January 10th, 2011



Welcome to Sydney mate!

We got in to town on Sunday night and made our way to the hotel by train, which was a pretty neat experience, since I had never ridden on a true underground subway type train before. First thing Monday morning we headed off toward Darling Harbor and went to see the harbor bridge and the Sydney Opera House. The walk down to the harbor was very scenic and both attractions were very cool to see in person but I was a bit surprised by the opera house. It was very dark white and yellowish in color in person and was not that brilliant white color that you see in pictures. That being said, it was still a very cool looking structure and I was excited to get to see it up close since I had seen it in pictures so many times.

Following our sightseeing we had lunch in Chinatown and then took the train to the “Power House Museum” to view the “Ecologic” exhibit. This exhibit was very interesting and featured information and examples of sustainable practices and their impact on the environment. The exhibit had information on all levels of sustainability and presented this topic from a very macro to a very micro level. It featured an energy efficient house model that you could interact with presented a large amount of information on the effect that our daily human living habits have on the environment. I believe these types of exhibits are very important because the general population, including myself, have very little knowledge of how destructive our actions are and can be on the environment. I am definitely not a super environmentally conscious person but the more I see things like the Ecologic exhibit and receive information on these topics the more I think about my own actions and how I can improve them to become a more sustainable person.

The exhibit also featured an interactive model of the “Sydney Sustainable House” that we are going to be visiting on 1/11/11 so it tied in very well with our trip. The model gave a demonstration of the solar energy system that powered the house and the closed loop water system which was very cool to see demonstrated in advance of our visit to the house.

It was tough to leave the green and peacefulness of New Zealand behind for the business of the big city of Sydney but it was really neat to visit the harbor area and I am looking forward to seeing the rest of Sydney and meeting with some more individuals involved in sustainable development.