I have been thinking and dreaming about blogging for a few days now, so I had to jump on. We're just headed out to the Big Day Out Festival in a couple of hours, should be good! But in the meanwhile,
I have a new bike! It's shiny and it's blue, and and it's BEEyootiful. I'm excited to take it for a spin when I get a few moments to myself. I got a job! I know am a kitchen hand at a sweeet cafe/bar/music shop that is a 5 minute walk from my house, they play really awesome records all the time and serve delicious food and drinks, all of which I will be learning how to make. I have already learned how to make the perfect spencer martini, as we had a couple of ladies last night that had a few...or so :)
I went to a rubics cube party the other night and half of the people there were kiwis, which made me feel right at home. For those of you that don't know a rubics cube party is, it's where you go wearing as many colors of different clothing as you can find and you swap with others so that you try to end up in one solid color by the end of the night. I ended up white, but did not show up to the party wearing any white at all, lol. It was a good time.
I've generally been having fun taking the piss out of aussies because of the way they speak. It seems as if they try to combine as many words as possible when they're talking. I probably ask people to repeat themselves about 100 times every day. My housemate has a theory that the drier the place, the less people want to exhale because it releases moisture, so here in the dry, dry outback country they're just trying to preserve their body/water ratios... who knows? Some examples of the slang I've heard so far is they call bed comforters: donnas, flip-flops: thongs, swim suits: cozzies, mosquitos: mozzies, sweaters: jumpers, sunglasses: sunnies, the list could go on. I'm noticing myself talking more and more like an aussie without even trying. Pretty soon no one will recognize me when I call them :P
Life is good, it's supposed to be 40 degrees celsius today :S and we're supposed to be outside for about 10 hours for the festival. LOTS of water, LOTS of sunscreen. I've come to notice that the real danger here in Australia is not the sharks, or the jellyfish, or even the alligators, but the SUN. It is mean here! Super sunscreen applied many times daily is necessary. Plus I picked up a sic floppy sun hat from a garage sale yesterday. I'll fit riiight in.
There's too much excitement in the house. I have to sign off, but I'll Be BAAck.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Settling down and wigging out
So this new couch, an interesting experience I would have to say the least. The guy who I stayed with, Joe, was a really lovely boy, a party animal to the t. He spent the night at a friend's place, so I had his little bungalow out the back to myself, or so I thought. I passed out hard, as I wasn't feeling very well and I was really tired and a few hours later, about 3 or 4 am, this guy that I had seen at the bar a few nights earlier, throws open the door and flicks on the lights. My first thought was "where am I?" He looked at me and I looked at him and we both said, "what are YOU doing here?" Pretty weird. Turns out it's his cousin's place. He starts chatting to me randomly and I'm wondering if it'll ever end so I can go back to sleep. Then he strips down to his underoos and tries to hop into bed with me, there's another bed right next to the one I'm in! I politely tell him that if this is his preferred bed, then I'll happily sleep in the other one. That's not what he wants, but he eventually gives up after more talking, sigh. And we happily go to sleep.
The next morning I got a call from Steve, who was renting out a room in his house, until he gave it to moi! Phew, after the night I had, I was happy to go. Now I live in Kensington, address is:
7 Belmont Road
Kensington, VIC
Australia 3031
In case anyone wants to mail me. Cough cough, wink wink, nudge nudge :)
So now I have my very own room in my very own place that is full of...music and ukuleles. Steve has 4 ukuleles! And he's a guitar teacher. Brenton, my other roomie, is a music student and just recorded one of my songs yesterday. I'd post it if I knew how to, but I don't.
So after I got the call my friend Harley picked me up and we went in search of The Perfect Beach. Now The Perfect Beach is not an easy thing to come by. It takes many hours of seaching, many detours, and quite a few kilometers covered, and of course talking to the locals. We ended up in Torquay (pronounced TOR-KEY) finally. And a lovely Finnish girl told us the best spot to go. It's never going to be a Hawaiian Beach, but salt water and sand was good, minus the biting flies it was a lovely excursion. Harley let me drive home on the freeway, which was interesting, I got really into passing people. Apparently you can get a ticket for going 2 km over the speed limit here and there are speed cameras EVERYWHERE! Crazy, you really have to keep your eye on the speedometer all the time.
After a much needed peaceful and enjoyable sleep, Steve, Brenton and I went about setting up my bedroom. And then I got an ukulele lesson...
The next morning I got a call from Steve, who was renting out a room in his house, until he gave it to moi! Phew, after the night I had, I was happy to go. Now I live in Kensington, address is:
7 Belmont Road
Kensington, VIC
Australia 3031
In case anyone wants to mail me. Cough cough, wink wink, nudge nudge :)
So now I have my very own room in my very own place that is full of...music and ukuleles. Steve has 4 ukuleles! And he's a guitar teacher. Brenton, my other roomie, is a music student and just recorded one of my songs yesterday. I'd post it if I knew how to, but I don't.
So after I got the call my friend Harley picked me up and we went in search of The Perfect Beach. Now The Perfect Beach is not an easy thing to come by. It takes many hours of seaching, many detours, and quite a few kilometers covered, and of course talking to the locals. We ended up in Torquay (pronounced TOR-KEY) finally. And a lovely Finnish girl told us the best spot to go. It's never going to be a Hawaiian Beach, but salt water and sand was good, minus the biting flies it was a lovely excursion. Harley let me drive home on the freeway, which was interesting, I got really into passing people. Apparently you can get a ticket for going 2 km over the speed limit here and there are speed cameras EVERYWHERE! Crazy, you really have to keep your eye on the speedometer all the time.
After a much needed peaceful and enjoyable sleep, Steve, Brenton and I went about setting up my bedroom. And then I got an ukulele lesson...
I have really enjoyed myself living here so far. Steve and I went shopping at the Vic Market and bought loads of fruit and veg, we've had many good chats about books and music and psychology, and we've even had a jam already, I played the hand drum.
Brent happens to be going to the Big Day Out music festival that I'm going to, which works out well and he took me to a friend's BBQ for Australia Day, I found it to be very similar to Canada Day and felt right at home. So much so that I ended the night looking like this:
I even look like I've got the beer belly to top it off, lol. You can't tell, but the sock has an Australian flag on it, and Brenton and I went to the supermarket and got Australia shaped burgers! I made a joke about how Tasmania was missing and everyone laughed and said no it isn't because 3/4 of the people at the party were from Tassie :)
Friday, January 21, 2011
A crazy, hazy, but never lazy jaunt through Melb
I tried not to let it get to this point, where I don't remember where I left off...but I'm lost.
So, it's been crazy obviously. Otherwise I would've been blogging about the boring details of my life, life the marmite and egg sandwhich I had for brekky the other day. And those dogs, remember them?, I have a giant bite on my bottom which is still healing. Ouch. I'm having a hard time bringing myself to going back to Harley's house.
