Sydney, Day 2

We started off our second day in Sydney by visiting the aquarium. In addition to a variety of fish, there were fantastic glass tunnels underneath the water of two large tanks. One held the dugongs, the other had sharks.

Dugongs are very similar to manatees, with one main difference being their tail shapes. Manatees' tails are round and paddle-shaped while dugongs have fluked tails similar to whales.

After the aquarium we walked along the Harbor Bridge for a view of the city. The bridge was first proposed in 1815 by a convict-architect. No action was taken and more people continued to make proposals until the bridge was finally under construction in 1924. The bridge was completed in 1932. During construction, over 100 buildings had been demolished. While this initially seemed unfortunate, the rebuilding of destroyed buildings provided work for many residents in the Depression.

As we made our way to the Royal Botanic Gardens, I stopped to listen to a man playing didgeridoo on the footpath by Circular Quay. He had a techno-esque beat on CD and was playing didgeridoo over it.

We walked into the Royal Botanic Gardens and were both excited to see the sign that read:

Please walk on the grass. We also invite you to smell the roses, hug the trees, talk to the birds, sit on the benches and picnic on the lawns.

My feet were sore so I took full advantage of the cool, plush lawns. It felt like walking on a pillow while icing your feet.

Annoyingly, the pyramid glass house had closed for the evening; though, there was also an entrance fee that I don't think I would have been willing to pay had it been open. There was more than enough to see in the rest of the gardens.