G'day Mates!
I have to say, we had a pretty calm week in Sydney. I mean, we saw two world famous landmarks, the Sydney Opera House, and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We walked the entire length of Mac-quire park, (I’m not sure how big it is, but it’s big). We ate the Australian specialty, savory pies, at one of the most famous pie places in Australia called Harry’s on Wheels. We visited the astounding Seaquarium, where we saw a colossal dugong, which has to be fed lettuce every 15 minutes. We visited the high end mall called the Queen Victoria Building, we visited the starting place of Sydney called the Rocks. And last but not least, because I had my 12th birthday earlier this week, my mom and I went to get a mani pedi as a birthday present. Not to mention a couple of hours spent laboring in the kitchen of my mom’s aunt’s house to prepare a thanksgiving dinner. All of that sounds pretty hectic, but it really wasn’t. We spread the activities over 3 or 4 days, and strolled around Sydney leisurely most of the day. Now, you are probably eager to hear about the Sydney Opera House, so here is a poem I wrote about it.
I have to say, we had a pretty calm week in Sydney. I mean, we saw two world famous landmarks, the Sydney Opera House, and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We walked the entire length of Mac-quire park, (I’m not sure how big it is, but it’s big). We ate the Australian specialty, savory pies, at one of the most famous pie places in Australia called Harry’s on Wheels. We visited the astounding Seaquarium, where we saw a colossal dugong, which has to be fed lettuce every 15 minutes. We visited the high end mall called the Queen Victoria Building, we visited the starting place of Sydney called the Rocks. And last but not least, because I had my 12th birthday earlier this week, my mom and I went to get a mani pedi as a birthday present. Not to mention a couple of hours spent laboring in the kitchen of my mom’s aunt’s house to prepare a thanksgiving dinner. All of that sounds pretty hectic, but it really wasn’t. We spread the activities over 3 or 4 days, and strolled around Sydney leisurely most of the day. Now, you are probably eager to hear about the Sydney Opera House, so here is a poem I wrote about it.
I stand, and look out past the horizon,
The wind, weaving in and out of my hair,
Tickling my face, wistfully,
The ocean spray, sprinkling me with water,
The smell of salt, surrounds me,
Out in the distance, I see,
The Sydney Opera House,
It seems to be floating, on the water,
Proudly,
Its mighty white wings,
About, to take flight
Or are they the sails of a ship,
Raised as they begin their journey, into the sea,
Or even, pages of a book,
Sent flying, by the wind,
Not that it matters,
It is clear to me, that this building,
This magnificent structure,
Is meant to fly!
The wind, weaving in and out of my hair,
Tickling my face, wistfully,
The ocean spray, sprinkling me with water,
The smell of salt, surrounds me,
Out in the distance, I see,
The Sydney Opera House,
It seems to be floating, on the water,
Proudly,
Its mighty white wings,
About, to take flight
Or are they the sails of a ship,
Raised as they begin their journey, into the sea,
Or even, pages of a book,
Sent flying, by the wind,
Not that it matters,
It is clear to me, that this building,
This magnificent structure,
Is meant to fly!
Now, I would like to tell you about our weekend, which was probably the best weekend I have had in my life! My mom has family in Australia, so we spent the next weekend with her cousin, Benson, who also lives near Sydney. He was a splendid tour guide. On Saturday, he managed to give my parents a short tour of Sydney, while still keeping it fun for my brothers and I. Benson drove us around Sydney, and showed us his work. He restores old, government owned, buildings so that they can be rented out. I was very interested in this because I want to be an architect. Then he drove us to Bondi beach, one of Sydney’s surfers meccas. My brothers jumped and splashed in the water, while I talked to Benson about my travels and his: it turns out he has done a great deal of traveling in his life as well. Next came the really fun part. We hoped back in the car after a filling dinner of Chinese food, and drove to a luna park (that’s how people call amusement park in basically every country except the U.S.). Funny enough this luna park is actually called Luna Park. It is a historical amusement park that was first opened in 1935. It reminded me of the amusement parks you see in movies, the rides were old and rickety, a happy, yet eerie clown music was playing, and all the games were old. That didn’t make the park any less fun though! If anything, it was more fun than all the modern parks. There was a myriad of rides, these are a few examples: a rotor, a drop, a ferris wheel, a roller coaster, and a swinging boat that goes upside down. My youngest brother, dad and I did two rides. One was called the Tumble Bug: it was a big arm that had circles connected to it. On each of the circles there were about 6 two person karts. The circles would turn as well as the base of each arm. Then the arms would raise to a 90 degree angle. It was scary yet fun at the same time. Next we all went together to something called Coney Island. It was a big room with lot’s of fun activities that you could do over and over again. There were slides, one of them with a drop straight down. There was a mirror maze, and floors that moved. There was also a spinning disk, you had to sit on it and try not to fall off, last one sitting wins. It is actually a lot harder than it sounds. Both my parents, and brothers had fun in Coney Island for about and hour, and so did Benson and I. In between rides, we stopped to look at the glorious view of the Sydney Opera House, and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was absolutely breathtaking to see these fantastic structures at night. By 10 pm, we were all tired and ready to leave Coney Island. We all trudged back to the car, sweaty and tired, but happy as can be. My brothers and I fell asleep in the car, which is a rarity, and I had one of the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had.