I met up with a guy from couchsurfing that was happy to show me around, but his couch was full, and he is AWESOME. He actually reminds me of one of my favoite people in Montreal, my ex-boyfriend Luke. I find that happens a lot while I'm traveling, where I meet people that remind me of other friends. I'm looking for the familiar, and I find it. Jesse, cs guy, took me to a Hare Krishna place that serves cheap meals for lunch, then we wandered about and saw this sweet graffeti alley, Hosier Lane, where it's legal to paint. In fact there was a german guy painting when we walked through. Then we wandered to the botanical gardens, which I dare say do not follow the signs because when you have to go toilet, because you will fail and fail again. Sat in the park and played some ukulele, apparently Jesse's mum also plays uke so we'll have to have a jam.
Went to Victoria Market, which had on some live music and food and drink. Did some Tahitian dancing, as one of the last bands called up all the travelers to come up to the front and dance with the pros. You know me, I can't miss an opportunity for unusal experiences, plus I'm trying to push myself more and more into a performance setting to get used to the feeling. Went to a sweet bar with chilled out tunes, decided I want to learn how to skateboard, and headed home to pass out. Phew! So much sun.
The Tennis:
The other couchsurfer who was staying with Danni, was a lovely guy from Ohio name Dan and he was into the tennis, oh boy. The Australian Open is currently going on, which is a massive event where tennis pros from all over the world come to compete. I decided I couldn't miss it, despite my lack of knowledge about tennis. Free bands, hot sun, green balls, and the ball kids running around in their funny yellow outfits. Really, you should google one of the tennis matches just to see those kids running after all those tennis balls. It's really quite hilarious to an uneducated tennis individual, aka me. :) I placed some bets, first time, with the extreme guidance of Dan, put on more sunscreen than I use in a year, and was ready for some tennis. I learned about the scoring and the stats and the players from Dan. We watched Isner, which is an american fellow, smash his raquet on the turf, which apparently loses you a point, and I lost $10, but it was all in good fun. Sunstroked and overstimulated by massive crowds I headed home and took a nap. More tennis on the telly that evening cause we hadn't finished watching all the games we had bet on, I think I've had enough to last me for a while. But now I have a slight craving to actually get my hands on a raquet.
The next morning I woke up and created these beautiful adverts for an apartment seach.
Jesse was wonderful and we visited our spot for lunch, the Hare Krishnas, and then headed to Carlton to read adverts and post mine in a few places. We even lined up a flat viewing in Colberg, met a very interesting man who lived at the flat as well as his chook, cat and lovely neighbor who chaffeured us to his door when we got lost. We took the random path back to the main road, somehow ended up with a random business man buying us lunch, with many protests from us and Jesse was reminded of a crazy time he had when he went to Nepal, which he told me over our free kababs. All I can say is it involved burly men, jewels and large sums of money. If I told you any more, I'd definitely have to kill you. We were going to go to a free Australian Hiphop show, but the day had taken the energy out of us, so we watched Clerks. My first time, good movie.
This morning, the craziest thing happened to me. I'll have to travel back in time to explain.
When I was on the plane heading home for Christmas, from Seattle to Honolulu, I was sitting next to this lady from Kamloops, BC. We got to talking and I told her I was soon to move to Australia and she said her friend's daughter happened to be living there, she took my email and told me she'd sent it off to her and perhaps Katherine and I could meet up and have some Canadian bonding time. I completely forgot about it after that.
This morning I was getting on the train, when this lovely girl came and asked me in a distinctly north american accent if the train was going to the city, we got to talking and figure out that she was KATHERINE. We couldn't believe it. She had just been meaning to email me and hadn't gotten around to it. Same place, same time, in a Big big city. Pretty crazy. We might be spending Australia Day together at a BBQ, in replacement of our much loved Canada Day, perhaps we could get people into it and have both :)
Off to a new couch this evening, a friend of my current host, who has been nothing but lovely to me. I really lucked out with Danni, she been so helpful, showed me heaps of maps, let me borrow her bike, and given me tons of recommendations for food, jobs, and living areas. What a blessing! Now that I have to go she's even set me up at a friends of her's house for a bit. Then tonight I'm out to dinner with my scottish friend Isaac, whom I met in Sydney and went to the zoo with, if any of you remember him.
Love to all my readers :)
So, it's been crazy obviously. Otherwise I would've been blogging about the boring details of my life, life the marmite and egg sandwhich I had for brekky the other day. And those dogs, remember them?, I have a giant bite on my bottom which is still healing. Ouch. I'm having a hard time bringing myself to going back to Harley's house.
I met up with a guy from couchsurfing that was happy to show me around, but his couch was full, and he is AWESOME. He actually reminds me of one of my favoite people in Montreal, my ex-boyfriend Luke. I find that happens a lot while I'm traveling, where I meet people that remind me of other friends. I'm looking for the familiar, and I find it. Jesse, cs guy, took me to a Hare Krishna place that serves cheap meals for lunch, then we wandered about and saw this sweet graffeti alley, Hosier Lane, where it's legal to paint. In fact there was a german guy painting when we walked through. Then we wandered to the botanical gardens, which I dare say do not follow the signs because when you have to go toilet, because you will fail and fail again. Sat in the park and played some ukulele, apparently Jesse's mum also plays uke so we'll have to have a jam.
Went to Victoria Market, which had on some live music and food and drink. Did some Tahitian dancing, as one of the last bands called up all the travelers to come up to the front and dance with the pros. You know me, I can't miss an opportunity for unusal experiences, plus I'm trying to push myself more and more into a performance setting to get used to the feeling. Went to a sweet bar with chilled out tunes, decided I want to learn how to skateboard, and headed home to pass out. Phew! So much sun.
The Tennis:
The other couchsurfer who was staying with Danni, was a lovely guy from Ohio name Dan and he was into the tennis, oh boy. The Australian Open is currently going on, which is a massive event where tennis pros from all over the world come to compete. I decided I couldn't miss it, despite my lack of knowledge about tennis. Free bands, hot sun, green balls, and the ball kids running around in their funny yellow outfits. Really, you should google one of the tennis matches just to see those kids running after all those tennis balls. It's really quite hilarious to an uneducated tennis individual, aka me. :) I placed some bets, first time, with the extreme guidance of Dan, put on more sunscreen than I use in a year, and was ready for some tennis. I learned about the scoring and the stats and the players from Dan. We watched Isner, which is an american fellow, smash his raquet on the turf, which apparently loses you a point, and I lost $10, but it was all in good fun. Sunstroked and overstimulated by massive crowds I headed home and took a nap. More tennis on the telly that evening cause we hadn't finished watching all the games we had bet on, I think I've had enough to last me for a while. But now I have a slight craving to actually get my hands on a raquet.
The next morning I woke up and created these beautiful adverts for an apartment seach.
This morning, the craziest thing happened to me. I'll have to travel back in time to explain.
When I was on the plane heading home for Christmas, from Seattle to Honolulu, I was sitting next to this lady from Kamloops, BC. We got to talking and I told her I was soon to move to Australia and she said her friend's daughter happened to be living there, she took my email and told me she'd sent it off to her and perhaps Katherine and I could meet up and have some Canadian bonding time. I completely forgot about it after that.
