First Full Day in Sydney

To say that we hit the ground running today is an understatement.  We finally landed after our 14-1/2 hour flight from Los Angeles.  Many of the students only managed to squeeze a few hours of sleep, while others were able to sleep almost the entire flight.  After we made our way through customs, we met our delegation manager, Elisa. From the airport it was straight to the Rock area of Sydney where the first colonies were. The students were able to dress up as either the governor of Sydney, a soldier, or a convict.  Our tour guide showed us around this historic area, telling us little tidbits about the people we were portraying.  Some people were sent to the the Australian colony for very small infractions, including stealing a hairbrush.  However, it seemed like being sent to Australia worked out pretty well for some of these people and they became very wealthy and influential people in Australia's history.

From the rocks we headed to lunch where many of the students had fish and chip.  Other options included chicken, pasta or nachos.  No complaints from any of them yet on the food.

From there it was off to Olympic stadium and the Aquatic center.  We learned about how it was built and certain facts of the swimming pool itself.   Apparently, the Sydney Olympic pool is considered the fastest because of its design and many other places are now building Olympic pools using Sydney's as a model.  Many Olympic and World records were set here in 2000.  The only other Olympics that equaled Sydney was Bejing, but the sleek swim suits they wore in those Olympics are now banned, so Sydney feels they still are the fastest.  After our tour and getting to pose on the Olympic podium, if was off to swimming.   Most of the kids swam and/or played in the water.  After this, we were off to take a walk around the harbor and a pasta dinner.

We have now arrived at the hotel and all the exhausted students are tucked in bed.  Tomorrow we are off to the Sydney Opera House, Parliament and the Opal Museum.  Unfortunately still cannot post pictures because we cannot use our own computer and this hotel computer will not let me use the camera card to upload.  Hopefully tomorrow will be able to post from the past few nights. Please be patient.  Will have some wonderful shots once we can get access to them. Until tomorrow...