Today is our last day in Sydney!  It's starting to get incredibly humid, rainy, and hot, so Albert and I are glad that we're leaving soon.  We woke up at 6:15am to catch the earliest service of Hillsong again.  Took the train, caught the courtesy shuttle, and arrived there early.  It was a Spirit-filled service, with the worship, prayer, and sermon by a guest preacher.  This guy is a pastor in Adelaide, but I swear he is the Australian version of Tony Campolo!  They look the same, preach with the same kind of energy and passion, and talk about reaching out to the poor. 

Right before the sermon though, I had to run to the restroom.  Something happened on the way though in a split second that really upset me and almost ruined the rest of the service for me.  I got a bit lost on the way to the bathroom, and I was also in a hurry because I didn't want to miss that much in service.  But on the way, I accidentally crossed a lady who was also going to the restroom.  I said, "Excuse me", but then she proceeded to tell me off about how rude I was, how I'm not supposed to cut her off like that, how I should be old enough to know better, how disrespectful I was, etc.  I was shocked!  I apologized and told her I was lost and that I was in a hurry, but she kept at it, even continuing to dig into me while we were in the bathroom stalls!  Anyway, I rushed out of there as fast as I could and rejoined the service.  It was pretty upsetting and I was quite disillusioned with the supposedly friendly and welcoming church that Hillsong was supposed to be.  But then I realized that I shouldn't let one person ruin my whole impression of the church, or my whole day for that matter.  Plus, the sermon today was on fighting the good fight, not fighting bad fights.  This one for sure would be a bad fight.  Anyway, as we were having communion, I started having more compassion for her (she sat down only a few rows ahead of me so I could see her the entire time).  She did come alone to church and she was an older, heavier woman who was probably disgruntled about a lot of things in life.  God did give me the strength to say a little prayer for her.  What was a bit ironic too was that while we were waiting in line for the bus back to the station after service, she came bounding by loudly and cheerfully greeting everyone in line, "God bless you!  Good morning!  God bless you all!"   I couldn't even look at her.  I was so angry at her hypocrisy.  But then, I felt grateful -- out of all people she could have yelled at that day, I guess I'm glad it was me and not some seeker visiting the church for the first time who would have been stumbled.  I'm glad that my faith in God or in the church is not shaken by this incident.  It's interesting and sobering to remember just what kind of witness we as Christians have.  Albert reminded me that the church is full of sinners, not saints, so why should I be surpised?  It was a good reality check and we had a good discussion about it afterwards.

After church, what helped me forget the incident was our yummy chocolate pancakes and crepes for brunch!  Yum.... afterwards, we went to the Pylon lookout on the Sydney Bridge to take photos, and then we checked out of the hotel and left for the airport!  Gotta run to catch the plane!

When we woke up, it was still dark.  Too bad we weren't still jetlagged.  We arrived at the Bridge Climb where we got suited up for our big climb!  I felt like I was in Star Trek or in prison when we had to put on these full-body gray and navy suits.  Our cool gear included a belt with a latch to hook us to the bridge railings, a rain parka, a radio with a headset, a headlamp, a hanky with a wristband, and hooks to hook loose stuff to.  Very cool.  Definitely felt like we were going on a mission!

When we started on the bridge, it was still dark out and the bridge looked like an intricate jungle gym of black steel.  What an adventure!  Definitely felt like we were in Mission Impossible or breaking into something in Thomas Crowne Affair.  Our guide led us through narrow walkways, hundreds of stairs, and tight submarine-like ladders that seemed to go straight up.  Soon the black ocean water was far below us, while the city was still very still.  About a quarter of the way up the bridge, the sky grew lighter and the sun began to rise.  This was the main reason why we got up at 3am -- to see from a dizzying height the sun rise over the Sydney Harbour and the Opera House.  Aaahh...what a thrill.  Albert and I couldn't believe that we were on top of the world, on the other side of the world, watching a scene that seemed to stop time for a few moments.  All in all, the climb took about 3 and a half hours and 1400+ stairs.  From climbing the massive steel bridge, I guess I now know where the phrase "buns of steel" comes from! 

Afterwards, Albert and I were famished and so were put all 600 calories that we burned on the bridge back into our bodies at the hotel eatery for breakfast!  :)  Albert's friend, Jed, recommended the trout hollandaise for breakfast and boy, was that yummy!  After breakfast, we keeled over and slept for another 3 hours.