This morning I was getting on the train, when this lovely girl came and asked me in a distinctly north american accent if the train was going to the city, we got to talking and figure out that she was KATHERINE. We couldn't believe it. She had just been meaning to email me and hadn't gotten around to it. Same place, same time, in a Big big city. Pretty crazy. We might be spending Australia Day together at a BBQ, in replacement of our much loved Canada Day, perhaps we could get people into it and have both :)
Off to a new couch this evening, a friend of my current host, who has been nothing but lovely to me. I really lucked out with Danni, she been so helpful, showed me heaps of maps, let me borrow her bike, and given me tons of recommendations for food, jobs, and living areas. What a blessing! Now that I have to go she's even set me up at a friends of her's house for a bit. Then tonight I'm out to dinner with my scottish friend Isaac, whom I met in Sydney and went to the zoo with, if any of you remember him.
Love to all my readers :)
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Ok...Melbourne (pronounced: Mel-Bun) :)
I feel like to need to mention the floods, there hasn't been a day gone by since I haven't heard news of the floods, currently the couchsurfing host I am staying with has just turned on the telly, and more floods, they have effected every end of the country. When will they end? Not sure, but I do put my heart out to the country because I think it has just about effected at least one friend or relly of all Aussies. It's really sad and I do plan to do some volunteer work at some point to help out.
The train from Sydney to Melbourne: lots of trees and grass.
That's about all I saw out the window for about 11 hours. Was shuffled about by the train managers a few times, so I had an endless variety of seat mates to keep me entertained. A lot of them seemed to be going to Wagga Wagga, which I thought was a bit of a funny name, try that aloud three times fast :) The last of my seat mates was a man who spoke about the racial predudice involving aboriginals, going both ways. He personally, as a white man, was once beat up by an entire family of aboriginals in the same area that I had happened to be living in, Redfern, while I was in Sydney. He spoke of the gangs that have been forming and the terrible violence, which seems to exist more in the cities than further inland. He, as well as another woman sitting ahead of me, told me that I shouldn't be wandering about the city after 9pm, epecially in the area that I was staying.
Once safely inside my hostel, after all these warnings I was feeling a bit paranoid, I spoke to a couple of people at the desk and they said that nothing of the sort is true. The area was plenty safe, as well as most of Melbourne, and I should not have any problems. I'm guess people from the suburbs just think city = danger. I'm not going to take any risks either way, but it was nice to get an inside perspective after the more negative outside ones.
Best place to get free internet: Mackers, aka McDonalds, I haven't heard one local call it McDonalds though. Best place to have random encounters with inebriated individuals: ding! ding! ding! Mackers on a Friday night. I just wanted to check on my emails, unsuspecting, Mackers-hating me decided to sit safely just outside on the front so that I didn't actually have to enter the greese-infested building, little did I know. The first person that I encountered was a lovely young homeless man on the search for the usual change, but in exchange for my 50 cents he wanted to give me a lesson on Aussie dollar bills, he explained and showed me all the different ways you can tell if the bills are fake or real. If you fold the ends to meet up any which way, they always match up, and on this particular bill (the 10), there is a poem in one of the tiniest prints you have ever seen by a famous Aussie poet, the name of which has slipped me.
My second encounter was even more tropical. I saw him out of the corner of my eye look straight at me and I busied my fingers typing even more furiously so as to look otherwise occupied, but apparently that just fueled his desire to plop himself RIGHT next to me, and I mean as close as he could without us actually touching. He was a middle-aged man in a suit and he was WASTed. He was somewhat coherent despite his state and we did have a disussion, I mean he did have a discussion, and I did my part in listening. He seemed like he needed to be listened to. He laughed, he cried, he walked off and came back (twice), he ate, and we danced (ballroom style). He thinks that people are too superficial these days, and that women are very insecure, that romance no longer exists, he was afraid that he'd done horrible things, he spoke of the trafficing of sex slaves from other countries and his grandparents being tortured in World War II, he spoke of how much sadness he had inside him, and finally he asked me why I trusted him.
I am a very trusting person, but I don't think naiively so. I wouldn't have listened if I had gotten a bad feeling. I told him 'no' I did not want to hold his hand, that was uncomfortable for me, and he listened. He seemed like he was just really sad and I hope that it helped him to get some of it out. Who knows? I know it helps me when some really listens to me and I'm feeling a bit blue. When he walked off for the third and final time, I went somewhere else to use the internet, I had filled my listening quota for the day, first on the train and then this.
Back to the hostel, 2 canadian roomies! From the Northwest Territories, I was a bit embarassed to say that I really have never heard anything about the N.T. except in 7th grade geography when I had to memorize all the provinces and territories, I had forgotten where exactly it was even. I feel like I need to do a Canada tour sometime to make up for it. We all watched Sweet Home Alabama, vegged and went to bed. Good night.
The next day, phew! I lost my pin, I had a mission, I wanted music. I met a lovely girl on gumtree (craigslist for Aussies for those that don't remember from prev. post), who said she'd sell me a ticket for the festival Big Day Out, which is currently sold out. But I needed cash obviously, and you need a pin number to get cash. The only banks open on a saturday were in the suberbs. 3 hours and 8 train stops later, I finally made it and received the small shiny and colorful ticket. I felt like Charlie from the Chocolate factory when he opened the chocolate bar! I hope the festival is good. For you musos here's the line up: http://www.bigdayout.com/lineup/index.php
Big day. Exhausted. Sat at the train station and people watched for a while to regain my energy, met a fellow musician and had a chat, homeless artest and another chat, then out on the town with the Canadians and my up and coming lovely couchsurfing host, Danni! We went to an area called St Kilda, which is full of bars and restaurants, picked up some booze at the bottlo, aka Liquor store, and sat on the beach listening to the tunes of a nearby band.
Afterwards went to a bar to dance the night away. I got separated from the girls to go take a rest and get a drink and met my new friend Harley. I sat down in the only seat available and I guess after all that listening I had been doing in the past couple days, I found I needed to do some talking and discovered my new friend Harley is a pretty good listener. I accidentally ended up at his house and met his dog, his mum, and his couch-dwelling uncle in one fell slightly-inebriated 3am swoop. They were all lovely though noisey, the dogs I mean. They don't like people that are standing up, but they do love you very much when your sitting down. Maybe a little too much because one of them started to hump me. Ahem!
The next day, Freda, Not Rita, made me pancakes the Southern Hemisphere way, lemon and sugar, reminiscent of my times in the N.Z. And we went off to pet kangaroos and grumpy koloa bears and spent the day on an island outside the city called Phillips Island. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Phillip+Island+Victoria,+Australia&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=17.35812,53.964844&ie=UTF8&geocode=FfFFtf0dAiyoCA&split=0&hq=&hnear=Phillip+Island+Victoria,+Australia&ll=-38.425622,145.220032&spn=0.266813,0.843201&z=10
Beautiful beach, perfect surf, lots of sun, a harrowing left handed drive :S (silly Harley decided he trusted me with his car and life) and the biggest calamari I'd ever seen and very delicious. Lovely day. All that sun and I passed out last night and got up bright and early to head to Danni's. We just done a walk about the neighborhood and we're awaiting the arrival of a second couchsurfing from Ohio. I look forward to meeting him.
