Wtf is this wet stuff coming out of the sky?

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Yes, it’s raining for the first time (stop gloating you bastards!). Well actually it probably rained here in the city yesterday as well, judging by the super dark clouds we saw hanging above town while we were out on Botany Bay in a boat (bet that shut you up real quick like). Lucky for you guys that it is raining as I was about to go out again, just dropped by the hostel to drop off some stuff but now I might as well sit down for a minute and write something.

Saturday morning started poorly for me as my newly discovered breakfast place was closed. They do an awesome bacon&egg roll with a delish capu for only $5.50. Was really looking forward to that when I woke up, but I guess they’re only open on weekdays. Instead I had to settle for a similar combo at a different place which was much dearer and less tasty. As you can clearly see, life in Australia can be quite tough as well!

Saturday was also the day I met up with Jack, a Dutch guy who moved to Sydney last year with his Australian wife Joanne and their three year old son Jake. I met Jack on an Australian fishing website when I was still in Holland and he offered to take me fishing on his boat when I got to Sydney, an opportunity I understandably jumped at. Firstly though we had to buy some gear which we did Saturday. He also showed me around the area a bit and we had a beer at the marina where he’s a member. A beautiful day to sit out on the river. Everything prepared for the next day’s fishing I went back to town and had a nice steak meal in the pub around the corner while watching rugby league, or rather footy.

Sunday 5am wake-up. Half the people in the hostel just went to bed about an hour before. Luckily the clock went back an hour at 2am so it doesn’t feel quite as ridiculously early. Arrived at the station about 30 minutes early, desperate for some coffee but everything was closed, as you would expect. Normal people don’t take trains at 6am on Sundays. I was very excited about the day though. On the way over there I thought of how it’s almost like I’m going back in time to my childhood as I used to spend so much time on the water in a boat or fishing when I was a kid.

We launched the boat with no problems and were motoring away before I knew it. It was so great to be out on the water even though the weather was not quite as good as the previous days. We picked a likely looking spot, popped the burley bucket in the water and got the baits out. We used prawns and squid as bait and it didn’t take very long for Jack to catch the first fish of the day, a tiny snapper. He caught a few more and then I was on to my first fish as well, a bream of probably around 20cm. Since the legal size is 25cm, this one went back. Doesn’t matter really, it’s just so good to be sitting in the boat, in the sun, no one else around. Jack caught a few more small snapper and bream and my bait kept getting eaten off the hook so after a while I decided to switch to a smaller hook as well. The next cast I get a nice whiting, the first keeper of the day.

For the next few hours we caught loads of undersize fish, ranging from tiny to almost legal and also four more whiting to take home. After taking the boat out of the water, we headed back to Jack’s place where he cleaned the fish and Joanne fried them up. My first self-caught meal and it tasted great! I’m sure it won’t be the last self-caught meal either.

In the afternoon we chilled out for a bit, ate some lunch and went out for a look around and some shopping. When we got back, Joanne’s dad arrived. He and his wife moved to Australia some 40 years ago from… wait for it… Leiden! Hahaha.. how’s that for a small world. Half way across the world and the first Dutch people I meet here come from the same city I do. Between the two of them, Jack and Joanne cooked up a mean barbie, which went down a treat. The conversation reminded me a little bit of when I’m with some of my relatives and we switch from Dutch to English all the time, sometimes halfway through sentences. All in all an awesome day so a big thank you to Jack and his family for looking after me so well. Besides being good fun, it also gave me some insight in the life of people actually living here, as opposed to just the touristy view of Australia I would otherwise get and I really enjoyed that.
Now for something completely different. Today I got a TravelCard. A What? A TravelCard. What is a TravelCard? Well I Will Tell You, ok? OK.

A Travelcard lets you use the public transportation system in Sydney an unlimited amount of times for a set period, in this case a week. That means trains, busses and ferries. It’s not unlike similar systems in other big cities but the big difference as far as I’m concerned is that it’s bloody cheap. I got the most expensive kind at $57 which means I can use pretty much ANY train, bus or ferry (except express services) in the greater Sydney area, including the surrounding towns. I could theoretically take the train to the blue mountains and then take a local bus and it would still be free.. it’s ridiculous. Just for kicks, get out a map of Australia, look up Sydney and then look a bit to the south to where it says Goulburn, a bit inland and just below Wollongong. Then look north of Sydney to where it says Newcastle. That is the range of this card.. about 200km by 80km or so. And we’re not talking the middle of nowhere here, this is the most densely populated area of Australia and I get to travel around it as much as I want for seven days for around €35. That’s what, about the price of a return ticket Amsterdam-Maastricht? Probably even less. Next time you hear a Dutch person boast about how good our public transport system is just say “I’ve got two words for you.. TravelCard.” Then if they say that’s only one word, tell them not to be a smartass. *

So I’m well chuffed with that purchase and I immediately put it to good use by taking the bus to circular quay in the wrong direction and changing over to the one in the right direction which actually got me there. From there it was on the ferry to Manly which was pretty cool in itself, especially since we got the JetCat (which is normally an express service and not covered by the card) since the normal Ferry wasn’t going. Manly is a peninsula to the North of Sydney harbor, with the ocean on one side and the harbor on the other side. It’s a beautiful area with a big national park as well as beaches, shops and a lot of surfers. I decided to stay on the harbor side since there was still a good bit of wind and walked along the inside of the bay to the national park area. Saw some cool stuff and not very many people, which is always a bonus in my book and after a while I got to the start of the trail through the woods, which is where the national park area starts.

When I emerged from that, I noticed that the sky ahead was pretty dark. Which is to say, it was mostly black and closing fast. I took a picture and got ready to head back to Manly when it started to rain. A little at first, but pretty soon it was pouring down jungle style, turning the path into a small cascading river. I ran for about 10 meters up a hill until I ran out of steam and then walked to the nearest house and took shelter under their carport. I don’t mind getting wet but I think my camera doesn’t appreciate it much and I wasn’t sure how watertight my backpack is (turns out it does pretty ok). Note to self: next time transfer the waterproof bag and emergency poncho from big backpack to daypack. After a couple of minutes it let up a bit so I started the 3km or so walk back to Manly. There I had some lunch and spent some time watching surfers fail to stay upright and when it eventually came back out, sat in the sun for a bit to dry off before heading back to the city on the Ferry.

I’m definitely going back to Manly on a bit better day. Saw some likely spots for a bit of a fish and will maybe rent a surfboard and give that a go. Not many people there during the week so I won’t look like too much of an idiot, well, no more than usual anyway.

For now I think I will take my preciousssss travelcard and go to Chinatown for dinner!

*edit 08/04/08: If however they tell you that the thing is not actually called a TravelCard but a TravelPass tell them "Thanks" and attempt not to feel too stupid about it.

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