We woke up and headed to Wooloomooloo Wharf for some famous meat pies off a cart by the water.  I guess that's the big local fare -- meat pies -- probably a variation of the English shepherd's pie.  Then Albert and I did some more walking around the Royal Botanical Gardens.  We don't have anything "Royal" in the US.  I don't think Democracy can come up with huge public things like botanical gardens in the middle of prime real estate downtown.  Only royalty would have constructed that for their commonwealth perhaps.  The weirdest thing we saw in the Gardens were about a dozen trees FILLED with giant bats!  They were all sleeping upside down of course, but still,... a very macabre, eerie sight.  They were the largest bats I've ever seen, probably the size of a large parrot with the wingspan of a small hawk.  I definitely don't want to be walking around there at night, in case they all decide to descend upon me!  Eek!  I guess the one good thing about them is that they're controlling the insect population here in Sydney.  But who is controlling the BAT population, I want to know!?!?!

For dinner, Albert and I went to another Jed recommendation -- the Flying Fish restaurant right on Jones Bay Wharf.  They had converted an old wharf terminal into a two-story, elegant restaurant.  Very fresh seafood!  A water taxi back to the hotel would have cost us about US$50 one way!  So we opted for the cheaper, but longer land taxi ride. 

Still couldn't believe we did the Bridge Climb in the same day.  Crazy long day.  So we slept early, but not before watching the finals tennis match between Djokovic and Fish!

One funny thing about Australia is that often the pubs are called "hotels".  Maybe it's because they have a couple rooms above the pubs for people who are too drunk to make it home!  But anyway, Albert was curious how the food tastes in these pubs, so for brunch, we went to the Criterion Hotel, which was this sports bar, for brunch.  We had chicken schnitzel (which basically is a chicken cutlet) and steak with chips (ie. fries).  It was a bit heavy and we both felt bloated afterwards, especially Albert who also had to try the local beer.  Ugh. 

The pub was also a sports bar of sorts.  But if you looked closely, you wouldn't recognize any of the sports!  One screen was showing something like indoor bowling on a smooth green surface like miniature golf.  The other was, of course, cricket, the top sport here.  Albert and I watched the cricket game for a while but we still couldn't figure out the rules of the game!  I told Albert that this is how some of us women feel when we watch football or baseball for the first time and just don't get it.  :) 

After brunch, we headed to Darling Harbour again and saw a live didgeridoo performance!  It was so awesome!  What a fascinating instrument!  The presentation was made by a real aboriginee native (yes, he was fully clothed and quite modernized) who showed us how to make all the different sounds out of it.  The didgeridoo is basically a hollowed out eucalyptus tree trunk that play by basically doing lip trills through the top of it.  It then creates this weird alien-like drone.  Can't explain it too well -- you just have to hear it.  I'll upload pics when I get home!

Then we headed over to the Sydney Wildlife World just next door.  We saw all kinds of crazy, monstrous insects, other invertebrates, native Australian animals like wallabies, kangaroos, a cassowary, and of course, cute koalas!  Did you know that koalas are not actually bears?  They are really marsupials and their closest kin is the wombat!  Crazy, crazy little creatures.  The highlight was actually getting to pat one and take our picture with a sleeping one.  Boy those guys are so lazy!  They sleep 20 hours a day and when they're awake, they just eat.  Their low-energy lifestyle matches their low-energy diet, so they have to sleep to conserve.  We did see a rare sight though!  One koala actually got out of one tree and crossed over the ground to the next tree 2 feet away!  He climbed the tree, munched on a few more leaves and promptly fell asleep!  Haha...

In the late afternoon, we checked out of the Hilton and into the Park Hyatt.  Wow, we feel so blessed -- the Sydney Hilton and the Park Hyatt are rated the top two hotels in Sydney!  Very nice indeed.  Our room has a beautiful view of the harbor and pier.  So we got settled and then walked along the pier.  We found the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar that our friend told us about and ate dinner there.  Very fresh oysters!  After dinner, we went to the Sydney Opera House for the Tina Arena concert!

I have to say that I have been a huge fan of Tina Arena, an Australian pop singer, for over 15 years now, ever since I was a little girl in Hong Kong.  Her songs, "Chains," "Wasn't It Good?", and "Burn" are probably on my all-time favorites playlist!  Anyway, so happy that we caught her live in Australia, in the famed Sydney Opera House!  Her voice sounded as good as ever -- so bell-like, beautiful, sweet, yet soulful and powerful!  I think Albert became a fan that night too.  Anyway, the opera house was gorgeous.  It reminded me of the Disney Concert Hall, but not as "Noah's Ark-ish".  Tina ended up singing all three of my favorite songs that night, all with fresh arrangements and interpretation.  Needless to say, I was in heaven!

After the concert, we headed to the famous Opera Bar, right outside the Opera House, by the harbour.  There was both outdoor and indoor seating, with live music.  Albert had the best dessert wine there, a Riesling, and I had a cocktail with macadamia nut liqueur! What a fun-filled day.  We crashed hard that night!