Sydney: Day 2

A cassowary that we saw at the zoo.

A koala that we saw at the zoo.

Today was our second and final day in Sydney.  When we woke up in the RV park, we took the subway again into the center of the city.  Our first stop was in the town hall for my brother and me to get busking permits.  (Busking is the Australian word for street performing.)  My brother and I always look forward to playing our violins whichever city we're in.  We've played in Paris, London, Boston, Belgrade, Hobart, Prague, Portsmouth, Leipzig, San Diego, and as of today, Sydney.

After we got the permits, we headed straight to the Sydney Opera (where there were lots of people) to find a place on the street to play.  Then we caught a ferry to Watson Bay in Sydney Harbor.  We had lunch at a seafood restaurant called Doyle's.  After that, we caught a returning ferry, and when we were back in downtown, we went to the Sydney zoo.  We were able to see many native Australian species such as echidnas, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, Tasmanian devils, many colorful birds including cassowaries, and lots of reptiles.  We even got to take pictures up close with a koala (this was especially extraordinary because in the wild, most of the time they are asleep high up in eucalyptus trees.)

After the zoo, we walked to the Lindt Café, the café where the terrorist attacks occurred last year.  We had a slice of cake, and started walking around a pedestrian street called Martin Place.  We walked into an arcade (similar to the ones in Melbourne), and looked in a lot of small shops, including a hat store where you could find basically every type of hat under the sun.

When we left the arcade, it was already time to start heading towards the train station to catch a ride back to the caravan park.  However, as we walked down into the subway station, we saw so many people, that my brother and I wanted to play our violins again.  We played some more, and then decided to call it quits for the night.  We hopped on a train and got off at the park, where we slept another peaceful (but cramped) night in the caravan.