Thursday, June 23 – Day 1 in Sydney
We have arrived in Sydney, finally! We went through customs quickly, retrieved our bags and met the delegation manager for the Junior High delegation that was on the same flight as us. The delegates from Texas had arrived the night before and were already out and about. We all hopped on our coach to meet up with them at the FULL ON location. It took a little while to get up into the Blue Mountains, but our substitute delegation manager, Bianca, gave us a heap of important information on the way.
We arrived at the FULL ON location and had lunch – our first taste of meat pies – yum! We all sat and enjoyed our hot lunch as Matt described in detail why he does not eat meat pies. Once lunch was finished, we all went into a rustic “conference” room for some team games and information on how to create better results in our own lives.
The two main points focused on perspective. How we see (or perceive) a situation influences how we feel about it, which then influences what we do in that situation , which then influences what we get from that situation. What we get from that situation influences how we see that situation when it comes up again… and so on. Think – self-fulfilling prophecy and you’ve got the gist. So if we can frame a situation with a positive perspective, the self-fulfilling prophecy becomes a positive one. Does this make any sense? OR did you have to be there? We learned about our thoughts being seeds, the connections we make with our thoughts as being roots, and the actions that come from those thoughts as being the tree that grows from the roots. There was a brief discussion about our R.A.S. (part of the brain) and how it can help us succeed by filtering our thoughts coming from a positive perspective instead of a negative one.
So, on to action! Right before we went out to abseil, we did a really neat power type activity with wood. Then it was a quick coach ride to the abseil location. We listened to instruction from Ash, donned helmets and harnesses and went trapsing off into the wilderness.
The abseil was spectacular – everyone has a different way of describing their experience. You will have to ask each of us to get a picture of how it all went. The group took up just enough time to take us into dusk. We hiked back up to our drop off location, dropped off our equipment, and headed back for dinner.
A wonderful surprise met us as we walked into the dining hall. Lined up on either side of the walkway from the outside to the hall, were the remaining 33 delegates for our delegation and our delegation manager, Rob! We walked by to a lot of whoops and hollers, high fives, and welcomes. It was pretty fantastic. We ate a nice meal, did a quick bathroom stop, and boarded our coach along with the Texans to get back to our hotel in Sydney. What a day! AND what a way to start off our adventures in Australia – hiking, climbing, abseiling, and whooping and high fiving. Not bad. Not bad, at all!
Friday, June 24th – Day 2 in Sydney
We got to “sleep in” this morning until 8:00 before heading down to breakfast and hopping on the coach for our first FULL day in Sydney. It is the end of the day as I write this, and it honestly feels like we woke up a week ago to do all of the things we did today. We walked through Hyde Park and ended up at Hyde Park Barracks. We had the whole place to ourselves and listened – convict style – to the history of the barracks. We had time to explore the many exhibits on our own… the rats nest, the clothing, the tools and “luxury” items, and the statistics of the convicts who were housed at Hyde Park.
Our next stop was at an Opal Museum. We listened to a presentation and asked questions of our guide, Dave. Who knew that opals and dinosaurs had so much in common! Of course there was some time to look at opal jewelry after the presentation… It was exciting to see how large some opals can get.
Soon after we finished at the Opal Museum we boarded a small ferry at Sydney Harbor for our lunch cruise. We had a nice meal and listened to information about all the different sights around the harbor. Our cruise lasted almost two hours. We had plenty of time to explore the rest of the ferry and relax so we were ready to do some more exploring. Rob walked us around one side of the harbor to Cadman’s Cottage, the oldest surviving building from 1816. He also told us two stories – one about convicts and the benefits of being married, and another about the Jurassic tree planted outside the cottage. I am leaving a lot of this unclear so you can ask your delegate questions when he or she returns home.
We walked around to the opposite side of the harbor to the magnificent Sydney Opera House. Did you know that the design almost never happened? A few times! Yara, from the Texas delegation got to sing inside one of the concert halls. She is an opera singer back home so she was the perfect choice – and she sounded wonderful. Our tour took us all over the opera house. We were able to see the area where sets are stored for various performances, the massive boxes that hold the lighting equipment, and the road that goes through the opera house. We must have walked two miles just inside this one landmark!
Dinner? Yes, but not before stopping at a park across from the Opera House to take pictures of the sunset. We ate at a place called the Lizard Lounge. Think we’re done? Oh no way! We walked a short distance to the Sydney Aquarium and had some free time to explore (again, we had the place mostly to ourselves). Then, it was back to the hotel, showers, and packing up for our journey to Canberra tomorrow.
