Holidays! Sydney.

(I've decided to update my two week holiday in intervals and by city. Also, instead of rewriting for the blog, I'm just dragging and dropping from my personal journal I kept througout the trip. Hope you guys don't mind!)

HELLO SYDNEY!!

Ah, so many mind blowing experiences today! After a 40 minute flight yesterday through Jetstar, Shayna and I arrived in Sydney with no problem. (Though, there was a 35 minute delay.) Rhi and her friends picked us up at the airport and we got to see Sydney at night before arriving at her house in a nearby suburb. Basically, Rhi’s whole family is amazing and she has a beautiful home complete with dogs, a rabbit, a cat, and two guinea pigs. And her dog Ishka is a German Shepherd. I’m right at home.

Sydney weekend markets.

After grabbing Mackers and watching 40 Year Old Virgin, we decided to call it a night since there wasn’t really time to get out to experience the night life.

We woke up to warm weather. I was so happy to walk out in shorts and a sleeveless shirt! Bring on the warm weather! This is the Australia I came to experience. I saw so many things today and the whole time I walked through the city, I felt like I was in a dream. We caught a train into the city (the main mode of transportation in Sydney) with Rhi’s mom and brother and walked under the bridge, past the harbor, and into “The Rocks,” which is one of the last older regions of Sydney where cobblestone can still be felt under your feet and the buildings were built by convicts. No, seriously. There are supposedly arrows carved on the sides of building that were the same arrows found on convict clothing.

We caught breakfast in a cute café and then browsed a market that is only open on Sundays. So many cute things! I’m almost glad I’d forgotten to swing by the ATM. I’m afraid I would’ve spent every last cent. We got to see this man who did Space Art. It was so amazing. He used spray paint and newspapers to make beautiful works of art. His method was basically layering colors that mix well together, so when the newspaper smears the paint, the colors underneath can be seen. Anyway, in under ten minutes, he had created a beautiful piece with details that looked like they took hours to perfect.

And he was only charging 40 AUD a piece.

We then went down to the Harbor. Geez, it was just as I imagined it. Or rather, as “Finding Nemo” portrayed it. Except, not animated, that is.

Anyway, it was beaut!

We then separated from Rhi’s mom and little brother and hopped a ferry to Manly Beach to meet Rhi’s friends. Ah, it was picturesque! White sailboats, ocean cliff-sides, the opera house, bridge and city getting smaller in the distance. Simply unreal.

Then we crossed over to Manly, a suburb only a ferry ride away from the Opera House. It was the perfect beach town with wide streets of surfer shops and psalm tree and eucalyptus lining the middle of the streets. And then it opened up right onto Manly Beach. Clear water, surfers, coast of ocean side villas and tons of lounging Australians. It was really nice until the wind picked up. Then it got cold enough to put on a jumper.

We all caught sushi for lunch. It was so fresh, and I was more than satisfied. Sushi in Sydney. Heck yes.

When we got back to Rhi’s house, we watched “Finding Nemo” IN SYDNEY. It was one of those moments I’ll never forget. We then had dinner with Rhi’s family. It was awesome. Tomato and avocado salad, potatoes, quiches, and rissoles. And strawberries and vanilla for dessert. It was delicious. But the best part was the conversation. We all sat at the table enjoying ourselves and talking about the differences between American and Australian culture.  I find it hilarious that all Australians are appalled at our gun laws just as we are flummoxed by the Aboriginal problem. 

Every people has their problem, every outsider their suggested solution. The thing is, if the problems were easy to fix they’d be solved already. But I’m afraid it’s not so.

We picked up Tom and Flo at the airport today. It’s funny how fast you latch on to a city. Before I knew it, I found myself playing tour guide just as Rhi had to us, showing off the great city I had only spent two days in. We rode with Rhi to pick them up and pointed out the Opera House, Harbor Bridge and The Rocks. It was so good having everyone back together again. After we got in, Tom was super excited about a discount that was going on for ear piercings in a place called Newtown. Of course, none of us really knew the area so we were all up for it. When we got there, it was a rundown little suburb with surprisingly few people in it. We set off following Google Maps on Tom’s phone and ended up finding this creepy little joint with a red anime character covered in piercings as its icon. Yes, a little more than sketch.

