BARRABEE-HOO

ARACATA, ARACATA, ARRACOOPANOO

ILLAWARRA, MITTAGONG, YARRABEE-HA

BANKSIA, BANKSIA, YA YA YA!

 

Now you're probably wondering what on earth you just read, aren't you? Imagine these words being repeated over and over again, shouted out by a few hundred girls, all wearing red shirts, and you get the idea of my very first Inter-House Swimming Carnaval! Yes, Friday was in every aspect different to all other school days so far: no class, school uniforms or anything else you usually do at school. Just three houses competing against each other in swimming races all day: Banksia (BEST HOUSE!!!), Melaleuca (Do and Nay’s house) and Karragaroo (I know that sounds like someone misspelled Kangaroo, but no, I double-checked and it’s really spelled this way).

 

At 8:45 am sharp, every house had gathered on the oval (sports field) and started off the day in good house spirit by boisterously shouting out their war cries for the first time (and believe me, many more times followed). After some pictures, everyone moved to the swimming pool and took place in their stands, which were divided in three: one for each house. The rest of the day consisted of watching races, getting food and lots and lots of cheering. There were some really good girls who swim 9 times a week and participated in lots of races, and some girls who don't swim at all but participated in the daygirl vs. boarders race or participation race. Overall it was a really fun and eventful day, and the most exciting part was that my house won the swimming competition!!!



After school Bella had a life drawing class, so Do and I took the bus to Sorrento and were picked up by Kaia from there. At home we just relaxed and watched some series. At night we went out for dinner to Cardamom Pod (same restaurant we went to the first day I got here) with Bella, Gracey, Hayley, Sophia and Laura. I hadn't met Hayley, Sophia and Laura yet because they go to different schools but it was nice to get to know them and find out a bit about other schools than St Hildas as well. After dinner we got some ice cream at Cold Rock (Bella used to work here) and afterwards Do spent the night at our place.

First Week of School: Hospitality and Art Excursion

This week was just a regular school week, except for yesterday (Thursday) when I went on an art excursion to Brisbane. I'm getting quite used to school life at St Hildas now, and I don't really feel like a complete outsider anymore. Even though everyone was very welcoming in the beginning, I still didn't feel like I was actually part of the school. I've made quite a lot of friends already, I'm used to getting up early and, believe it or not, I can sort of find my way around the school at this point. That's right, clapping is in order.

 

On Monday, Bella and I were driven to school separately, because she had touch trials at 6:30 am. I'm also planning on playing touch, but the Sports Coordinator told me there was no point in going to the trials, because they'd see if I could join a team after they'd all been formed. Before class, I went to the Senior School Centre to choose my subjects and they told me to follow Bella's classes until they'd emailed me my timetable. Do and I then went to the IT centre to connect our laptops to the St Hildas network, and chilled in the library till the start of the second period. During Morning Tea, Do and I had a meeting with the Head of Year 11 and all the new girls to talk about our first few days at St Hildas and if any problems had arisen. 

During lunch, everyone here spreads out around the school and I usually sit with Bella and her friends at a particular table near the Reeves building. Oh, something funny I forgot to mention as well is that most people take eskis (cooling boxes) with them to school to keep their lunch nice and fresh. That's something I'd never seen before since at the RLW everyone just takes their sandwiches in little plastic bags. They also have a tuck shop here, which offers a much wider variety of foods than our canteen at the RLW.
 

Tuesday was just a normal school day, nothing very interesting happened. I had English and Maths with Bella since I still didn't have my own timetable and I was quite surprised by the content of the maths class. I reckon there's quite a big difference between the level of maths here and back home; some girls didn't even know what factorizing was, which is something we learned over 2 years ago. In English we analyzed a poem called 'The Man From Snowy River', which was actually quite interesting. We talked about binary opposition, intertextuality and juxtaposition, which I'd never heard of before. The teacher is very enthusiastic and knows how to make the lesson interesting and gain the pupils' attention. To be honest, this is something I can't say about a lot of teachers at the RLW...

Wednesday started off great! Do and I had hospitality (cooking) and we made some incredible bruschetta, legitimately the best I've ever tasted (see picture). There is a big cooking room with 8 units which you can work at. Each unit has cupboards and drawers with everything you could possibly need to prepare a dish. At the back of the room are all sorts of blenders and serving plates and there are also two huge fridges with the ingredients needed every day. We have 4 hours of hospitality a week, 2 of which are theoretical and 2 practical. The theory you learn differs every lesson. So far we've learned about all different kinds of knives and ways to cut, and health and safety regulations in the kitchen. I really enjoy hospitality and I think it's a pity we don't have something like that at the RLW.


Yesterday (Thursday), I went on an excursion to Brisbane with Bella's art class. I couldn't do art as a subject because it was already full, but Kaia had arranged for me to go with them on the excursion, which was really kind of her. We first drove up to Brisbane, which took us about an hour, and had Morning Tea in front of the UQ (University of Queensland) Art Museum. The university campus was really nice, everything was neat and tidy and it wasn't too busy either. In the UQ Art Museum we saw an exhibition by an artist called Linde Ivimey. It was really interesting to see all the different sculptures made of skin, chicken bones, fabric, hair, teeth, gemstones, etc.

