September 14th Travel Day/Sydney Opera House

Open Market/Sydney Opera House (Cultural/History)

     The penguin parade had us all tired from driving back so we woke up around 8:00. Diego decided to show us his cooking skills and made french toast and bacon on the camper stove. The drive to Sydney was 8 hours, so we had to move quickly to make sure we arrived in the city in time for our musical that night. Mason wanted to drive, so he did and almost wrecked the van 15 minutes in, prompting Avery to take over for the rest of the way. The drive took us along the coast, which was great scenic route that everyone was able to enjoy.
    After driving about halfway to Sydney (just over 4 hours) Mason suggested we should stop at one of the open air markets on the outskirts of a town.  We all readily agreed as we were hungry as breakfast felt like forever ago, and we wanted to immerse ourselves deeper into the Australian culture.  We had to park far away as the market was crowed with both locals and tourist alike added to the fact we were stuck with a giant camper.  The first think we noticed was all the vibrant colors of the tents that vendors were selling out of and the variety of things being sold.  There were local bands scattered all over the market, many of them playing music on a didgeridoo, an instrument native to Australia and a part of their culture.  It was a great place to be as no matter where you were the music re-vibrated in you.  The music was an interesting as it was a low tone normally accompanied by a guitar. 
    Another cool aspect of the market that all of us were at was the crafts.  There was a multitude of handmade items from Australia including boomerangs and dot paintings.  However, the real reason we were there was for all of the wonderful smelling food.  Zach ended up dragging us all over to a vendor because the aroma was so overwhelming.  Everybody ordered the classic fish and chips along with ginger beers, a popular Australian drink, except for Dylan who agreed to a dare and tried the witchetty grubs.  After a few bites he puked due to the sheer idea of what he was eating despite the fact it tasted like a cashew nut.  When everyone finished eating we knew that we had to leave soon if we wanted to make it to the show at the Opera House that night.  On the way out, all of us bought our own custom boomerangs as souvenirs.
     We ended up making it to Sydney about four hours later which was around 6 p.m.  All of us stopped for a quick dinner at a local restaurant before our show.  We hurried over to the Sydney Opera house and made it just in time for the show that started at 7 O'clock.  As we headed towards our seats we were all astounded by the grandeur of the place with its incredibly tall ceilings and beautiful architecture.  We just sat down in our seat as the show began to start.
      The show was all about the culture of Australia which included native dances, music often featuring the digeridoo, and stories about the history of Australia.  Our favorite part of the show was the music by far.  The best song was called Fingers.  It was played using the digeridoo and the guitar.  The rhythm and the melody of it moved all of us and even brought Avery to tears. By the end, we had all learned a lot about Australia that we did not know before.  After the last of many performances, we all stood up and clapped loudly as it was a good show.  Dylan however, took it to far and was incredibly obnoxious with all of his whistling and yelling. 
    As a group, we exited the opera house, glad that we were able to visit one of the most iconic places in all of Australia.  At the end of the day, all of us were impressed by the unique and vibrant culture that Australia had.  We finally made it back to the RV at about 11:00 and went to sleep in preparation for the next day in the awesome city of Sydney, Australia.