A Brit, An Aussie, and a Yank

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In terms of travel, I've tried to knock out some of the major stops that I had planned to hit before getting here. I went to Sydney at the end of September to visit a friend, James Liddy, a guy my brother had worked with while teaching ski school in Colorado back in his fitter days. James and his girlfriend Vicky were nice enough to take me into their apartment and show me around the city for the long weekend.

Other than taking close to 1000 pictures of the Sydney Opera House, I also visited the Taronga Zoo which seems to relish in its Aussieness. Almost every sign seemed to point me back to the section of the park where the kangaroos and koalas were. I still think zoos are made for children and the elderly/senile. There's just something odd about wild animals in plastic surroundings. One of the best days I had in the city was sweating out a hangover on a 10k run from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach and back. If you ever head to Sydney this path is a must (not great for a run though because there's a lot of stairs) with gorgeous views of the rock cliffs, a bright cemetary, and an outdoor lawn bowling facility right on the water. I think the best way to sum up Sydney is San Diego meets the UK, and throw in a little indifference as the Aussies don't seem to care near as much about perceptions and generally just want to have a good time. One night after a long and interesting evening at a bar called the Argyle (one of the coolest bars I've been to) we headed to the hotel across the street from James and Vicky's apartment and spent the wee hours singing along to Billy Joel songs with a piano man. Note to all who feel like there's something missing in the night when the bars shut down at 2 and your lonely ass has to settle for a gyro from a suspect street vendor: THIS IS IT.

Other than cricket, American pop culture, and seafood, the Aussies seemed to be particularly infatuated with changing the endings of words, I guess to make them "more cute" (e.g. swim trunks are swimmers, sunglasses are sunnies, and McDonalds is Mackers). Believe me the "cuteness" wears off. Sydney was a beautiful place with some really nice museums and botanical gardens and some of the most generous and interesting people in the world. James and I met a girl at a Barbie and Ken themed party who wanted to play a game where we flip a coin to see who tells her all the things we would do to her if she were a Toblerone chocolate bar. I think we misunderstood the idea of the game. Things got out of hand. Oh and sorry if it seems like there are parts that I am omitting but there are quite a lot of people on this list, including family and friends of family, so if you were expecting something along the lines of an SAE listserve email you can go ahead and remove yourself from this blog now and request to be added to the Google Group: [e-mail]. Chris Brandt is the administrator..... good luck with that.

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Comments

[James Liddy]

Tye Muse Australia misses you...
It was great to have T Muse in Aus and he did his country proud by taking his fair share of crap for being american (though I guees that's given when travelling anywhere but america)... He is a great house guest, and did turn many a female eye in this country. I do encourage all (including family and friends) to get him to divulge more stories especially of i) Argyle bar, ii) the piano man, iii) toblerone girl. Have an awesome rest of your trip buddy!