Day 1

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It still hasn’t really sunk in that I am actually in Australia. Before I talk my first day down under let me fill you in about the flights quickly. It was a long journey! My total travel time was about 23 hours. It took about 4.5 hours to get to LAX, had a 1.5 hour layover there. I ran in to Amethyst Cermo at the Indianapolis airport and she ended up walking with me to my departing gate at LAX. It was kind of nice to have someone there with me because I was already starting to get really tired. Anyway we boarded the plane and just as it seems that we are getting ready to get buckled in and take off some family decided they were going to get off the plane. So we had to wait for their baggage to be removed from the plane. So we actually ended up leaving an hour later. But hey what’s another hour on a plane when you have to spend 15 hours on one anyway?! The flight to Sydney was full but it was fine, just long. I watched 2 movies, read ¾ of a novel and did about a dozen word searches. I only got about 3 hours of sleep. Every time I would doze off the pilot would come on and tell us to buckle our seatbelts or the flight attendants would be passing out food or collecting trash. I do feel bad for my carbon footprint and all the trash I generated during the flight. I’m sorry Earth!

So I arrived in Sydney about 9:40 am (Saturday) Sydney time…but mind you I’m still on Indiana time, so it was about 6 pm Friday evening. Yeah…it’s confusing. I’m not sure where I spent January 2nd. I think that’s when we were waiting to find the families baggage…I got to my hostel too early to check in so I just sat around for a bit waiting. I was too brain dead and tired to figure out anything to do. So I finally checked in, showered and was ready to do a bit of exploring.

I was feeling really tired and starting to get hungry so as I made my way to Darling Harbor and to Circular Quay and the Opera House I was looking for coffee and food. Now, I regret to inform you that my first retail purchase in Australia was at a Starbucks! I was desperate and I didn’t see another option anywhere in sight or before the Starbucks. I also learned today that you can eat at McDonald’s and a place that looks like Burger King, and you can shop at Payless Shoes and Foot Locker. So anyway I continued on my way to Darling Harbor…total tourist trap. I can’t even say that it was all that neat. There were a bunch of overpriced fancy-looking restaurants all along the water. But their view was of huge tour boats lined up along the docks. Anyway I took a ferry around to Circular Quay. Basically I went from one bay to the next; it wasn’t really all that far. I finally found food and made my way up the bay to the Sydney Opera House. It is a really bizarre looking building up close. You can go on tours but I don’t think I really care about doing that (another tourist trap). But you can walk all around it and take pictures from every angle for free.

Next I cruised through the Botanic Gardens. Many of the plants in the garden (basically park in the middle of the city) were labeled so I was able to learn a few plants and do some botanizing. That was a lot of fun except soon the wind started picking up and dark clouds were rolling in so I started heading back to the hostel. Eventually it starts down pouring. Then everyone decided they needed to go to the supermarket since it was raining. I was so overwhelmed at the store. I had such a hard time picking anything for dinner and breakfast for the next two days. I just did not have the mental capacity to plan for lunch tomorrow. Mind you I had been up for about two days straight with about 3 hours of “sleep”. Also I was frustrated because signs that say “tomatoes 2.78 per kg” mean NOTHING to me. I’m still not sure what the value of a dollar is here and we do not use metric.

It was really hot today too. And humid. Much like an Indiana summer. People kept saying it was 40 degrees. Again that means nothing to me because we use Fahrenheit not Celsius! (BTW it was about 95+ Fahrenheit!). I barely had the energy to make dinner tonight…I finally settled on an overly salty couscous mix. I got my stuff organized in a useful way and now I’m going to bed…finally!

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Photos

Morton Bay Fig
These trees, and their relatives, are found all over Australia. They create a soothing parklike setting. This one was in the Royal Botanic Gardens near the Opera House.

Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House from Circular Quay.

Sydney Opera House
Close-up of Sydney Opera House.

Comments

[Dave Chapple]

Things To Do In Sydney
I'll be following this trip with interest. Sydney is cool? I loved it. Here is the link to my article on my couple of days there recently....I hope it might be of some use: http://primovacation-club.com/blog/travel-reviews/things-to-do-in-sydney-primo-vacations/ There's a short video on the blog as well - the music for which you can buy from the fellas dancing at Circular Quay. Enjoy your trip - safe journey