Sydney Extravaganza and Melbourne Cup

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G'day from where it's warm and probably cold there 😉

It definitely doesn't feel like November seeing as it keeps getting warmer. It really feels like August/September weather depending on the day. So sorry to those that are freezing already. I just got back from Sydney on Monday in which we spent 5 fabulous days. The first wasn't very productive since we had pulled an all-nighter in order to not have to wake up so early to catch our flight. Well, did that backfire because we ending up sleeping until the early afternoon. Once we finally managed to pull ourselves together, the sightseeing began. Or at least an attempt. We started heading in the direction that we thought the harbour was after driving around in circles dropping people off in the shuttle. We even had a map that we failed to pull out initially. We started walking and found a restaurant to catch a bite to eat when this man came up to us. He started telling that if we ever went up to Darwin or what not to not go swimming unless his kind around (his kind being Aboriginal) because they know how to handle the crocs and blah blah. I'm thinking, where's the catch. Finally, he turns to Beth asking for a dollar and she responds with, I just spent it on the tram even though Sydney definitely doesn't have a tram...haha. Well, he didn't catch it and moved on.

After walking and walking some more, we somehow ended up running into that man again in the city of how many million?? And we were a distance away from where we saw him the first time. After running around in circles, we finally asked for help to get back to our hostel. Thursday was quite a bit more exciting. We went down to Sydney Cove where the Sydney Opera House lies in plain view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We hopped on a boat for a tour of the harbour and got a glimpse of all of our dream houses. Once we were done with that, we took a stroll through the Botanical Gardens alongside the water. On our way to our hostel, we saw a sign for a band playing in Sydney that I had just heard about. One of their songs is from the movie Mr. Brooks so I dragged Beth to the Oxford Art Factory for the show. We also saw the Seabellies, an Aussie band that uses many instruments to make their sound. The girl in the band was amazing playing an accordion, keyboard, tamborine, guitar, singing and I think there was even more. It was quite the show and The Veils followed all the way from the UK.



On Friday, we woke up to rain so what better to avoid it than to go shopping. Where we went was a massive mall with many of the stores underground. On Saturday was the trip out to Bondi Beach. And of course, it was cold and windy so no sun bathing happened. There happened to be a surfing competition going on so we watched that for a bit. I had heard about the sculptures by the sea exhibit but it wasn't until we began searching for a toilet that we ran into it. There's a walk along the coastline for a ways and for the month, there were sculptures placed along it. My favorite (which I didn't take a picture of for some reason) was of all these silhouettes of people in the shrubbery and some trying to climb up the side of the cliff on a ladder. In the morning, we also trekked it over to Darling Harbour where the Maritime museum is and with it being free, we popped in. We walked by the Chinese Gardens but didn't venture in. And then we made it to Paddy's Markets where it's about a billion little shops or rather tables set up selling basically anything in this warehouse. We tried going out on Saturday night with our roomie from Chile, Alberto but as our luck continued with the weather, it downpoured this night. We were soaked from head to toe. The first place was already at capacity so we went onward to a freezing cold place where no one was and the DJ was the only one dancing. One beer later, we were gone and gave up on the weather and our night out in Sydney.



After all of this, Sunday was the best day. Basically, the weather cooperated ALL day. We took a 2 hour train ride out to the Blue Mountains. We managed to get some help and walked out of the city to Echo Point where Three Sisters sit. The view was absolutely amazing!! It's a huge valley and it goes on forever it seems like. We started walking on the trails out to Katoomba Falls which was nice. Not many tourists go on the trails so it got a lot less hectic after we got away from the starting point. We then turned around and heading to the Three Sisters. You have to walk down ladder like stairs down a cliff to get there so it was a bit scary....really scary. But it got better, Beth wanted to head allllll the way down the Giant Staircase which is 900+ steps. We did it!! And instead of taking the lift up (which would have cost money) we hiked it all the way back up again. Before we headed down, we ran into this group, most likely and positively from the U.S. since they were loud and sported T-shirts with state names...haha. It reminded us of home though, how laid back they were. They had started heading down but decided they were too old for it and that the bar at the top wouldn't be open by the time they returned. Some were thinking about going and the others offered to order the beers and line them up while they waited. eh, maybe you had to be there but it was funny. By the time we did return to the top of the cliff, I was "stuffed" as someone else described it as. The walk back to the train station was gruesome but the 2 hr ride was amazing. We had to get up at 4 am the next morning for our flight so our beds were needed.



