Cheers from Sydney
Sydney Opera House
All . . . . . G-day mates!! (haha, doesn’t sound quite right from me) For those of you who have inquired about my safety and travels to Australia, I am doing quite fine and appreciate the insistent concern. I arrived Wednesday afternoon, just barely, considering I spent my 10 hours in LAX in the wrong terminal but luckily managed in typical last minute frazzle mode to make friends (surprise!) with wandering Bradley Terminal Info man and learn that Air New Zealand was at terminal 2 just as his companion (info man 2) convinced me that he (info man 2) was my guardian angel. So far, despite the 3 days of rain I have endured in Sydney along with my hostel of hell, in which I am convinced Heidi Fleis must own stock, it has actually been a wonderful first meeting with the city-tame outback. Sydney is quite interesting, once you manage to escape past the hostel bar/club that literally strives on posters advertising drink & food specials, along with the hostel’s own catchy slogan ‘book-up, eat-up, hook-up,’ into some much more authentic bars like my wonderful hit spot last night – Scruffy Murphey’s (’nuff said). Actually though, it wasn’t until today that I did truly began to appreciate the city as I explored outside the city core with my new German friend Annette (whom the girls in my hostel refer to as the ‘dark-horse’ due to her itsy-bitsy bikini, and constant texting to her 37 year old english teacher Ray), on a quest to find her favorite bikini boutique Wicked Weasel. Needless to say, on our 5 hour excursion, not only did we wander through the Oxford Street District, but did in fact come across some of the hippest/poshest/artistic districts, and most importantly tourist-void, that I have fallen in love with. (And I must not forget the beautiful parks that scatter the city) My brief excursion to the beaches was interrupted by rain storm, despite my disappointment, I still manage to enjoy a breath taking walk amongst the beaches (famous Bondi Beach – picture 1), as well as check out the residence of Jhyimy “Two Hats” Mhiyles, a hermit who has resided on a site overlooking the beach since the 2000 Olympics. Meanwhile, as I arrived at this internet cafe 4 hours ago to send a simple email update, I befriended Mark, the 50+ man sitting beside me at the internet cafe who for a living does ‘things we shouldn’t speak of,’ yet has been involved in Apple development and internet hosting. While I was pleased to get the perspective of a local on his country, as the conversation has turned to Naomi Klein, to Illusionist Derren Brown, to an invitation to a local musician’s funeral . . . . I have decided my hostel is looking quite nice at the moment. So, therefore, I hope this update isn’t too boring, and hopefully sometime in the near future I will have some interesting stories and pictures that include myself!