 So we all hiked our way up the stairs and ran into one of the scariest dudes I’ve ever seen. You know how you usually look at whatever specialty a person is in before putting your oh so fragile self in their hands? Well, let’s just say this guy’s appearance wasn’t exactly comforting. His earlobes were positively drooping and his lip was so full of piercings, I’m not sure how he was able to talk. We browsed around until we realized the discount didn’t include the price of the jewelry as well. Convenient detail to leave out, eh? So we made up some lame excuse about grabbing lunch before coming back and ran for our lives. So we were stuck in Newtown, which wasn’t new at all, and decided it was time to rustle up some grub. We ended up finding this delicious Indian Kebab place. It was so good! I got a veggie style kebab with chili sauce and it was the perfect amount of spicy.

We then headed out and caught a tram back to Rhi’s deciding to hit a Bottle shop before we went out on the city for the night. We found some delicious champagne that may or may not have been stronger than suggested. Anyway, it was a nice pink hue and before the end of the night we were spilling our guts and eating all sorts of random things in a game of truth or dare. Call us elementary if you like, but it was positively delightful. I feel like we all got a little closer by getting to know a little more about each other. Things we would’ve never known if not forced to ask some random question. Surface level friendships are for wieners Oh yea, I was dared to take a bite out of a solid block of coffee grains. Why yes, I did go through with it. Can’t say I didn’t warn them.

We had plans for the next day to get up early and go to the city since we didn’t end up making it out that night and then driving to the Blue Mountains to camp the next night. But as always, our plans were changed. Everyone slept in a little later than planned and Rhi ended up having to go to the doctor because she wasn’t feeling so well. Unfortunately, that put Rhi out for joining us on any excursions which really sucked, since we missed her and it was her home town. In the meantime,  Tom, Shayna and I (Flo was still passed out in Rhi’s room) headed to the center of Roseville (Rhi’s suburb) to grab coffee. After stopped at a cute little café, we all sat down on a random sidewalk bench and enjoyed the sun. It was so nice, sipping pure caffeine and taking in sunshine. We then decided it was time to pick up something for lunch since we felt guilty about bumming Rhi’s family’s food. We picked up the usual. Past pasta pasta! While waiting for the pasta to boil back at the house, Flo joined us on the steps in the sun to listen to Tom play guitar. I even strummed a few chords in no particular order. I officially know G now. Yup. Progress in slow. Maybe I’ll get around to a full song one day. Maybe a verse first though.

Yea. A verse.

We then decided to go into the city since it was too late to drive out to the mountains. It was pretty cool, playing the tour guide instead of the touree. Then again, I carry my camera everywhere so I’m basically always a tourist. Even in my own hometown. We checked out Harbor Bridge, The Rocks, Circular Quay, and The Opera House and even made it out to Sydney’s Botanical Gardens. OMG. I was so excited. It’s HUGE. Though, there honestly weren’t that many flowers out. Then again, it was pretty cloudy and Spring is just starting.  I think one of its biggest pulls is that it’s just beside the water and the Opera House so it’s extremely picturesque. After laughing our way through and taking goofy pictures, we decided to truck it back into the city to find some souvenir shops. Let me tell you. Nothing is cheap in Sydney. And the city is so big. I honestly felt like an ant walking around the CBD. And out of place. Geez. We were all walking in t-shirts, shorts and thongs while everyone around us had on suits and business dresses. Ha-ha. It was funny.

We did find some stores, but they were all pretty generic unfortunately. We hiked down to Town Hall and checked it out. We also decided to make Rhi’s family a cake so we swung into a Coles and picked up stuff to make a chocolate and strawberry cake. There may or may not have been 90 cent 1L sodas involved. (What? We were thirsty.) We almost ended up walking into a red carpet event. Literally. We were just walking along and out of nowhere the street in front of us is carpeted in red and people in fashion savvy black clothes were holding clipboards and not letting people through. Apparently there was a big TO DO and important people were all entering a lighted building for some event. I think the words out front said something like the OPENING OF SYDNEY. Yea I was confused too. Last time I checked Sydney has been open for several centuries now. Though not as long as most cities.

This is about the time it started pouring rain. So we ducked into clothing shop called CottonOn that was actually reasonably priced. I was surprised. Well, not really. There is one in Melbourne on Lygon that has similar prices. After the rain abated, we desperately searched out a restaurant that wouldn’t charge us an arm and leg. While walking, I happened to turn my head and see a place where people were happily cramming their faces with quality looking food. It ended up the place had a ten dollar entrée special going so we went for it. Grocery bags, sopping shoes and all.

