clo_again

I just had kangaroo steak as my last meal in Sydney. It was extremely excellent and I have to find somewhere in the UK that sells it, because wow. It probably wasn't even the nicest it could be because the restaurant was only average. Mmmmmm. Next: emu/crocodile. Although I'm doubtful that they'll measure up.

Found the ABC shop easily in the Queen Victoria building. Actually wish I'd gone in there before now, because it was so beautiful inside. I couldn't see the DAAS dvd on the shelf so I had to ask and, while he searched through the drawer behind the counter, I noticed a flyer taped to the desk with a very familiar name and picture:

"DYLAN MORAN: TALK AND SIGNING HERE MAY 4TH"

I go halfway around the world only to be stalked by Dylan Moran (not complaining. Except about the fact that I'm not here on May 4th). No wonder I'm not homesick yet.

...A little bitter that I've missed him by only two weeks though. Sigh. It's the only thing that could've made Sydney more awesome.

But then he handed me my DAAS dvd and all was shiny with the world. I just barely restrained myself from hugging it in the shop.

mayakitten, you are so very evil. ;)

Okay, it's now almost 5pm and I swore to myself I would leave on the hour so off I go. Hopefully I'll make it to the bus without collapsing under the weight of my bag; I really have to sort through it in Brisbane and maybe post some stuff home. New Zealand souvenirs on top? Will make it actually too heavy to carry as it is.

Right. Off.

Current Mood: content

Today made me realise just how happy I am to be in Australia.

I left a little later than I planned to catch my Blue Mountains bus; I meant to leave 6:45am (had to be there for 7:15am) to give myself time to get lost but I ended up scrabbling to find change for the vending machine and I left 7am instead. Figured fine, Googlemnaps said eight minutes so...

Yeah. George Street is the longest street in existence. For about ten minutes I suspected Googlemaps was right when they said it'd take 222 days because I was watching the numbers creep up on the buildings and it was fifteen minutes before I even got close. I ran the last five and made it only five minutes late which was okay! We waited another ten minutes for more people but gave up and left (they caught the train up and joined us later instead; at least I made the bus!)

The Blue Mountains were... lovely. We spent about an hour and a half looking for wild kangaroos not too far from Glenbrook. I wasn't too bothered because I'd seen them with

chickybee32 but I was surprised by how many people on the tour hadn't seen them until I remembered how far we'd driven to find them. The whole "KANGAROOS ARE EVERYWHERE" notion I had before I got here? Yeah, not so much it seems. But we eventually spotted three under some trees and took sneaky photos and then a tree dropped a branch almost on our tour guide's head which was hilarious because for something that can't move, that tree had pretty good aim. We stopped giggling at the "Do not sit under trees with dead branches!" signs after that.

Then we did the Wentworth Falls and the Three Sisters and... it was perfect. I got chatting to a girl from Milton Keynes who flew all the way out here for *two weeks* and every time she said she was already homesick, it made me realise I'm totally not missing home yet and I'm glad she was the one leaving on Monday. It also made me think I might be a bit inconsolable at the airport in June.

chickybee32, you're the one I'll be crying over so you have been warned! Maybe I'll be desperately missing Casper by then, I don't know but today it felt like I'd never want to leave. Everything; the scenery, volunteering to let the tour guide paint stripes on our faces with red ochre because no one else would (he also talked about Aboriginal symbols which gave me an idea for a tattoo that I think I might actually get when I get back to the UK), the people I was chatting to who'd been all over everywhere, knowing I still have all of New Zealand and more Australia to come... I was so happy to be here, I couldd've cried.

Of course, it's entirely possible I was high on eucalyptus fumes. But the point stands! It was an awesome day!

On the way back I planned to grab a shower and head down to Darling Harbour for food and to catch Monsters vs Aliens at the IMAX but after I'd stopped at the supermarket for washing liquid because we got very muddy today (I also kept the face stripes the tour guide gave us until my shower but no one in the supermarket so much as looked at me oddly. I was disappointed) and got back, had a shower... I really didn't want to go out again. So instead I'm sitting on the big couch in the lounge of the hostel with peanut-butter toast, TimTams and coffee, a confirmation number for a tour of Sydney Opera House tomorrow written on my hand and one of the guys I met on the walk yesterday who I just realised reminds me of Colin Morgan reading On the Road next to me while a girl and a guy I know from the walk are sitting around on their laptops. It's cosy and comfortable and I know I can trust them to look after the laptop for me if I feel the urge to move, say to get more coffee.

Tomorrow I'm doing my Opera House tour, then later me and the-guy-who-is-not-Colin-Morgan are heading out to the Botanical Gardens and hopefully seeing the sunset over the coast then finding "bats the size of cats" that I've been reliably informed live in the Gardens. Then I may head down to Darling Harbour for dinner.

I'm so happy I'm in Australia right now. The only thing that makes today more perfect is knowing that tomorrow looks pretty awesome too.

( couple of Blue Mountains pictures because Scrapbook decided to work for me again )

I'm really tired so I may go fetch more coffee. Mmmmmmm.