I needed it though, because the following morning we hopped right back into Benson’s car, off to our next adventure. We drove to Benson’s friends shouse, (I’ll explain what that is in a minute), for the real kick of this spectacular weekend. Their house is about a 40 minute drive from Sydney, so after after one gas stop, one stop at the supermarket, and another stop to pick up some beer for the adults, (and gum for me), we arrived at their shouse. Now, by now you are probably wondering what a shouse is, considering I’ve already used the word twice, so I’ll explain. As we pulled up to their massive property, which I later learned is 25 acres, I looked around for their house, actually anywhere with air-conditioning. All I saw was two cars, one boat (which we would be riding on, or behind, later), and a huge shed. As I approached our hosts, Terry and Cathy, to shake their hands, I caught a glimpse of the inside of the shed. It was their house! I could see a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom, as well as a door that no doubt led to the bedrooms. Cathy must have noticed me staring at their shed, because she exclaimed, “Welcome to our shouse! It’s our shed house!” I hope that clears things up for you readers, a shouse is a shed/house! Anyway, while the adults snacked on cheese and drank some beer, my brothers and I jumped into the biggest Jacuzzi we had ever seen. We swam and the adults talked for about 40 minutes. Then Terry fitted us up with life vests and we drove down in Bensons car to the river, (it takes 5 minutes to drive to the river, but all the land until there is Terry and Cathy’s property)! Terry and his son, who I am guessing is about 23 years old, drove the boat into the water, and tied a rope to the back of the boat. On the end of the rope was a big red and black pillow. They told my brothers and I to jump onto the pillow, and all the adults, (Benson, Terry, Cathy, their son, and our parents), to board the boat. Then Terry fired up the engine and the boat set sail. I could feel my adrenaline rushing as I gripped tighter on to the hand holds. My heart was pumping fast as we swerved and bounced on the water behind the boat. I screamed as loud as I possibly could, and so did my brothers. But we could not be heard over the roar of the engine. I can’t find any other word to describe it with other than: AWESOME!!!! It was absolutely awesome!
“Faster, faster! Sharper turns!” Even thought we knew Terry couldn’t hear us, he seemed to understand what we wanted. We skid and jumped, and shouted and laughed until our voices were hoarse and our hands tired from gripping onto the hand hold. After 15 minutes, Terry cut the engine and everybody, except Benson and Cathy, jumped into the water to have a swim. The water was warm from the sun and we laughed some more as we pushed each other off of the pillow. I wanted to freeze myself in that moment. Sun, not too hot, water just right, everyone laughing. I really think that was my favorite part of the whole experience, just being together, and having fun. Laughing…
After 5 minutes of swimming the kids got into the boat, and Terry and his son water skied. I just lay in the front of the boat, not paying much attention to the skiing, and let the warm breeze tickle my face. This calm moment didn’t last long though because soon the adults were done water skiing and my brothers and I jumped back onto the pillow for a second time. This time we kept on pushing Terry to go faster, with sharper turns, (we communicated via hand motions), until we were all flung off a few times. To tell you the truth it felt like you hit a wall when you fell off, you were going that fast! That didn’t make it any less fun! After another 15 minutes of barely staying on the pillow, we returned to the shouse for a barbecue. After the barbecue, Yanai and I started to building a house completely made out of the cardboard beer holders. Milo swam in the jacuzzi and played with the dog, (he eventually stopped when the dog bit his thumb), and the adults talked. Right before we left, us kids ate a delicious bowl of ice cream, and we fell asleep in the car again. After a sleepy goodbye to Benson, we went to bed. I fell asleep dreaming about this wonderful weekend, and anticipating what adventures were to come tomorrow when we left Sydney.