So there we are, surrounded by suits with top quality food in front of us. And what do we do? Well, we asked for empty glasses of course. Paying for drinks….psssssht. Out come the 90c Cokes from underneath the table. Haha. Best memory ever.

That night we all played Mario Kart with Rhi and her younger brother, Bryn. I’m ashamed to say he kicked my butt and wounded my pride. But hey, it’s Wii. Get a real gaming system. (Cough cough, xbox 360, cough.) Nah, it was fun. We cooked up a plan and after baking a cake and watching Tangled, we went to bed with every intention of visiting the Blue Mountains the next day. Why yes, we actually went through with those intentions! We caught a train and ended up only paying 8.40 round trip. TAKE THAT 70 DOLLAR EXPLORER BUS! Outsmarting the system, oh yea.

When we got to Katoomba we realized it was adorable. Such a cute country suburb. It had all sorts of nifty well priced stores. Too bad we didn’t have much time to spare. Although Tom did find a place to get his ear pierced. But that only took ten minutes. We hiked out and saw the Three Sisters, three massive stone outcroppings that have some odd native story behind them that no one really believes but likes to recount to others as if it could actually be possible. I felt so at home out in the trails. Honestly, it was like I was back at South Mountains. The same blue hue, leafy coverage on every side, trail marked by a bank and drop that you will not get back up from. There were some beautiful outlooks. 

We even found a souvenir shop that had a huge stuffed koala. Of course, we took a picture with is. I think the coolest part of the trip was when we were leaning over the rail/crawling over it when out of nowhere a white flock of giant cockatoos flew up and surrounded us. They were beautiful and loud. It think it was there way of saying, “Hey, this is our waterfall. SCRAM!” Yea, I took pictures. It made me think of my grandpa. This picture if for you, Grandpa! Oh, and they were huge.

When then hiked our way back before it got dark and ended up eating in the town of Katoomba. There was this hole in the wall restaurant called Country Noodle that we tried. I ordered Pad Thai and it was unique. A lot different than the usual dish, but with the same base of water chestnut. Not bad. We then went to the train station and of course, when I went to buy my ticket, the machine ate my five dollar bill. When I told the train station lady where I was going she informed me that I needed to be on the train that was leaving NOW and that the next one was an hour wait. Thank God the lady actually made the train wait for us and everyone began scrambling to buy tickets for the ride back. Keep in mind there were four of us! In the end, we were all happily nestled  on the train on our way back to Roseville. The only casualty: my left over noodles sitting back at the station.

That night we were all exhausted and hung out in the shed where Shayna and I have been sleeping comfortably for the past few days. We played more Mario Kart, packed, and fought over who was going to pet the cutest koala the next day. Of course, this was last night. We’re all splitting directions today; Tom and Flo are heading out to Sydney’s zoo and then the beach before heading back to Melbourne. Rhi had to go back early, so she’s already in Melbourne. And Shayna and I took off for Brisbane this morning. I was so proud of us. We had no problem whatsoever navigating roads, train stations and airports. It was actually pretty easy. Oh, except that awful hike UP HILL with our ginormous backpacks. My god, that was my work out for the next few weeks! Haha not really. I’m just out of shape.

At the airport we had a little time, so I decided to put the Australian traditions to the test and bought a coffee to finish off my last TimTam. You’re supposed to bite both ends diagonally and then suck the coffee up through the chocolate bar. It was amazing, don’t get me wrong, but the coffee was so hot that the remainder of the melted bar ended up splashing into my coffee. So much for that plan. I drank it anyway. We then caught our flight and we were off to Brisbane. I sat beside this sweet old couple and had the window seat. It was nice seeing us take off from Sydney. It was sunny enough to see the golden coast stretching out before us as we flew. I realized as we took off that I would be ok with dying in a plane crash. At least, I was going somewhere. (I know…that’s morbid. But it was what I was thinking!) There was an Asian kid who was kicking my seat the whole flight. I wanted to turn around and scowl at his mother who was sitting beside him, but then I remembered my Dad and thought twice about what it means to have patience. And what it means to understand that people are people and children are children. And after an hour of listening to John Mayer, we had landed in Brisbane.

But that, my friends, will be for a later post, as this one has become a novel J