The Daily Laura

I wish I could say I am surprised at my inconsistent posting, but alas, this is fairly common for me. I have always skipped months or years in my journal, only post on social media three times a year. I like to think it’s because I am busy living in the moment, but it is likely the ADHD (things that aren’t in the forefront of my mind like to vanish completely, if I can’t see it, does it really exist?).

So I am going to have monthly recaps for the time I have missed and hopefully return to semi-regular updates (thank you Kayla for reminding me I should update my blog again).

In March, I settled into my groove at AgriBio. I got to meet so many amazing scientists in the computational biology team and start planning my research projects for my PhD.

In a wonderful coincidence, I got notice that my cousin was traveling to Australia for work and reached out. So I took a train to Sydney for the weekend. The train worked out super slick since it was an overnight ticket and I didn’t have to miss any work.

I got to Sydney nice and early, and walked through the city to meet Nick at the hotel and drop my bags.

We went down to the famous Bondi Beach. It was exactly what you picture for Australian beaches – a mix of beautiful, athletic people going for runs, surfing, and sun bathing. But my favorite part was the wall of murals at the edge of beach!

We caught some amazing vistas hiking the Bondi-Congee trail. I am still amazed by all the new flora and fauna I see exploring Australia. I did not know there was this variety of gum trees (eucalyptus).

On day two, we went to the Royal Sydney Botanical Gardens. It was such a gorgeous walk with really cool plants and birds. My favorite flower was the Bird of Paradise.

Another favorite was the land whale which might be the coolest form of landscape art I have seen to date!

A cool thing about the botanical gardens are they end at the Sydney Opera House, so as you’re walking through you end up with a beautiful view!

Next, we got to check out the Opera House and the famous bridge (I personally, didn’t understand what was so special about the bridge but I guess it’s one of the longest suspension bridges in the world…)

In one of my favorite traveling past times, we found a dumpling restaurant in a little back alley which had twinkle lights and some fun murals in the sitting area. Luckily the tall buildings kept the alley shaded and offered some relief from the sun! The dumplings were very good and I love finding hole in the wall restaurants that seemingly pop up.

For the afternoon, we took a ferry across the Sydney Harbor to Manly Beach. It was nice to get in the water and swim a bit. I was surprised by how warm the water was for the Pacific Ocean – I was expecting it to be more chilly like I had experienced in California.

I only slightly died from motion sickness on the ferry – which I will take as a win given my track record with ferries.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend in Sydney, but I am glad I am living in Melbourne. Sydney reminds me of large American cities like Chicago or New York, which can be fun to visit, but I would feel stressed living there. I enjoy how sprawling and green Melbourne is!