June 17, 2016
Vanderbilt’s tour of Australia continued Friday as the team traveled to the famous city of Sydney and took in more spectacular sights. Recent graduate Robyn Renslow tells us about it.
‘Ello!
After spending our last morning in the beautiful city of Cairns, we made our way to our final destination of this wonderful trip, Sydney. As previous postcards have noted, the weather in Cairns had been mostly damp during much of our stay, however, this morning could not have been any better. Mostly clear skies greeted us this morning for an even more relaxing departure time of 11 AM.
As we made our quick journey to the airport, I got a surprise of my own as the team gathered in singing Happy Birthday to me as today marked my 23rd birthday. Being able to spend this birthday here in Australia with this wonderful team will be an everlasting memory and I am so thankful to have it!
But back to business… as we awaited our next journey on to Sydney, some of us decided to look around the airport for some last-minute souvenir shopping as we will not have much time for shopping while in Sydney. As we boarded the plane at 12:30 PM, we were able to take in much of the beauty of Cairns since we had to go outside to board the plane! The mountainous view was absolutely breathtaking.
After our three-hour long flight, we touched down in Sydney just before 4 PM where we hurried down for our bags to head straight to Darling Harbour. When we arrived to Darling Harbour at 5 PM, we would shortly board the cruise ship that would take us around to enjoy a well-known light show on the Sydney Bridge and Sydney Opera House.
The light show was spectacular to say the least. Purples, blues, greens, and reds in all sorts of ways lit up the Sydney Bridge. Upon the Opera House were colorful arrays that seemed to be projected onto this distinctive building that left everyone on the boat in awe of the magic. The light show itself happens only one month out of the year, and is done every night during that month.
Following the cruise, we made our way to our hotel, checked in, then grabbed a bite to eat at the Blackbird Café. As we made our way to the café, there was a light and water show going on just outside where we were eating. We later found that it is called the Sydney Vivid Light Show, and decided to enjoy the show once we finished up our dinner.
The show started with some fireworks, then throughout had water shows, and beams of light that danced around in the sky, they even threw in some fire from time to time! The finale was spectacular with all of the water, lights, and fireworks going off at once.
Tomorrow is our last full day and we have quite a lineup of activities that we hope won’t be bogged down by the forecasted rain! That’s all for now, but stay tuned for our upcoming adventures!
Cheers Mates!