Current Mood: content

Sydney Aquarium was awesome but huge and now I'm tired. I was going to walk up to Circular Quay and see the Opera House in a bit, maybe get some sunset pictures but I don't know if I'm too tired. It's very tempting just to sit here downloading Planet of the Dead then head over to the IMAX maybe to see Monsters vs Aliens.

But I'm only here for like five days and one of those is a day trip to the Blue Mountains and one is a trip to Taronga Zoo and another to Bondi. I really need to make the most of it.

...I'm really tired. Hm.

But. Although I've decided Subway is better than cooking, I still really need to find a supermarket. Everyone in the kitchen has Woolworths bags so there must be one somewhere and interneting it suggests it's along the street I'd take to the Opera House. I like black coffee now but with limits, and I need some breakfast food. Today I survived on TimTams and a doughnut until 3pm; my junk food consumption is really getting ridiculous. So. Hm. Sunset is at 5:31pm... I really should move.

In a minute.

(I'm spending money much too quickly, even though I resisted the lure of the pretty t-shirts in the Aquarium. Gah. Dear everything: cost less. Thank you.)

Current Mood: tired

Dear Australian bus travel,

Be less complicated!

No love,

Clo

I think I've got it now though. Possibly. I don't know if it's better to get the $38.00 unlimited travel or just buy two DayTripper tickets since I only want it for the Zoo and Bondi. Plus you get 10% off at the Zoo with a DayTripper. Dammit. Why is foreign travel so ridiculously complicated? Get on a bus, buy a ticket to where you're going, end of story. This is not difficult!

Also they sell them in newsagents. I can never grasp this odd connection between newagents and bus/tram tickets that everywhere but the UK seems to cling to. I don't know, maybe it makes more sense. Maybe.

This is when it's lovely to have someone who knows what they're doing. Or at least someone here to discuss it with and moan with about it when it's wrong. Sigh.

AND.I'm leaving Sydney Tuesday instead of Wednesday which I'd somehow got into my head. Huh. Which means I have to cram a whole lot of stuff into the next few days. I wish I was in Sydney longer. *wistful* I definitely have to come back.

Aside from Sydney news!

acityofwonder, my parents have posted my card and say it should be here in a week, but it needs to be signed for when it gets to you (I tried to get them to use Airsure which can be tracked and doesn't need a signing, but apparently it doesn't operate to Australia. :( Sorry! Hope it's no trouble). Also I've double-checked the timetable and it looks like my bus does definitely get into Roma St, Brisbane at 12:45pm (it goes aaaaalllllll the way round everywhere. o.O I'll definitely need some Starbucks).

Current Mood: contemplative

I love Sydney.

I decided on half-random, half Cardiff-Bay-has-nice-restaurants-so-maybe-Darling-Harbour-will-too basis to head for the harbour in my search for food. This was mostly an excellent decision - there were so many nice restaurants - and also a bad decision - so many nice restaurants that I took almost an hour to pick one.

I liked the look of the beautiful Asian restaurant I passed first but in the name of exploration walked all the way around the harbour to check out what was on offer. Along the way I got mistaken for someone called Sarah by an extremely cute guy (I didn't say "For you baby, I could be" in a Shrek's Puss in Boots tone but I was tempted), dashed the hopes of a lovely Japanese waiter who tried to tempt me into his restaurant (alas it was mostly fish, which I mostly avoid), almost fell into a bizarre water feature that I can't believe health and safety let them get away with, but that's all the prettier for the insanity (I'll take pictures in the daylight when it'll show up better) and was almost tempted into two restaurants that had nothing else to endear them (one was pretty but almost empty, which was odd when everywhere else was packed and the other was on a boat which is cool but it was mostly full of old people and looked surprisingly dull) because they were serving kangaroo steaks. In the end the beautiful Asian restaurant won and I walked all the way back, bypassing even Starbucks. I'm glad I did because the food (duck with vermicelli rice) was delicious and cost less than £10 which was... surprising but awesome. The staff were lovely too.

I think most of the restaurants I passed would've been good though. Cardiff Bay, possibly my favourite place in the world before now, has nothing on Darling Harbour. Okay so it edged towards tacky in places but still, awesome.

I also stopped at a convenience store and bought water and TimTams, but forgot milk. Dammit. At least I have tea, coffee and limited sugar though; I can get milk tomorrow. After I go to the Aquarium, I think. The Zoo is tempting but I'm thinking I might try it Friday. There's a leaflet I just found with how to get there and ferry prices.

One thing is certain though; I won't be sticking to my 'don't get any more money out in Sydney' attempt, because just looking at the admission fees for everywhere is burning holes in my wallet. However, I just checked my bank account and I have an extra £100 that I wasn't expecting so... whatever. Go nuts.

I love Sydney already. I really do.

(The other girl in my room, Yona, is actually Korean and is a *student*. She's living in a hostel while being a student. I'm so in awe because holy crap, was I a coddled and pampered student in comparison. She's really nice.)

(I just went to tag this post and for some reason 'Sam tyler' is already typed in the tag bar. Wtf? My keyboard must've jumped and it autotyped it maybe but... seriously, wtf?)

Current Mood: tired

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I can see why everyone's been telling me that I'd love Sydney.

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November 2022

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