Alls well in the world of Rose.
The train from Sydney to Melbourne: lots of trees and grass.
That's about all I saw out the window for about 11 hours. Was shuffled about by the train managers a few times, so I had an endless variety of seat mates to keep me entertained. A lot of them seemed to be going to Wagga Wagga, which I thought was a bit of a funny name, try that aloud three times fast :) The last of my seat mates was a man who spoke about the racial predudice involving aboriginals, going both ways. He personally, as a white man, was once beat up by an entire family of aboriginals in the same area that I had happened to be living in, Redfern, while I was in Sydney. He spoke of the gangs that have been forming and the terrible violence, which seems to exist more in the cities than further inland. He, as well as another woman sitting ahead of me, told me that I shouldn't be wandering about the city after 9pm, epecially in the area that I was staying.
Once safely inside my hostel, after all these warnings I was feeling a bit paranoid, I spoke to a couple of people at the desk and they said that nothing of the sort is true. The area was plenty safe, as well as most of Melbourne, and I should not have any problems. I'm guess people from the suburbs just think city = danger. I'm not going to take any risks either way, but it was nice to get an inside perspective after the more negative outside ones.
Best place to get free internet: Mackers, aka McDonalds, I haven't heard one local call it McDonalds though. Best place to have random encounters with inebriated individuals: ding! ding! ding! Mackers on a Friday night. I just wanted to check on my emails, unsuspecting, Mackers-hating me decided to sit safely just outside on the front so that I didn't actually have to enter the greese-infested building, little did I know. The first person that I encountered was a lovely young homeless man on the search for the usual change, but in exchange for my 50 cents he wanted to give me a lesson on Aussie dollar bills, he explained and showed me all the different ways you can tell if the bills are fake or real. If you fold the ends to meet up any which way, they always match up, and on this particular bill (the 10), there is a poem in one of the tiniest prints you have ever seen by a famous Aussie poet, the name of which has slipped me.
My second encounter was even more tropical. I saw him out of the corner of my eye look straight at me and I busied my fingers typing even more furiously so as to look otherwise occupied, but apparently that just fueled his desire to plop himself RIGHT next to me, and I mean as close as he could without us actually touching. He was a middle-aged man in a suit and he was WASTed. He was somewhat coherent despite his state and we did have a disussion, I mean he did have a discussion, and I did my part in listening. He seemed like he needed to be listened to. He laughed, he cried, he walked off and came back (twice), he ate, and we danced (ballroom style). He thinks that people are too superficial these days, and that women are very insecure, that romance no longer exists, he was afraid that he'd done horrible things, he spoke of the trafficing of sex slaves from other countries and his grandparents being tortured in World War II, he spoke of how much sadness he had inside him, and finally he asked me why I trusted him.
I am a very trusting person, but I don't think naiively so. I wouldn't have listened if I had gotten a bad feeling. I told him 'no' I did not want to hold his hand, that was uncomfortable for me, and he listened. He seemed like he was just really sad and I hope that it helped him to get some of it out. Who knows? I know it helps me when some really listens to me and I'm feeling a bit blue. When he walked off for the third and final time, I went somewhere else to use the internet, I had filled my listening quota for the day, first on the train and then this.
Back to the hostel, 2 canadian roomies! From the Northwest Territories, I was a bit embarassed to say that I really have never heard anything about the N.T. except in 7th grade geography when I had to memorize all the provinces and territories, I had forgotten where exactly it was even. I feel like I need to do a Canada tour sometime to make up for it. We all watched Sweet Home Alabama, vegged and went to bed. Good night.
The next day, phew! I lost my pin, I had a mission, I wanted music. I met a lovely girl on gumtree (craigslist for Aussies for those that don't remember from prev. post), who said she'd sell me a ticket for the festival Big Day Out, which is currently sold out. But I needed cash obviously, and you need a pin number to get cash. The only banks open on a saturday were in the suberbs. 3 hours and 8 train stops later, I finally made it and received the small shiny and colorful ticket. I felt like Charlie from the Chocolate factory when he opened the chocolate bar! I hope the festival is good. For you musos here's the line up: http://www.bigdayout.com/lineup/index.php
Big day. Exhausted. Sat at the train station and people watched for a while to regain my energy, met a fellow musician and had a chat, homeless artest and another chat, then out on the town with the Canadians and my up and coming lovely couchsurfing host, Danni! We went to an area called St Kilda, which is full of bars and restaurants, picked up some booze at the bottlo, aka Liquor store, and sat on the beach listening to the tunes of a nearby band.
Afterwards went to a bar to dance the night away. I got separated from the girls to go take a rest and get a drink and met my new friend Harley. I sat down in the only seat available and I guess after all that listening I had been doing in the past couple days, I found I needed to do some talking and discovered my new friend Harley is a pretty good listener. I accidentally ended up at his house and met his dog, his mum, and his couch-dwelling uncle in one fell slightly-inebriated 3am swoop. They were all lovely though noisey, the dogs I mean. They don't like people that are standing up, but they do love you very much when your sitting down. Maybe a little too much because one of them started to hump me. Ahem!
The next day, Freda, Not Rita, made me pancakes the Southern Hemisphere way, lemon and sugar, reminiscent of my times in the N.Z. And we went off to pet kangaroos and grumpy koloa bears and spent the day on an island outside the city called Phillips Island. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Phillip+Island+Victoria,+Australia&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=17.35812,53.964844&ie=UTF8&geocode=FfFFtf0dAiyoCA&split=0&hq=&hnear=Phillip+Island+Victoria,+Australia&ll=-38.425622,145.220032&spn=0.266813,0.843201&z=10
Beautiful beach, perfect surf, lots of sun, a harrowing left handed drive :S (silly Harley decided he trusted me with his car and life) and the biggest calamari I'd ever seen and very delicious. Lovely day. All that sun and I passed out last night and got up bright and early to head to Danni's. We just done a walk about the neighborhood and we're awaiting the arrival of a second couchsurfing from Ohio. I look forward to meeting him.
Alls well in the world of Rose.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
A not so sad story of gardens and shows and ONE TRUE MISSION
I'm really touched by all the positive feedback I've been getting from everyone about my blog! It wouldn't be as awesome without all you wonderful readers :)
I've been down. I'm not gonna lie. Homesick, lonely, all that jazz. I've got through it. Hopefully. I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. Let me share the past couple of days and how I deal with my moodiness.
On Tuesday I went through the botanical garderns, walked at the foot of the oh-so-famous Sydney opera house. Reading in grass in a beautiful park is a great past time for those that are feeling homesick. You'd never know that you weren't in Parc Jeanne Manc (or insert your favorite park). Then when you get bored get up and walk a bit further along and lie down and read some more. Isn't it lovely the things you find to occupy your time when you're unemployed? Just as I was thinking, and I mean literally at that moment I as thinking, I should do a guided tour, a group of people MAGICALLY appeared in front of me, what the heck? And one of them had on a bright red shirt "free guided tours". No joke. I just caught the tail end, but I did find out that crocodile dundee was one of the workers that painted the Harbour Bridge before he became famous and that people have sex on it sometimes, I wasn't sure why that last part was relevant...akwarrrd.
