1504 Stairs and Surf Camp

Time to get you all caught up on my most recent adventures in Sydney!

Last weekend my flatmates and I decided that taking the elevator to the top of the tallest tower in Sydney was just too easy.  So we opted to take the stairs! We climbed 1504 stairs in just over 20 minutes (not that fast but we weren't really racing).  The fastest climbers did it in just under 10 minutes.  The elite runners were officially finished before we started but at least 2 of them did it multiple times because they passed us in the stairwell.  The most inspirational climbers were definitely the firefighters who climbed the whole way in their full uniform and with full oxygen tanks. Photo credit goes to Sarah and Maddie because I decided I didn't need to bring my camera with me. And since we were in the fancy dress division we decided to channel our inner army girl strength for the climb.

The Before Picture

Climbing! 

We did it!

The view from the top was amazing!

After the climb I was feeling like a champion so I decided to take the train to the suburb Olympic Park for some exploring.  This is where all the stadiums from the Sydney 2000 Olympics are.  It was a beautiful day so I wondered around the monuments just enjoyed my time in the sun.

The cauldron that held the Olympic Torch in Sydney

Hey Honors 2016, look at this pretty fish ladder I found!

If you're going to buy a coffee from an American company, you might as well get the most Australian flavor available

Wednesday night was the UTS world fiesta which was basically just a chance for all the international students to dress up as their culture, eat some delicious cultural food, and do some fantastic cultural dancing.
I'm still not sure how to dress up as an American, so I just went crazy with the face paint.  My friend Julia is from Germany and she rocked the drindl for the fiesta.

German Julia's drindl 

'Murica!

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for...My surf camp experience! I bet when I said that I was going to surf camp you pictured a blue sky, palm trees, white sand beaches, turquoise blue waters, and me surfing in my bikini. Well, I wish.  A more accurate picture would be a rainy September day on a beach in Maine.  It was raining.  We were shivering in our steamers (3mm wetsuits). The waves were big, but the water was dark and foamy. When we weren't surfing we were walking around in as much warm clothing as possible. But hey, not everyday can be a surfer's paradise.  And my 6 hours of surf lessons was spent mostly with me being tossed around by the waves.  Maybe 2 minutes out of 6 hours were spent with me actually standing on a surfboard (There is no photographic proof that I stood on a surfboard but I swear it happened!). As I sit here writing this my entire body hurts. Parts of my hand and feet are rubbed raw from the surf board and the sand. I definitely have a whole new level of respect for surfers.  I spent a lot of time thinking about how surfing compares to snowboarding.  Riding a wave for 10 seconds is like riding down the mountain.  Getting back out to catch the next wave is like walking all the way up the mountain to go for another run.

That was Saturday though.  Sunday was warm enough to walk around in shorts, the sun was shining, and we went down to the beach to take photos after our last lesson!

Our surf camp cabins

Seven Mile Beach where we had our surf lessons!

Selfies on the beach because why not

Missing my sisters and thinking of them as they start recruitment!

That my friends is a jumping pillow aka the best trampoline you will ever bounce on

 That sums up my last days of winter in Australia! Today was the first day of Spring and I'm ready for the temperature to start rising! I have lots of Uni work to do this week but I'm still hoping to go on some awesome adventures this coming weekend!