What I don't need though are any more crazies talking to me. I swear Beth and I have something on us that says, if you're not normal or need money, talk to us. On the tram ride home from Southern Cross Station, we had this lovely woman sit across from us. First, she wanted to sit where there wasn't a seat available so the man got up and she ended up sitting more on Beth's luggage than anything. The picking of the nose while she stared was amazing. I moved with my luggage for more room and she ended up trying to ask what sounded like should have been English "got a dollar, just a dollar". I was once given advice not to because usually they come back for more so I told Beth this and she simply turned her down. I'm guessing she was riding the tram illegally if she didn't have a dollar. Well, my move didn't make it any better for me either. I had this lady with about 10 pigtails in her hair and an Incredibles backpack sit across from me. She was about 50s I'd say and she had crutches but seeing her walk, I'm not sure why she had them. She saw I went to La Trobe and asked what I studied. My response was Microbiology and later on she went on to ask if I cut up animals for my experiments. Ummm...I work with bacteria, that's relatively safe or that no one cares what happens to bacteria. Well, what do you think of GM products and so on and so on. I started just nodding after she went on about how right-wing are conspirators and that she doesn't eat meat because she doesn't want animals tortured. Oh and how she looks to see if there's meat in cheese before she buys it. Meat in cheese...hmm. And how she doesn't eat fish because the thing in the fish tortures them as she was making a hook with her finger. She yelled at this poor lady, who obviously hadn't been to Melbourne or at least on public transportation since I showed her how to insert the Metcard, to vote Howard out after the lady got off and the doors were basically closed. The lady didn't hear her so my crazy lady said, She must be a liberal. And if that isn't confusing enough, liberals here are actually conservative and labor is our liberal...interesting, huh? The bad part of this was that just before she started lecturing me on how Christians and Catholics have done so many bad things in politics, I was about to put my iPod on. Just too slow I guess. Well that's my crazy lady with the Incredibles backpack story. Stay tuned for more stories in the upcoming weeks.



Back to the normal side of things. One day of recovery from the trip and then the Melbourne Cup was on Tuesday. They made this horse race day into a public holiday if you can imagine. It's not so much about the horses but more about the fashion and for some, the drinking. There's also 2 other horse races on other days but this is the biggest. It's not a requirment to wear a dress or suit but you get looked at weird if you don't. We did see some supermen though. 😉 Out to Flemington Track we headed in the morning and it was definitely crowded in the city and the track. Definitely saw some interesting attire but it was one of the best days here I'd have to say. We got back at night, in time for me to recover from the sun in order to study on Wednesday for my 2 exams on Thursday. I'm so glad they are over with. I have one more on Monday (of course) but first, celebrating the birthday a few days early tonight along with a friend from New York. He trumps me since he's turning 21!! Out to South Yarra we go!



Well, the countdown is at about 25 days til I'm back in the states. I have no idea where the time went but still got the trip to NZ which I'm super excited for.

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Photos

Can I have those super-sized?
massive game of chess in the park

At Bondi Beach
You can notice, it's cold again...

Sculptures by the Sea
Along the coastal walk by Bondi Beach

Beth and I
At Echo Point in the Blue Mountains

look at that view
Ruined castle is a days walk...too bad we got out there at 2 pm

Halfway
Climbing back UP the Giant Staircase which is 900+ steps down the side of the cliff