Then I wandered out in search of gelato, oh it's good (white chocolate and salted caramel). Walking is great, you see so many things. It was about an hours walk home, I passed an entire street full of backpackers trying to sell campervans and other vehicles, a strip of thai massage parlours (not the sexy ones) and couldn't resist a special that was going on, and when it started to rain I took shelter with a lovely girl from Slovakia that is now my fb friend. We had a nice chat about what she thought of Australians. Basically they are very laidback, perhaps too much so for her taste, and they have very little goals and responsibility it seems. Does this fit your idea of an Aussie? Ended the day with Black Swan and my lovely roomie (I'm sorry Flatmate), Simon.
Very early, too early the next morning. Train downtown, and stand in line for exactly 2.5 hours. As I said they Sydney festival is going on and I couldn't resist checking something out. When I went to buy a ticket, any ticket, there were none. What are these ticket booths for anyways?? So there's this thing they do for those really disorganized/masochistic people, where they sell tickets at a ticket booth downtown for cheaper and for shows that are already sold out, the fibbers, sold out is relative I guess. The booth opens at 8am and first come, first served. I was about 7th in line :) My line mate is Pioter, yoga extrodinaire. We are both after tickets for the same show. We eye each other competitively, haha, not really. He invites me to his fiancees yoga class that evening and a 'lift' to the show afterwards. I really love the slang they use here. I told him about cutting my bangs and he thought I was joking that we call bangs bangs, they're 'fringes' here. HAHAH. Anyways he also convinced me to buy an extra ticket and make a new friend: my mission for the day.
I started by busking in Hyde park. Who doesn't want to make friends with a happy ukulele player?? Turns out the people that do aren't up that early, but I did get $2, a few smiles and waves, and one staring baby with a mohawk. Resigned I take the train home with my $2 and bid farewell to Simon, who is off to some random town with his gf for a few days.
Round 2: Newtown; bustling, cafes, op shops, stray kitty association, my kind of place. Surely someone would like to go to a show tonight? No success. I did finagle a free pair of earrings due to damage from one op shop though. I stopped in the aforementioned bike shop with the cute story idea, from a previous post, and asked the woman if she'd like to go, people in bike shops are always nice. She was busy, but she recommend gumtree, the aussie version of craigslist and was such a nice bike person that she let me use the shop's computer.
Ad:
I have an extra ticket for smoke and mirrors tonight. If you'd like to go, show up at the entrance, the speigaltent at around 9:15 with a rose in your hand and a poem. Whoever has the most interesting poem shall receive the ticket.
How many people do you think showed up? None. Oh well. At the absolute last minute I found the only person in town that seemed to be in public with his own company, guess most people don't get out by themselves. Luke. Thank you Luke, it was a relief not to have wasted the ticket. The circus show was great, singing, dancing, magicians, and crazy sexy guys doing stunts. My new yogi friends dropped me home and tea and sleep was all I could muster after the long day.
Woke up feeling sad, but left my new earrings at the yoga studio, so guess I had to go to yoga this morning. One of the most powerful tools I have found in combating feeling down has been yoga. I swear, it's magical. I felt so much better after the class and walked back to the train happy with my new earrings aswingin. On the train I met another Torontonian! Yay. She was really interesting. She's writing a book about people over a 100 years old, in 100 different countries. She was on 88. I'd like to read it when she's finished. She had a lot of interesting things to say, but unfortuantely was only going 2 stops on the train. So long, Janet.
Currently I've spent the whole day practicing ukulele, which is my other top way of combatting the evils of depression. And I've bought my train ticket to Melbourne AND I've got my first couchsurfing host lined up. G'day Danni! Can't wait. But I feel sad to be leaving my friend Sydney behind. You will not be forgotten...
I've been down. I'm not gonna lie. Homesick, lonely, all that jazz. I've got through it. Hopefully. I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. Let me share the past couple of days and how I deal with my moodiness.
On Tuesday I went through the botanical garderns, walked at the foot of the oh-so-famous Sydney opera house. Reading in grass in a beautiful park is a great past time for those that are feeling homesick. You'd never know that you weren't in Parc Jeanne Manc (or insert your favorite park). Then when you get bored get up and walk a bit further along and lie down and read some more. Isn't it lovely the things you find to occupy your time when you're unemployed? Just as I was thinking, and I mean literally at that moment I as thinking, I should do a guided tour, a group of people MAGICALLY appeared in front of me, what the heck? And one of them had on a bright red shirt "free guided tours". No joke. I just caught the tail end, but I did find out that crocodile dundee was one of the workers that painted the Harbour Bridge before he became famous and that people have sex on it sometimes, I wasn't sure why that last part was relevant...akwarrrd.
Then I wandered out in search of gelato, oh it's good (white chocolate and salted caramel). Walking is great, you see so many things. It was about an hours walk home, I passed an entire street full of backpackers trying to sell campervans and other vehicles, a strip of thai massage parlours (not the sexy ones) and couldn't resist a special that was going on, and when it started to rain I took shelter with a lovely girl from Slovakia that is now my fb friend. We had a nice chat about what she thought of Australians. Basically they are very laidback, perhaps too much so for her taste, and they have very little goals and responsibility it seems. Does this fit your idea of an Aussie? Ended the day with Black Swan and my lovely roomie (I'm sorry Flatmate), Simon.
Very early, too early the next morning. Train downtown, and stand in line for exactly 2.5 hours. As I said they Sydney festival is going on and I couldn't resist checking something out. When I went to buy a ticket, any ticket, there were none. What are these ticket booths for anyways?? So there's this thing they do for those really disorganized/masochistic people, where they sell tickets at a ticket booth downtown for cheaper and for shows that are already sold out, the fibbers, sold out is relative I guess. The booth opens at 8am and first come, first served. I was about 7th in line :) My line mate is Pioter, yoga extrodinaire. We are both after tickets for the same show. We eye each other competitively, haha, not really. He invites me to his fiancees yoga class that evening and a 'lift' to the show afterwards. I really love the slang they use here. I told him about cutting my bangs and he thought I was joking that we call bangs bangs, they're 'fringes' here. HAHAH. Anyways he also convinced me to buy an extra ticket and make a new friend: my mission for the day.
I started by busking in Hyde park. Who doesn't want to make friends with a happy ukulele player?? Turns out the people that do aren't up that early, but I did get $2, a few smiles and waves, and one staring baby with a mohawk. Resigned I take the train home with my $2 and bid farewell to Simon, who is off to some random town with his gf for a few days.
Round 2: Newtown; bustling, cafes, op shops, stray kitty association, my kind of place. Surely someone would like to go to a show tonight? No success. I did finagle a free pair of earrings due to damage from one op shop though. I stopped in the aforementioned bike shop with the cute story idea, from a previous post, and asked the woman if she'd like to go, people in bike shops are always nice. She was busy, but she recommend gumtree, the aussie version of craigslist and was such a nice bike person that she let me use the shop's computer.
