I really have to blow our own horn here, and say we’ve become extremely resourceful travelers. We have had many days called ‘The best day yet’ as our heads hit the pillows, completely exhausted from packing so much into only 1 day. Today was one of those days. We began by heading into the city from Stanwell Tops. After riding the train into Circular Quay, we hopped off, gazing at the gorgeous Sydney harbor and Opera house. Brittany was ecstatic, and we had to pinch her a few times to ensure her that she was awake in the moment. Her childhood dream of one day seeing the Opera house had finally come to fruition, and it was almost as fun watching her, as it was to take in the sights. The giddy smile never left her face. The harbor bridge was stunning, and we look forward to driving across it when we pick up our campervan in a few days! We hopped onto the ferry over to Manly beach. Apparently history has it that this beach was named by Cpt. Cook & his men as they sailed into the harbor, and after seeing so many masculine Aboroginal men on shore, gave it the name ‘Manly Beach’. We were expecting a bit more ‘Muscle-beach’ (L.A. style) scenery/ people-watching…but it was full of your typical tourist mix. The beach was packed, the waves were big, and we just soaked up the heat and beach-bummed it for the afternoon. Manly wasn’t as great as Bondi, in our opinion, but we enjoyed the sun a lil’ tooooooooo much! We all walked away with brutal sunburns after using spray sunscreen. Haha, apparently you have to spray AND rub it in well. We looked like we had random rashes across our sides, chests, and posterior legs from all the spots we accidentally missed. Whoops! Lesson learned the painful way. The shopping on Manly was awesome, great atmosphere, music in the streets, and an entire Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop! Yes, really! Deadly, but we were good girls and only nabbed a few samples before finding some really great Thai food instead. Valena & Britt bought adorable dresses, and we’re finding it harder and harder to have self-control with all the incredible shopping in Aus! Ugh- it’s torture! 
So here comes the efficiency of our group of 4. Not only did we change into our bikinis on the ferry over…we brought our theatre outfits along with us to the beach. So, on the way back to Sydney harbor, rocking back and forth on the wobbly ferry we did a quick wardrobe change. We walked in sunburned, salty, and scalawag…and out in evening dresses and freshly sprayed perfume. It was hilarious trying to balance in the ferry restroom, but a few ladies seemed to be amused by our ingenious clean-up saying “Oh to be young and going out again!” “Have fun girls!”. Jodie snapped a group photo- she’s the queen of taking shots and managing to get all of our heads in- and the background! It’s pure talent.
The highlight of Sydney for me was going to see the musical Wicked! I had been looking forward to this since leaving home, and tonight was the night! We were mesmerized, enchanted, and completely blown away by the unbelievable performance at the Capitol theatre! The theatre itself was beautiful- Britt especially enjoyed the fairy-tale style bathrooms. The stage was unreal- so detailed- and the voices of the performers, alongside the perfectly conducted orchestra, was magical! It was like stimuli-overload as you took in the beautiful show. We even visited with the double-bass player in the orchestra before the show as we took pictures near the ‘Stage Entrance’ after coffees & tea at Gloria Jean’s. A very delightful night to remember! We were all humming a little ‘Popular’ through the park as we walked back to the train.
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