June 6 – Hannah, Jenna, & Sydney

Today we did the amazing race around Sydney! The day started with an early breakfast at the hotel then we all broke into teams to conquer the sustainable scavenger hunt around the city! For the scavenger hunt we had to find 8 sustainable city concepts around the city and 3 place making sites. The options for the sustainable city concepts were green space, aesthetics, history and culture, public spaces, walkability, transit, food security, mixed use/use cycle, mixed use/equity, waste and energy. The place making sites included things like iconic infrastructure throughout the city, sites where movies were filmed, sites associated with Sydney’s most famous actors and singers, sites related to outdoor recreation, museums, indigenous sites, or any site associated with the Guinness book of world records.

We had to split up into groups of 3-4 and one of our groups found the green space and energy concepts around the city to be very interesting. For green space we had to look at how the city incorporates trees and plants into the design. In the Sadringham Gardens downtown we found that it incorporated a lot of places to sit down and enjoy nature. The fountain also provided peacefulness to visitors and it was in the middle of the city so it provided easy access to visitors. We also looked at how the public can use it and who can access this space. The other sustainable concept we found that stood out in the city was energy. In the Royal Botanic Gardens by the Sydney Opera House we found that the bathrooms had open windows allowing for natural light to come in. There wasn’t any lights in them which allowed for greater energy efficiency.

One of the groups also found a cool meeting place called Queen Victoria Building. It was a cute little area of cafes and shops where the public can come together. This was a busy place where the public seems to gather often.

We then were walking around Sydney Harbour and came across Cadman’s Cottage which  is the second oldest surviving residential building in Sydney, having been built in 1816 for government use. This is the oldest building in the Rocks and 3rd oldest building in all of Sydney.

We then went to dinner at Australian Heritage   Hotel which is over 100 years old, for pizza!

After a lot of us went to Vivid festival downtown. This is a light show with displays, food and music! Some people got yummy treats like fairy fluff which is cotton candy to us!

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