Ad:
I have an extra ticket for smoke and mirrors tonight. If you'd like to go, show up at the entrance, the speigaltent at around 9:15 with a rose in your hand and a poem. Whoever has the most interesting poem shall receive the ticket.
How many people do you think showed up? None. Oh well. At the absolute last minute I found the only person in town that seemed to be in public with his own company, guess most people don't get out by themselves. Luke. Thank you Luke, it was a relief not to have wasted the ticket. The circus show was great, singing, dancing, magicians, and crazy sexy guys doing stunts. My new yogi friends dropped me home and tea and sleep was all I could muster after the long day.
Woke up feeling sad, but left my new earrings at the yoga studio, so guess I had to go to yoga this morning. One of the most powerful tools I have found in combating feeling down has been yoga. I swear, it's magical. I felt so much better after the class and walked back to the train happy with my new earrings aswingin. On the train I met another Torontonian! Yay. She was really interesting. She's writing a book about people over a 100 years old, in 100 different countries. She was on 88. I'd like to read it when she's finished. She had a lot of interesting things to say, but unfortuantely was only going 2 stops on the train. So long, Janet.
Currently I've spent the whole day practicing ukulele, which is my other top way of combatting the evils of depression. And I've bought my train ticket to Melbourne AND I've got my first couchsurfing host lined up. G'day Danni! Can't wait. But I feel sad to be leaving my friend Sydney behind. You will not be forgotten...
Sunday, January 9, 2011
How do I feel about America? and Wild Australian Beaches
Well I don't have any tales of the Blue Mountains yet. The woman I was supposed to stay with rescheduled for today, so more later.
In the meantime,
I had to change hostels because the one I was staying at didn't have room for another night, so I moved down the street. A refreshing change, but more expensive. I went out on the town to see some live music and make new friends and lo and behold that is what I did. A chick alone in the bar is a magnet for single men. Interestingly not in the same way I feel that I would have experienced it in North America. I had interesting conversations and made friends, and no one tried to take me home with them. Mind you, I didn't stay to the wee hours when those sorts of activities take place. I did encounter my first american tourists, unfortunately it was a bunch of drunk and very loud Massachusetts girls dressed in minimal clothing. Hear, hear for America.
I guess one things I've realized by deciding to live in multiple countries, is that I don't really like the US as a country. I'm sure the fact that I've lived in Canada for many years has helped me formulate this opinion, as Canada has different policies and a different lifestyle. Of course this doesn't mean I dislike Americans, but I dislike the fact that most of the Americans I have encountered so far have been drunk, loud and skanky looking. I would be extremely happy to encounter some that are perhaps more interested in doing things that can't be done in their own country. It has only been a week.
Enough ranting for now. So back at the bar, the band was okay but didn't really satisfy my live music craving, so I'm going to check out the Sydney festival which has luckily just started a couple of days ago. I met a man from Dubai and another from Columbia who invited me to go rock climbing with them the following day. We discussed gay marriage and a variety of other topics and despite having differing opinions, had a friendly debate. Just after they left, I was only left alone for about 5 minutes before an Aussie guy started chatting me up about my book, which I highly recommend, The Geography of Bliss. The author is a bit grumpy, but he has some very interesting findings. So Aussie told me about his book and we're going to have a book exchange later in the week.
The next day, I ate breakky in the freezing cold dining area and went outside to thaw, only to meet a lovely Danish man who's favorite state is, you guessed it, Hawai'i. :) Delightful. We only had a couple of minutes to chat before I had to be on my way, but I gave him my email address and I got an email from him later that he was headed to Byron Bay, which is exactly where I'm going. So we're going to meet up and have a chat about our countries. He said he loves the states, so one point for America.
after I headed to my new flat, just near Redfern station, where I am currently living with the aforementioned, in a previous post, Torontonian man. We had a lovely chat and headed out to the markets with his girlfriend, but they were closed so we checked out King's street. It's a lovely area with coffee shops and live music venues and a little bike library/rental place that was advertising free rentals in exchange for a 300 word story about your adventure on the bike. Will have to check that out later. This reminded me of my friend Whitney French because I know she would love to go on a bike adventure with me and write about it. I <3 you Whit!
We had a lovely meal at a Japanese restaurant and I got a call from one of the bar guys and we headed to rock climbing. It was HUGE! I really have my friend Candice Stevenson to thank for taking me rock climbing before I left Ontario, because otherwise I wouldn't have felt as confident accepting the invitation to go. I had a really great time and did a few climbs, one of them was particularly interesting because it was a space cut into the wall so you could use the crevice as an aid in climbing, good fun.
My new flatmate (Simon), his girlfriend (Anne) and I said our goodbyes to rockclimbing bar guys who were off to the Sydney festival, and made our way to the beach for my first Aussie beach experience. Oh boy. I was a bit trepidatious about all I had heard about the dangers in the water of Australia, jellyfish and sharks and strong riptides. I was not dissappointed. The beach we went to had very strong currents and very big waves. There are flags set up at every beach that swimmers are recommended to stay in between if they want the lifeguards to be of service to them. Just as we were arriving the lifeguards gave a five minute warning and told us there are bluebottles in the water. Bluebottles?! They were everywhere! Hundreds of them lining the shoreline, scattered all over the sand. Bluebottles are the same thing as Portugese Man of War, which exist in Hawai'i. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Man_o%27_War) They are these little bubbles full of air that float along the water wherever the tides take them and have long stinging tenticles that wrap around whichever of your body part is closest when they get near you. Anne being the crazy Aussie local just started running across the beach stepping on them. They made a pop similar to stepping on bubble wrap. Apparently they don't sting when they're all dried out, she guesses. Then she runs into the water, first talking to the lifeguards about how the current is strong and hearing tales of many rescues today. Me and Simon look at each other in horror, but I follow tentatively into the water looking out for bluebottles along the way. It was fun, and I didn't get stung until later on the beach I accidentally stepped on one and got a tiny shock to my left baby toe. A little girl of about six wasn't so lucky and was screaming her head off.
We then got fish and chips, a local favorite, met some of Anne's extended family and headed home for an evening of massage and ukulele serenading. Lovely day.
The next day was a bit dull in comparison. I took the ferry to Paramatta, which is a scenic hour-long ferry ride all along the estuaries to a small town where nothing really goes on. I sat on the grass in the town where-nothing-goes-on and read my book. Then I attempted to take the train back, but was accosted by aggresive god loving people. They would not take no for an answer. I finally got away and made it to the train station, only to be accosted again by someone that was full of paranoid ideas about not only his government, but mine as well. Minus one for America, maybe only 1/2 because he seemed a bit off.
Took the train home and watched The Social Network with Simon. It felt like I was in Canda still.
