Have you ever heard of the very popular reality game show called The Amazing Race? If you have, great! If you haven't, well basically it is a show where 12 teams of two race around the world completing challenges and solving clues until they have made it to the finish line. Lilly Faulk who has been studying abroad here in Sydney for a semester put together her version of the show Sydney style. The purpose for this was not just to explore Sydney but to bond with the friends who came and to build relationships.
My group was dubbed team three and our first destination was Circular Quay (pronounced KEY). This is a bustling hub right by the harbor bridge, the opera house, and the ocean. Our first stop was to walk around the harbor and find a plaque on the ground that displayed a writer whose initials were MP. This section is known as The Writer's Walk. There are almost 50 plaques that display famous writers from Australia or have ancestry here. Once we found the plaque we had to stand on it and look for an arrow. One of the young Australians in our group spotted it quickly. Before we made our way to where the arrow was, we took a lunch break. We ordered Hungry Jack's, which is actually Burger King, but since there was another franchise here before BK with the same name, BK is called Hungry Jack's here. We found a place to sit, but no outdoor place is safe. Because it's near the water, there are a ton of ibis and seagulls. They are fearless here. They'll approach you really close and make their move when the time is right. I spent have the time scaring them off but they always came back. One managed to get a bite of Ray's burger, and another managed to get what was left of Sophia's sandwich. My curiosity got the best of me and instead of fighting them off I stood straight and held a fry between my fingers and not that far from my head. In a minute or two, I felt a gull brush my head and the fry was gone. He snatched it right out of my fingers. Curiosity satisfied.
After lunch, we walked to the Arrow which was an art museum. We had to go inside and take a picture of the restaurant terrace, a brown horse, and a giant clock. Our next clue led us towards a historic part of town. This next bit gave us trouble because we had an issue finding stuff and the crowds here were massive due to a chocolate festival going on. It was like a can of sardines.
We made our way through a tunnel and found a house with no walls. Then we made our way back to ground level and for the life of us could not find the clue. We wandered like a confused squirrel crossing a road. Finally we asked a Sydney information center for help (twice) and found that what we were looking for had been really close all along. We wasted a lot of time on that one.
My group was dubbed team three and our first destination was Circular Quay (pronounced KEY). This is a bustling hub right by the harbor bridge, the opera house, and the ocean. Our first stop was to walk around the harbor and find a plaque on the ground that displayed a writer whose initials were MP. This section is known as The Writer's Walk. There are almost 50 plaques that display famous writers from Australia or have ancestry here. Once we found the plaque we had to stand on it and look for an arrow. One of the young Australians in our group spotted it quickly. Before we made our way to where the arrow was, we took a lunch break. We ordered Hungry Jack's, which is actually Burger King, but since there was another franchise here before BK with the same name, BK is called Hungry Jack's here. We found a place to sit, but no outdoor place is safe. Because it's near the water, there are a ton of ibis and seagulls. They are fearless here. They'll approach you really close and make their move when the time is right. I spent have the time scaring them off but they always came back. One managed to get a bite of Ray's burger, and another managed to get what was left of Sophia's sandwich. My curiosity got the best of me and instead of fighting them off I stood straight and held a fry between my fingers and not that far from my head. In a minute or two, I felt a gull brush my head and the fry was gone. He snatched it right out of my fingers. Curiosity satisfied.
After lunch, we walked to the Arrow which was an art museum. We had to go inside and take a picture of the restaurant terrace, a brown horse, and a giant clock. Our next clue led us towards a historic part of town. This next bit gave us trouble because we had an issue finding stuff and the crowds here were massive due to a chocolate festival going on. It was like a can of sardines.
We made our way through a tunnel and found a house with no walls. Then we made our way back to ground level and for the life of us could not find the clue. We wandered like a confused squirrel crossing a road. Finally we asked a Sydney information center for help (twice) and found that what we were looking for had been really close all along. We wasted a lot of time on that one.
PC: Naomi Wu's phone by random stranger
With all the tasks complete, we were now headed to the heart of Sydney. Town Hall. Here we were able to explore a massive cathedral that got transformed into an expensive shopping mall. We had to play the public piano, learn what "four valour" was, examine the spiral staircase, and see how many times in a hour a model ship revolved around a massive clock.
We then left the cathedral, had to find four large vertical signs and make a word out of them that was the name of an Olympic sport (which was GYMNASTICS). With that clue complete, we went to Chatswood Chase mall to finish our third leg. Upon arrival we split into groups and scanned the mall for the Apple logo, a dalmatian painted on a wall, and Captain Jack Sparrow.
Captain Jack Sparrow
Our next clue I knew right away as the names we were given were names of streets I had walked while door-knocking a number of days ago. We made it to the location, and got the right answer. Our final location was revealed. We could taste victory. Note: When we started, our group wasn't on fire to win, especially after getting hung up in circular quay and missing most of our trains. But once we had the final location, we took off in a dead sprint. As we got closer to the park (our final location) Lian passed me (I was ahead of the rest of my group) and gave me the news that her group had beat us there. Buggers. Well at least we didn't end up last haha.
The day wasn't done as we still had the young people's meeting. An encouraging thing was that the friends who came for the race stayed for the meeting and some of the new friend who came last week showed up again. It was a good turnout and the signing was really enjoyable with all the ones there. Each of us Americans gave a testimony about how our past 11 days went and the host families chimed in as well. The response on both sides was encouraging and uplifting. Can't believe my time here is almost at an end. It's 11:18PM August 12th Australia time as I'm writing this. One full day left here and then the long journey back to the USA. Goodnight.
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