Toodoloo!
Liv the Explorer
I needed it though, because the following morning we hopped right back into Benson’s car, off to our next adventure. We drove to Benson’s friends shouse, (I’ll explain what that is in a minute), for the real kick of this spectacular weekend. Their house is about a 40 minute drive from Sydney, so after after one gas stop, one stop at the supermarket, and another stop to pick up some beer for the adults, (and gum for me), we arrived at their shouse. Now, by now you are probably wondering what a shouse is, considering I’ve already used the word twice, so I’ll explain. As we pulled up to their massive property, which I later learned is 25 acres, I looked around for their house, actually anywhere with air-conditioning. All I saw was two cars, one boat (which we would be riding on, or behind, later), and a huge shed. As I approached our hosts, Terry and Cathy, to shake their hands, I caught a glimpse of the inside of the shed. It was their house! I could see a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom, as well as a door that no doubt led to the bedrooms. Cathy must have noticed me staring at their shed, because she exclaimed, “Welcome to our shouse! It’s our shed house!” I hope that clears things up for you readers, a shouse is a shed/house! Anyway, while the adults snacked on cheese and drank some beer, my brothers and I jumped into the biggest Jacuzzi we had ever seen. We swam and the adults talked for about 40 minutes. Then Terry fitted us up with life vests and we drove down in Bensons car to the river, (it takes 5 minutes to drive to the river, but all the land until there is Terry and Cathy’s property)! Terry and his son, who I am guessing is about 23 years old, drove the boat into the water, and tied a rope to the back of the boat. On the end of the rope was a big red and black pillow. They told my brothers and I to jump onto the pillow, and all the adults, (Benson, Terry, Cathy, their son, and our parents), to board the boat. Then Terry fired up the engine and the boat set sail. I could feel my adrenaline rushing as I gripped tighter on to the hand holds. My heart was pumping fast as we swerved and bounced on the water behind the boat. I screamed as loud as I possibly could, and so did my brothers. But we could not be heard over the roar of the engine. I can’t find any other word to describe it with other than: AWESOME!!!! It was absolutely awesome!
“Faster, faster! Sharper turns!” Even thought we knew Terry couldn’t hear us, he seemed to understand what we wanted. We skid and jumped, and shouted and laughed until our voices were hoarse and our hands tired from gripping onto the hand hold. After 15 minutes, Terry cut the engine and everybody, except Benson and Cathy, jumped into the water to have a swim. The water was warm from the sun and we laughed some more as we pushed each other off of the pillow. I wanted to freeze myself in that moment. Sun, not too hot, water just right, everyone laughing. I really think that was my favorite part of the whole experience, just being together, and having fun. Laughing…
After 5 minutes of swimming the kids got into the boat, and Terry and his son water skied. I just lay in the front of the boat, not paying much attention to the skiing, and let the warm breeze tickle my face. This calm moment didn’t last long though because soon the adults were done water skiing and my brothers and I jumped back onto the pillow for a second time. This time we kept on pushing Terry to go faster, with sharper turns, (we communicated via hand motions), until we were all flung off a few times. To tell you the truth it felt like you hit a wall when you fell off, you were going that fast! That didn’t make it any less fun! After another 15 minutes of barely staying on the pillow, we returned to the shouse for a barbecue. After the barbecue, Yanai and I started to building a house completely made out of the cardboard beer holders. Milo swam in the jacuzzi and played with the dog, (he eventually stopped when the dog bit his thumb), and the adults talked. Right before we left, us kids ate a delicious bowl of ice cream, and we fell asleep in the car again. After a sleepy goodbye to Benson, we went to bed. I fell asleep dreaming about this wonderful weekend, and anticipating what adventures were to come tomorrow when we left Sydney.
Toodoloo!
Liv the Explorer