In the meantime,
I had to change hostels because the one I was staying at didn't have room for another night, so I moved down the street. A refreshing change, but more expensive. I went out on the town to see some live music and make new friends and lo and behold that is what I did. A chick alone in the bar is a magnet for single men. Interestingly not in the same way I feel that I would have experienced it in North America. I had interesting conversations and made friends, and no one tried to take me home with them. Mind you, I didn't stay to the wee hours when those sorts of activities take place. I did encounter my first american tourists, unfortunately it was a bunch of drunk and very loud Massachusetts girls dressed in minimal clothing. Hear, hear for America.
I guess one things I've realized by deciding to live in multiple countries, is that I don't really like the US as a country. I'm sure the fact that I've lived in Canada for many years has helped me formulate this opinion, as Canada has different policies and a different lifestyle. Of course this doesn't mean I dislike Americans, but I dislike the fact that most of the Americans I have encountered so far have been drunk, loud and skanky looking. I would be extremely happy to encounter some that are perhaps more interested in doing things that can't be done in their own country. It has only been a week.
Enough ranting for now. So back at the bar, the band was okay but didn't really satisfy my live music craving, so I'm going to check out the Sydney festival which has luckily just started a couple of days ago. I met a man from Dubai and another from Columbia who invited me to go rock climbing with them the following day. We discussed gay marriage and a variety of other topics and despite having differing opinions, had a friendly debate. Just after they left, I was only left alone for about 5 minutes before an Aussie guy started chatting me up about my book, which I highly recommend, The Geography of Bliss. The author is a bit grumpy, but he has some very interesting findings. So Aussie told me about his book and we're going to have a book exchange later in the week.
The next day, I ate breakky in the freezing cold dining area and went outside to thaw, only to meet a lovely Danish man who's favorite state is, you guessed it, Hawai'i. :) Delightful. We only had a couple of minutes to chat before I had to be on my way, but I gave him my email address and I got an email from him later that he was headed to Byron Bay, which is exactly where I'm going. So we're going to meet up and have a chat about our countries. He said he loves the states, so one point for America.
after I headed to my new flat, just near Redfern station, where I am currently living with the aforementioned, in a previous post, Torontonian man. We had a lovely chat and headed out to the markets with his girlfriend, but they were closed so we checked out King's street. It's a lovely area with coffee shops and live music venues and a little bike library/rental place that was advertising free rentals in exchange for a 300 word story about your adventure on the bike. Will have to check that out later. This reminded me of my friend Whitney French because I know she would love to go on a bike adventure with me and write about it. I <3 you Whit!
We had a lovely meal at a Japanese restaurant and I got a call from one of the bar guys and we headed to rock climbing. It was HUGE! I really have my friend Candice Stevenson to thank for taking me rock climbing before I left Ontario, because otherwise I wouldn't have felt as confident accepting the invitation to go. I had a really great time and did a few climbs, one of them was particularly interesting because it was a space cut into the wall so you could use the crevice as an aid in climbing, good fun.
My new flatmate (Simon), his girlfriend (Anne) and I said our goodbyes to rockclimbing bar guys who were off to the Sydney festival, and made our way to the beach for my first Aussie beach experience. Oh boy. I was a bit trepidatious about all I had heard about the dangers in the water of Australia, jellyfish and sharks and strong riptides. I was not dissappointed. The beach we went to had very strong currents and very big waves. There are flags set up at every beach that swimmers are recommended to stay in between if they want the lifeguards to be of service to them. Just as we were arriving the lifeguards gave a five minute warning and told us there are bluebottles in the water. Bluebottles?! They were everywhere! Hundreds of them lining the shoreline, scattered all over the sand. Bluebottles are the same thing as Portugese Man of War, which exist in Hawai'i. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Man_o%27_War) They are these little bubbles full of air that float along the water wherever the tides take them and have long stinging tenticles that wrap around whichever of your body part is closest when they get near you. Anne being the crazy Aussie local just started running across the beach stepping on them. They made a pop similar to stepping on bubble wrap. Apparently they don't sting when they're all dried out, she guesses. Then she runs into the water, first talking to the lifeguards about how the current is strong and hearing tales of many rescues today. Me and Simon look at each other in horror, but I follow tentatively into the water looking out for bluebottles along the way. It was fun, and I didn't get stung until later on the beach I accidentally stepped on one and got a tiny shock to my left baby toe. A little girl of about six wasn't so lucky and was screaming her head off.
We then got fish and chips, a local favorite, met some of Anne's extended family and headed home for an evening of massage and ukulele serenading. Lovely day.
The next day was a bit dull in comparison. I took the ferry to Paramatta, which is a scenic hour-long ferry ride all along the estuaries to a small town where nothing really goes on. I sat on the grass in the town where-nothing-goes-on and read my book. Then I attempted to take the train back, but was accosted by aggresive god loving people. They would not take no for an answer. I finally got away and made it to the train station, only to be accosted again by someone that was full of paranoid ideas about not only his government, but mine as well. Minus one for America, maybe only 1/2 because he seemed a bit off.
Took the train home and watched The Social Network with Simon. It felt like I was in Canda still.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Tales of a Sydney Nature, tinged with a splash of Canada
Since arriving I wandered around in the CBD (central business district) for a bit, popped into the grocery store to have a look around. One thing that really surprised me, which is probably not that surprising if I had done a bit more research, is the number of fruits and veggies that were locally produced. Lemons, grapes, clemintines, bananas, lettuce, beans, carrots, peppers. It seems that grow just about everything in this climate. I stocked up on some fresh apples and cucumber, which I really enjoyed. The strawberries weren't the greatest.
A shout out to the Canadians, did you know that IGA exists in Australia? I went to the IGA the other day and it looked just the same, the sign and the setup of the groceries. A bit bizzare.
So after my great grocery gamble, I went to see the Hubble with some friends (one of them from Toronto!) at the BIGGEST 3D Imax screen in the world. It was unbelievable. The views I got to see of space made me tear up because they were so incredible and really gave you the experience of having a sense of how big the universe really is. It blows my mind. They also showed a short shot of Hawai'i from space, which made me proud.
Later on I had dinner and too much wine at a newfound friend's apartment.
The next day I was having my breakfast on the top floor with a lovely view of the city laid out before me and started having a chat with a man from Scotland, who was also Canadian, as he was born in Ottawa. Yea for Candians and more Part Candians ;) After brekky, as he called it, I ran into him downstairs and we set off on an impromptu adventure to the Tonga Zoo. It was wonderful. We took a short ferry across the water and walked around the zoo for the better part of the day. I got to see my first 'roo' and an emu and all other critters of an australian nature. A small group of Asian tourists strayed off the path and even went to go pet one of the Kangeroos, it didnt' seem to mind. I don't think they could read the warning sign.
After safaris in the Australian outback we stopped for a lunch next to the elephant enclosure, beautiful creatures, and topped it all off with a visit to Africa. I think giraffes are my new favorite animal. I took some really nice shots of them.
Later I had dinner with the Scotsman and another English lady who has been traveling round as well. I have now been convinced one of my next trips shall be to the UK. It sounds really lovely and it seems to be possible to bike around the country of Scotland if you have your wits about you. The furture icing on the cake of going to the UK is that evening I asked the barman out on a date and he was also from Scotland, so I'll have to pop in and visit him when I go as well. Lovely boy.
