Self-Promotion for Smart People

One of my first days in Australia, Chris and I went down to Stanwell Tops.

It’s a really nice place, very popular for hang gliding. It was too windy that day, but still beautiful. IMHO, it looks a lot like areas of the Oregon and California coast. This was also the same day that I started trying Australian beers. Out of all the different Aussie beers I tried, I believe there was only one that I thought was bad.

Another day, I headed into Sydney with Vicki (Chris’ girlfriend) on her way to work. She suggested that I go to Centrepoint first, which is where the Sydney Tower is.

From Sydney Tower, there are a lot of great views, but I thought I would include a pic of:

A friend from high school, Alejandro, an exchange student from Columbia and an amazing percussionist, is a supervisor at the Sydney Hilton, which is pretty cool, because my sister used to work at one as well.

After Sydney Tower, I headed over to the aquarium and something called Wildlife World. I had never seen a Cassowary in real life, but they are apparently the most dangerous birds in the world.

Needless to say, I did not want to get too close.

Before my trip, I did not know that Australia has a unique type of small-bodied penguin.

They weren’t anything particularly impressive, but it’s interesting to think that such a “hot” place has penguins. Of course, I found out while down there that Australia is much more diverse than Paul Hogan made it out to be.

No trip recap would be complete without a pic of:

Or, wallabies:

Wallabies look a lot like kangaroos, but they’re smaller and tend to live on rocks. They are a distinct species.