Afterwards, we got onto the bus again to go to the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA). We had lunch on the grass field in front of it and chilled in the sun for a bit. I didn't like this museum as much as the other one, because we mostly saw paintings, which I'm not a big fan of (especially not when they belong to the any-five-year-old-could-do-this category of paintings). We had 2,5 hours to walk around the museum, but after an hour we figured we'd seen pretty much everything so Bella, Libby, Abby, Caitlin, Zara and I just chilled in the children's area till it was time to leave.

We had dinner with everyone at this very cute Vietnamese restaurant near the GoMA and I had some delicious Hokkien noodles with beef. I sat at a table with the same girls I just mentioned and we tried to plan a Valentines party for next weekend but we kept drifting off topic so it didn't really succeed. After a very long but enjoyable day, we got home at around 8:30 pm and I was pretty exhausted so I went to bed early.

Today (Friday) was just an ordinary school day, nothing too exciting. We did have a really nice hospitality lesson. Every group of 4 people made a dish and then everyone sat around a table and shared all the dishes. 

 

After school Bella and I chilled in the sun for a bit, and afterwards we got changed and went for a run through Surfers (actually called Surfers Paradise, which is the neighbourhood Bella lives in). It was really nice to run along the beautiful clear blue sea. Luckily, it wasn't too hot either, so we didn't die of the heat. When we got back home we both took a long shower and then Craig came over so we just chilled with him for the rest of the night. Right now, I'm about to go to bed and I'm really excited for tomorrow because we'll be going to Jess and Kate's (the twins) farm with some people!

Sydney: an Unsuccessful Harbour Bridge Climb and Sensational Views

It's Sunday night, and I'm back from a lovely weekend in Sydney! Our plane took off at 10 am on Friday and we had brekkie (breakfast) at Gold Coast airport. We were lucky, because Bella and her parents have Virgin Gold Cards, which give you access to a lovely buffet in the business lounge.

Due to the fact that Sydney has daylight savings, we'd lost an extra hour. When we arrived at the hotel, we quickly checked in, put on good walking shoes and took a cab to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Before we could actually climb the bridge, we first had to fill out some forms concerning health problems and received some necessary equipment. This included a big one-piece, rainproof pants, a harness and a headset through which you could hear the instructor. Once we'd put everything on, our harnesses were attached to the railing and we could start the bridge climb. Unfortunately, it already started drizzling after a few minutes, and after a while the drizzling turned into normal rain, which turned into a downpour. Mother Nature was, once again, conspiring against me...

We sought shelter at the nearest tower, and by this point we hadn't even started the actual climb yet. After having waited there for about 20 minutes, with no visible improvement regarding the weather, we were given the choice to a) go back and get a refund, or b) wait for another 20 minutes to see if the sky would clear up. Since we'd already made dinner reservations we decided to go back, and thus our bridge climb came to an end without setting foot on the steps of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  

We went back to the hotel, got changed and had some tapas at a little tapas bar nearby. We had a few small dishes including olives, prosciutto and baguette with green beans and goat cheese. Afterwards, we walked (in the rain...) to the restaurant where we'd made reservations, and had dinner there. While I was enjoying my delightful lamb dish with zucchini and potatoes, I had a lovely view over the harbour and the Opera House. Well actually, that was after an enormous cruise ship (which had been blocking my view for half an hour) had finally left. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and went to bed early.

The following morning we got up quite early, had breakfast at the hotel and took a cab to a shopping street. Bella tried on some dresses for her Formal, but I didn't buy anything because everything there was very expensive. Bella, Kaia and I then took another cab to a shopping mall called Westfield, and I bought a long black dress (see photo) and two tops. We had lunch at the shopping mall and spent the rest of the afternoon there. We also bought some presents for family friends where we'd have dinner that night. When we got tired of shopping, we headed back to the hotel, had a shower and got dressed for dinner at the Screncis (family friends). Paula, the mum, is Dutch but moved to Australia when she was 23. It was nice talking Dutch again to someone besides Do, but at the same time a bit weird because she had such an Australian accent. We'd also invited Colette (another Dutch exchange) and her host Caitlin over for dinner and it was really good catching up with them. We had a lovely night and the view from the terrace was truly astonishing.

Today, we slept in till about 11 am and then rushed to the harbour to be in time for the ferry. On our way there, we quickly grabbed breakfast at Starbucks (very Australian, not...) The ferry took us all around the Sydney Harbour, and of course, being a typical tourist, I took some photos with the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in the background. We also came across Luna Park, a very old and famous amusement park in Sydney. When we got off the ferry, Bella's parents went back to the hotel and Bella and I just walked around for a bit and took some more photos. 

Back at the hotel, we packed our bags, checked out and took a cab to the airport. Our flight was scheduled for 16:00, but we arrived at the airport at 14:15 so we managed to get on to an earlier flight and left at 15:00. The rest of the day was a bit uneventful, I just unpacked my bag, watched some series and right now I'm about to publish this blog update. I'm quite tired as well so I think I'm going to bed early today and have a lovely long sleep. Night! X