Yesterday I picked up my wwoofing book and am very excited to head out on some wwoofing adventures. I've already emailed 2 places that are both community living oriented, which I am very interested in. Also they are both near Byron Bay, which is supposed to be fantastic.
The woman mentioned in my first post, name of Julianne, and have rented a wicked campervan and are going to spend a week slowly making our way up to Byron, which is her town of residence. It's only a 9 hours stright drive, but we're going to stop along the way and see some sights and some friends. We'll see how it goes, more about it later.
Currently I'm off to the Blue Mountains, which is a popular sightseeing venture 2 hours train ride from Sydney. A woman invited me to come stay with her for a couple of days and I couldn't pass up the opportunity, it's supposed to be very beautiful.
That's all for now. More to come soon!
Monday, January 3, 2011
The Wander
The funny thing about arriving in another country is that you're constantly on the lookout for how this particular culture varies from your own homegrown variety. Your mind attempts to make a solid distinction.
Well the turth is, that each person will have their own unique experience. Suer there's language, accents, tipping policies or lack thereof, but ultimately it's the luck of the draw. Who you run into, what street you happen to turn down, or who you sleep in the same room with.
Backpackers or hotels give endless options for activities and I pick and choose through them, but at the end of the day one of my favorite passtimes is 'the wander'.
Now 'the wander' takes a bit of skill you see. Don't just up and go.
1. First things first, check to see if there are any dangerous areas to be avoided. I asked some locals what their thoughts were on Sydney and they told me that it's pertty safe, but perhaps avoid the red light district, called King's Cross, at night by myself.
2. Decide how hungry you are. I don't know how many times my bloodsugar has dropped so low that every restaurant I pass isn't good enough because it's too expensive or the menu doesn't look good. Just go into the next place you see, you're deciding skills have long been left behind.
3. Be open to opportuniity. Go with your instincts. If you've been walking in a stright line and feel like turning left, then just turn left. It always feels like a game to me. I'm on a quest. ADVENTURE. There's always something interesting around the corner if you let it.
Well the turth is, that each person will have their own unique experience. Suer there's language, accents, tipping policies or lack thereof, but ultimately it's the luck of the draw. Who you run into, what street you happen to turn down, or who you sleep in the same room with.
Backpackers or hotels give endless options for activities and I pick and choose through them, but at the end of the day one of my favorite passtimes is 'the wander'.
Now 'the wander' takes a bit of skill you see. Don't just up and go.
1. First things first, check to see if there are any dangerous areas to be avoided. I asked some locals what their thoughts were on Sydney and they told me that it's pertty safe, but perhaps avoid the red light district, called King's Cross, at night by myself.
2. Decide how hungry you are. I don't know how many times my bloodsugar has dropped so low that every restaurant I pass isn't good enough because it's too expensive or the menu doesn't look good. Just go into the next place you see, you're deciding skills have long been left behind.
3. Be open to opportuniity. Go with your instincts. If you've been walking in a stright line and feel like turning left, then just turn left. It always feels like a game to me. I'm on a quest. ADVENTURE. There's always something interesting around the corner if you let it.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Diving in Head First
Ok. I'm here. Sydney, Australia. I completely missed the 1st of January so happy new years me. It was worth it.
First of all I didn't even get to Australia yet before 2 addresses and phone numbers were shoved into my hands by fellow passengers on my flight from Oahu to here, that doesn't include the wonderful Kiwi family that was standing in line with me to check in who also offered me a spot in their home if I make it back over there. They truly made me miss New Zealand. I must go back one day.
THEN, I was wandering aimlessly around central station in Sydney, trying for the life of me to figure out how to get out of the damn station and I asked a woman for assistance and she promptly invited me to go to church with her and bought me a day pass with her special retirement rate, which they call 'pensioners' or some such more proper term.
So, off I go luggage laden, having given up on finding my way out of the train mazes to another station, called Bondi Junction, pronounced Bon-die I discovered much later in the game. On the train ride she begins to share her life story including the disagreement she just had with her son, as if we have been old time friends. Lovely really, I honestly am still waiting for the moment where I realize that I'm actually in a foreign country.
Once out of the station we realize that this church is a bit furthur than she remembers, as she is living in Byron Bay currently. So she grabs a shopping cart and instructs me to put all my luggage in it. Why not? So we shopping carted our way to church on a bright sunny morning in downtown Sydney. Those of you that know me, know that I'm not a religious person, but I sang along and listened to some people tell me about God and drank coffee and took a nap on the couch while kids ran around me playing swords with balloons. Not a bad way to spend your morning I think.
Then, just in case I didn't already have enough phone numbers and addresses, I collected 2 more at the church, again with more promises of visits and calls if I could possibly need ANYTHING at all. Then I got a ride to lunch and dropped off at my hostel, with full luggage service by this lovely couple from New Castle, a couple hours north of Sydney.
Phew. I haven't even caught up with myself yet.
Tonight I'm off with yet another extremely kind and generous sounding Aussie, who is taking me out on the town for dinner.
More adventures later. Plus some thoughts once I pick them up off the ground.
First of all I didn't even get to Australia yet before 2 addresses and phone numbers were shoved into my hands by fellow passengers on my flight from Oahu to here, that doesn't include the wonderful Kiwi family that was standing in line with me to check in who also offered me a spot in their home if I make it back over there. They truly made me miss New Zealand. I must go back one day.
THEN, I was wandering aimlessly around central station in Sydney, trying for the life of me to figure out how to get out of the damn station and I asked a woman for assistance and she promptly invited me to go to church with her and bought me a day pass with her special retirement rate, which they call 'pensioners' or some such more proper term.
So, off I go luggage laden, having given up on finding my way out of the train mazes to another station, called Bondi Junction, pronounced Bon-die I discovered much later in the game. On the train ride she begins to share her life story including the disagreement she just had with her son, as if we have been old time friends. Lovely really, I honestly am still waiting for the moment where I realize that I'm actually in a foreign country.
Once out of the station we realize that this church is a bit furthur than she remembers, as she is living in Byron Bay currently. So she grabs a shopping cart and instructs me to put all my luggage in it. Why not? So we shopping carted our way to church on a bright sunny morning in downtown Sydney. Those of you that know me, know that I'm not a religious person, but I sang along and listened to some people tell me about God and drank coffee and took a nap on the couch while kids ran around me playing swords with balloons. Not a bad way to spend your morning I think.
Then, just in case I didn't already have enough phone numbers and addresses, I collected 2 more at the church, again with more promises of visits and calls if I could possibly need ANYTHING at all. Then I got a ride to lunch and dropped off at my hostel, with full luggage service by this lovely couple from New Castle, a couple hours north of Sydney.
Phew. I haven't even caught up with myself yet.
Tonight I'm off with yet another extremely kind and generous sounding Aussie, who is taking me out on the town for dinner.
More adventures later. Plus some thoughts once I pick them up off the ground.
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