Sydney Highlights; from Indian sweet to crazy gorillas ...

Dearest readers,
I have just returned from a trip to Sydney with my sister and father. Funny, a few months ago I had never been to Sydney. Now, I have been twice. Once with my mother and sister and once with my father and sister. It does make a pleasant change. Although it is a modern city, it has a certain feel about it that's hard to describe. Sometimes I feel I am in Europe, especially when in Hyde Park next to the fountain. Although our stay was short, again, we managed to squeeze in a number of activities over our three days and I am now convinced that we have done everything you can possibly do as far as sightseeing goes in Sydney. We saw the Opera House, went up Centrepoint Tower, caught the ferry over to Toronga Zoo and had a look at the Powerhouse Museum. It was a pretty exhausting few days but we all enjoyed it immensely. The hotel we stayed in was a bit of a let-down but, as we were only there to sleep, it did not really affect us too dreadfully. We mostly just got into the room and flopped down onto the beds, utterly exhausted anyway!

Whilst in Sydney, we had dinner at an Indian restaurant. The food was fairly good, if a little spicy, and afterwards we bought some Indian sweets to take away with us. Reaching Hyde Park, we decided to sit down and try them. We were unsure whether we would actually like them, in fact, we were pretty certain we would HATE them! We even videoed our reactions. First, we tried the orange twisty sweets. Mel and dad tasted them first. They both screwed up their faces immediately and remarked "urgghhh!". Then, I tried one. It tasted like frying oil inside a tube of hardened toffy which had all been deep-fried! It was utterly HORRIBLE! And the lady in the shop had recommended them to us! She said they were an 'Indian delicacy'. More like an Indian 'yuckicacy' as Dad put it. Next came the pale rectangular block with pistachios on top. This time, I went first, then dad and Mel. We all agreed that it tasted that cheese which had been stripped of flavour and left a tasteless lump which looked life tofu and didn't taste much different I would imagine. Next came the round toffy-like ball. I went first again, followed swiftly by Dad and Mel. It was by far the best, tasting like a watery doughnut dipped in maple syrup, still not very tasty however. Last of all came the other ball-shaped sweet. Mel went first this time, followed by Dad and I. Mel's face when she bit into it said it all. She almost spit it out, remarking 'oh, gross! It tastes like cous-cous dipped in syrup!'. We all agreed, throwing out the remains of the 'Indian yuckicasies' into the bin.

That was on the first day. The final day in Sydney, we took a trip to the zoo. We had a look at the red panda's and the lemurs and otters and the zebras and giraffes and chimpanzees. The funniest bunch, however, was definitely the gorilla's. One in particular evoked hysterical laughter and chortling whoops from on-lookers, as well as much camera action as people hurriedly took out their camera's to video this hilarious scene. One of the younger gorilla's, who was evidently the trouble maker of the bunch, decided it would be fun to dance around in excited circles and wave his gangly arms in the air above him. Oh, he did make a funny sight! His large grin took over his entire face and he went on and on in circles for quite some time until he flopped down, dizzy and exhausted in a lazy heap. Everybody was laughing, it drew quite a crowd!

Ahhh, anyway, we're back in Brisbane now and are spending quiet days at home. I must confess, I do get a little grumpy when I spend entire days indoors, doing nothing in particular. My sister is having her hair cut today, really short! I cannot wait to see what she looks like and how short it will be. It will be quite a change from her usual shoulder-length curtain. She is thinking of something like this:

Au revoir!
Miss Aalyn xx