G'Day Sydney!

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The 3 hour flight from sunny Wellington to rainy Sydney went great because of Air New Zealand's music selection. They had Neil Young and Alice in Chains, I was impressed. Customs was much easier then I had anticipated. So at a little past 5 in the afternoon I rolled my trolley (this guitar thing can be a problem) into the sticky Australia air. The first thing I noticed was that the air is humid, very humid. I found a shuttle into the city and met an Australian couple who wanted to tell me every thing they wanted me to do in Sydney. The traffic was bad, congested, slow and with way too many taxi cabs in the way. My irritated driver was very happy to drop me off (it took about an hour to get to my hostel). I am staying at a nice little hostel in an area called Potts Point which happens to be a real nice street with shops and gourmet delis and butchers. It is about 2 blocks from the ever so famous King's Cross area which is know to be the seedy, party part of town. Upon a little walk you will find it quite strange to turn the corner by the Swiss ice cream shop, to see a street full of hostels, strip joints, bars, coffee shops and prostitutes.

My first night I slept, about 13 hours in total. The room hot, sticky, humid. These are things I haven't dealt with in over year because of going from winter to winter. The next morning I went for a nice walk into the city center through the botanical gardens. This has great views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. I got to the lookout point to discover what seemed like a million buses of Japanese tourist already there. Shouting, laughing and taking a million pics. It was a hard task to try to zig zag my way through the happy mobs. The Opera House is beautiful. I've seen it on the television a million times but looking across the way at it, you just can't help say "wow". I walked around downtown for awhile, checking out a few different areas. Then I caught a ferry out to Darling Harbour. The ferry motors out into the Sydney Harbour under the bridge and in 10 minutes I found myself jumping off at a very busy waterfront. Checked out some nearby markets and found a cheap pair of shorts (it was 25 and sunny I was ready for summer clothes). Sydney is a very nice walkable city and I have done alot of exploring on foot.

The hostel I am staying at is small, and everybody just hangs out together. So you are constantly meeting more people, exchanging stories and making plans. I have also visited a friend of mine whom I met in Dublin at the start of this trip. It is always nice to re see friends in different locations and just catch up. I have been enjoying Sydney very much. Its a good people watching city, with lots to of beautiful things around. The streets are full of beautiful women and whenever you ask a local a question you get a detailed answer on what you should see. People in Sydney are proud of their city and want you to enjoy. The sun is strong, the weather is too hot, it is way too humid and nobody says "G'day Mate!". But Sydney is great.

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