June 16: Manly Beach and Sancutary

June 16

Hyde Park

            I survived my first night in a hostel sleeping with people I (sort of) know now. My roommate Bryan and I decided to go visit the Opera House together. Thankfully, he knew the way without my unreliable GPS and we were able to walk through the city’s Hyde Park.  Tall trees lined the pathway of the park while people walked, skateboarded, and rode bicycles past.  The walk around the city was a lot easier with a partner and eventually we made it to one of the most famous buildings in the world, the Sydney Opera House! We bought tickets for a tour and were able to visit different rooms within the opera house and sit within the largest room- the Concert Hall. The Opera House is massive, 600 feet tall and 388 feet wide. Not only do performances of music, theater, and ballet happen within the building, but also, screenings of movies such as Harry Potter! Once the tour finished, we hurried over to the ferries to catch the next one for Manly Beach. 

The Sydney Opera House

Flowers made out of flowers!

The Sydney Opera House

The Concert Hall in the Opera House

The Harbour Bridge in the background

            The ferry ride was awesome and gave a new perspective of the city and opera house. Once arriving to Manly, immediately it was noticeable how important being eco-friendly was to the town. Recycling bins every couple yards and refillable drinking stations lined the street. Also different signs raising awareness to conservation were seen throughout the area.

View from ferry ride to Manly

            

We then entered the Manly Sanctuary which hosts various species in their breed, rescue, and protect program. Throughout this aquarium, different signs hung showing the importance of coral reefs, biodiversity, and species such as sharks.

Here, I talked with a worker about the importance of sharks to the Great Barrier Reef and ecosystem as a whole. The media portrays shark attacks and sharks in general as monstrous man-eating machines. It is as if people cannot hear the word, “shark,” without also hearing the Jaws attack song playing. The majority of people will think having shark “infested” oceans is dangerous to the human population, but it is actually the opposite.  For others, losing one of the oldest species on earth is shocking and upsetting. Surprisingly, sharks are older than trees and it is terrifying that the population of one of the oldest species on earth has been rapidly declining. After creating Jaws, Peter Benchley noticed the image he created for the species and how quickly it negatively impacted them. He immediately regretted his production and devoted the rest of his life to the conservation and protection of sharks.

The worker then explained how only four in over 500 species of sharks can even harm a human, yet people claim all the time that sharks are attacking them. For example, when people fish in the ocean sometimes the shark will jump on the boat accidentally while following the fish. The fishermen then claim this to be an attack.

The government is also responsible for the negative view of sharks the worker says. Whenever the government wants to draw the attention away from something bigger, they use an incident such as a shark attack to plaster on the front of newspapers. For example, this happened recently during a parliament debate about same-sex marriage.

After the aquarium we explored Manly Beach and watched the hundreds of surfers in the ocean. That’s when I stumble upon the Manly Beach Environment Center. Here I spoke with one of the workers where she explained to me what Manly does to be more eco-friendly. Currently, the biggest method is banning the plastic bag. They hope to accomplish this soon and possibly ban the plastic bag throughout Sydney as well. Sydney does not care as much about the plastic bags because they are not surrounded by beach like Manly is. The plastic bags get into the oceans and on the beach of Manly, killing marine life and polluting the environment. Maybe one day, Sydney and Manly will be plastic bag free. She then also talked about a volunteer group called “Friends of Cabbage Tree Bay” located in Manly. The goals of this volunteer group is to educate people on the importance of the biodiversity found in Cabbage Tree and how necessary it is to protect it. They also want to increase awareness about conservation issues within the bay. After finished at Manly, Bryan and I decided to head back to Sydney in the ferry for one of the most iconic lightshows, Vivid.

Lights made out of recycled water bottles for the Vivid show

            Vivid is when the whole city of Sydney lights up the buildings, gardens, bridges, and even the Opera House with different colors and patterns. The colors were beautiful and the city was unbelievable. People danced around in lit up headbands, ate glow in the dark donuts, and watched the light show being projected on the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. I have always wanted to see the Opera House lit up and it was a coincidence that it happened within the two nights I was in Sydney.